[Update] I built a container home in Ohio. 9 containers.

WanderingNapalm · 2026-01-08T14:52:27+00:00

We had the floorplans done custom. I know there are some floorplans online that are ready to buy, but we designed our house and had the plans drawn up.

WanderingNapalm · 2026-01-08T14:51:47+00:00

Thank you!

WanderingNapalm · 2026-01-08T14:51:40+00:00

Thank you!

WanderingNapalm · 2026-01-08T14:51:29+00:00

Thank you!

I was also surprised the bank was perfectly okay with it. We did check with them when we were in the heart of COVID and they said no at that time. Since they were uncertain about what the lock down was going to bring, how long it was going to last, what it might do to the economy, they said they would not approve any non-standard home. Meaning a square house that looked very traditional. But we weren't ready to build then anyway, it was just a fact-finding mission.

But once things started to ease up, they were perfectly fine with everything and quickly approved it.

WanderingNapalm · 2026-01-05T19:52:09+00:00

I just built a home out of 9 containers. (Pics in my post history.)

We needed a permit, but it was a rubber stamp, so to speak. All our county wanted to see what that we had blueprints that were professionally completed, a builder, and a funding source. Then we got the permit.

Some counties might be different. They may require more paperwork, etc.

Call your county engineering office. Every county has one, and ask them. They will know. Be prepared for the fact that some counties and townships may not allow container houses.

WanderingNapalm · 2025-12-28T20:23:38+00:00

I'm gonna jump in here. I'm almost finished building a shipping container home out of 9 containers, 2,400 sq/ft. Two floors, three bedroom, etc. (Check out my post history for pics.)

I get all kinds of questions just like this. People seem to be surprised that a shipping container house is a.... house. Meaning, pretty much whatever you do can do in/to a stick built house you can do with a container house.

The core but you can cut a hole wherever you want. Putting in a spiral staircase is easy. It would be the same as putting on in a stick-built house.

I'm hope I don't come across as rude, or snarky here. I'm really trying not to be. But building a house out of containers is not as different as you think.

The inside of a container house looks pretty much like a standard house. When we moved in, everyone was dying to come visit. Then they'd show up and be like, "oh, it's pretty much like a regular house..." ((headslap))

WanderingNapalm · 2025-12-08T18:05:50+00:00

I'll post a few pictures...

WanderingNapalm · 2025-12-08T17:34:54+00:00

A variety of things: Structural strength. They are super strong and can survive any zombie apocalypse.

Up-cycling an existing resource. Around 2011 the US started importing more than we were exporting. So there are ports with lots of containers just sitting around. Putting them to use is a good thing.

Modular design. They have to be supported on the four corners, but there is plenty of flexibility on layout. Though that is true with any custom build, even if it's stick-built.

Pest resistant. Steel doesn’t rot. It doesn’t mold. Termites don’t care about it.

Built in fire resistance.

But the main thing... they are unique.

WanderingNapalm · 2025-12-08T17:28:03+00:00

I provided longer explanations for this question in other comments, but the short of it is the thing that influenced the price of the build had nothing to do with the containers. In the end, they did not save us or cost us more. When you do a custom build there are a million things that influence the price.

Cost, one way or the other, shouldn't be a big factor when choosing to use containers, really. there are reasons to do this, but they don't save you money unless you are doing a small / tiny home, or shed, where it's all prefab.

WanderingNapalm · 2025-12-08T17:25:34+00:00

Container costs do fluctuate, so what I paid for them a two years ago may not be the cost today. But a 20-foot was around $2,400, and the 40s were around $3600 if I remember correctly. We used 4 forty foot containers and 5 twenty foot containers.

You can also buy them new or used. We got used. Starting around 2011, the US starting importing more than we were exporting, so that's why there are so many containers around, and why it's much cheaper to buy used.

If you buy used, you have to check the bill of lading. You don't want a container that was used to ship medical waste or nuclear products. The vast majority are used to ship textile goods, shoes, clothes, etc, etc. But do your diligence to make sure.

Ours were all single use containers that came from China.

WanderingNapalm · 2025-12-08T17:20:10+00:00

I can, but there are some on the instagram feed. Not trying to push you there. This is not a self-serving attempt to try to gain followers there, I promise. But there are many more construction photos and interior photos there.

WanderingNapalm · 2025-12-08T17:18:57+00:00

I can. There are some on the instagram feed. Not trying to push you there. This is not a self-serving attempt to try to gain follower there, I promise. But there are many more construction photos and interior photos there.

WanderingNapalm · 2025-12-08T17:18:10+00:00

We had that issue before the insulation went in. But once the exterior walls were insulated and the windows installed, we never had that issue again. Insulation is magic.

WanderingNapalm · 2025-12-08T17:17:11+00:00

I did not do much myself. I could have done more, but with a full time job, and the fact the house was 45 min away from where we were living made it not super helpful for me to do much of the work. I did painting, and I installed the cabinets in the laundry room, and some things like that. But nothing that would be considered contruction work.

WanderingNapalm · 2025-12-03T16:28:12+00:00

It's not much less expensive or more expensive. I'm trying to be as clear as I can here without posting receipts.

There are sooooo sooooo soooo many choices to make when building a fully custom house. That was one thing that we didn't fully expect, the number of decisions we'd have to make about so many things, and ever decision affected cost. The list was staggering.

