For Travis Price, a highly-recommended and sought after architect in Washington D.C, container homes ‘are the great new building block of the 21st century’. Price and his appropriately named ‘Travis Price Architects’ firm have just finished creating three apartment complexes in Washington D.C, out of 40ft containers. Price sees shipping containers as a way forward for affordable housing in places with a high cost of living, such as Washington D.C, where the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment is $2,250.
Cost – A container home is 99% of the time going to be cheaper to purchase than a standard home. You can comfortably pick up a 40ft container for around $3000 and after this you would only need the expenses to convert and decorate it into a liveable space that from the inside does not resemble a shipping container.
Eco-Friendly – A large majority of shipping containers around the world are not in use, which could easily converted into homes. The average container home uses about 3’5000kg of steel, which if melted and used for something else would require a considerable amount of energy. Whereas being converted into a home will take the shape as it is and also prevent the need for your standard materials that are used for standard homes.
Financing – Although cheap, a number of buyers would require financing before purchasing a container home, something that can be difficult to attain. Because of their mobility by truck or rail, they’re just as mobile as a mobile trailer home. Therefore, if the container is not attached to a permanent foundation, not just sat on its own, then owners could find it difficult to obtain a mortgage.
Permits and regulations – Unfortunately, container homes are not exempt from the same strict regulations that standard houses have to abide by. In some cases, it can be harder to obtain the appropriate permits for a container home as it is such a new concept, whereas your standard house has black and white guidelines to follow.