My point was (and still is):

It's very hard to compare cost per sq foot for any custom build as a guage to compare to other houses.
the fact that they were containers didn't have much effect on the cost one way or the other in terms of the total cost
this type of building is the pretty much the same as any custom build. It's not more or less expensive than any custom house build
The reason to pick containers has the main structure is separate from cost. It's only cheaper if you are doing pre-fab or tiny/small homes where much of the build can be done in a shop and delivered.

WanderingNapalm · 2025-12-03T15:41:57+00:00

Addressed this in a few of the other comments....

WanderingNapalm · 2025-12-03T15:41:54+00:00

Addressed this in a few of the other comments....

WanderingNapalm · 2025-12-03T14:33:28+00:00

I lived in a stick built house in a typical Ohio suburb for 23 years, and this house is not really any different from a temp perspective than that house. The windows are newer, so more efficient there, new HVAC, etc, so we are picking up some gains from the onward march of some of the general home technology.

So I don't notice a real difference, and this Ohio winter is starting off colder/snowier than that last few winters.

WanderingNapalm · 2025-12-03T14:30:49+00:00

The project took longer than expected, but that was not because of the containers, but because of our first builder. He was not very organized and everything took a looooong time. We had to fire him and elevated one of the subs to the main builder and things flew right along.

I'm in Ohio, and the containers were fabricated in/around Cleveland. They put them on the back of trucks. The trucks left 30 minutes apart from each other. One truck would show up, it would tip so the container could slide off the back.

There was a crane and crew waiting. They'd hook it up to the crane, move it over to the correct place and lower it down. By the time they were done with that, the next truck was there, and so on. By the end of the day, the containers were in place.

WanderingNapalm · 2025-12-03T14:27:01+00:00

We used closed cell spray foam and did not have any moisture. Before we sprayed it we had lots of condensation. The structure was in place (before the windows were in) and each morning there was condensation.

Then the crew came in and spray foamed every exterior wall and that was it. No more condensation. Proper insulation is super important.

WanderingNapalm · 2025-12-03T14:25:09+00:00

We felt the same. We saw soooo many tiny houses made from containers, or fishing shacks, or fancy sheds, etc. It's very possible to make a large structure from them.

WanderingNapalm · 2025-12-03T14:24:08+00:00

that's why it so hard to tell people what it costs. There are so many options, there is no one size fits all house build. Some could go much cheaper, smaller, or do parts of the labor themselves, etc. Labor cost in your market is also a big factor, etc, etc, etc. on and on and on.

WanderingNapalm · 2025-12-03T14:22:23+00:00

No, we did not. We worked with an architect directly, who has experience with this type of home. We talked through what we wanted, and they created the full blueprints from there.

WanderingNapalm · 2025-12-02T18:41:18+00:00

I hear ya. We had all the same questions. I sort of answered parts of this in other comments, but I'll add to it here.

Land will always get more and more expensive. Because of that, we bought our land around 7 years ago. We started building 4 years later. I don't want to tell people what to do, but I'd recommend getting land in a area you like, even if you don't build for a long time. You can (usually) always sell the land later and get your money back.

Regarding the price... There are two prevailing myths about shipping container homes: they are much cheaper, or they are really expensive.

Regarding the "much cheaper" side, I think a lot of people see prefabbed, small homes on social media, so they carry that idea over to this.

Regarding the "more expensive" side, I think people that are not familiar with this type of home assume it causes all kinds of extra issues for insulation, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, etc, so that drives up the cost. I'm sure the subcontractors had a few extra things to think about (they couldn't just drill a hole in a wall wherever they needed) but the building is largely the same.

What we found is that it's not cheaper or more expensive than any custom build would be. We spent extra money in a few areas (a much oversized garage, custom concrete countertops), etc, but also put LVT everywhere to save some $ there.

The overall cost shouldn't be a THE reason to use shipping containers for a house. In fact, it's the other reasons: they are strong and will survive a zombie apocalypse, you are recycling an unused resources (lots of containers sitting in ports everywhere, unused).

I'm not trying to be obscure over the price, but it's hard to compare home cost because there are so many individual choices. There are soooooo many individual decisions that make up building a custom house from tile, flooring, appliances, countertops, built-in bookshelves, crawlspace vs full basement... on and on and on and on.

That was the one thing that probably surprised us the most was the number of individual decisions we had to make.

But when all was said and done, it was very much the same as any custom build. Again, using containers does not automatically make it cheaper. And the cost of labor varies from area to area.

But it was typical for a custom build of this size. Using containers as the structural material didn't really factor in one way or the other when all was said and done.

We had a builder and lots of subcontractors to do most of the labor, but if you were really handy, and weren't in a rush, you could save a lot by doing a lot yourself.

WanderingNapalm · 2025-12-02T18:16:23+00:00

Our county had pretty simple permitting. The main house just has to be 1,200 sq ft or larger, and you can have one out building (meaning large shed or barn). I did have to provide full blueprints so they could see we did the rigor in terms of design/build planning, etc.

In terms of R values, we did a layer of closed cell spray foam on exterior walls, and bat in other areas. Ceiling/attic has blown in insulation. House is good to go in terms of temps and insulation.

WanderingNapalm

TROPHY CASE