The DIY, off-grid, 6 container dream home
Mireille and David Hicks have transformed a stack of old containers into a super smart home.
The Hicks family is very fond of shipping containers. They bought their first one to use as a workshop on the Gold Coast. When the family came back to NZ, they used it to move their household to their block in the Wairarapa.
They love containers so much, David and Mireille chose to use them as the backbone of their bright, bold home.
“Building it was a massive job,” says Mireille. “David did the majority by himself, other than stuff he wasn’t allowed to do like plumbing and electric, and part of the roof.”
Their 180m² home is six containers in an H shape: two at each end and two in the middle. There’s a large open plan living area, including the kitchen, and two bathrooms.
David now runs a business converting single containers into tiny homes and other structures, utilising lessons they learned during the three-year process.
They spent most of their build time living in a 12m x 2.4m (28m²) shipping container sitting beside the building site.
“It was just as the kids were getting to the teenage stage,” says Mireille. “We should have had cameras on the walls for all the barnies we had, it would have made a great reality TV show.”
While the family was always convinced about converting containers into a house, the local council needed some persuasion.
“The council weren’t against it, but they were a bit sceptical. Luckily, David is a very good communicator, so he was able to tell
them exactly what he was thinking.”
The couple did a lot of homework before they applied for consent, and worked with an engineer to develop the design details.
“There are a lot of people who say, ‘I'm going to build a container house, it's going to be easy,' because they look so easy to do, but that's not the case. They're harder to work with than traditional materials.
“(The council) were pretty good about it in the end, as long as we showed them how we'd done things, documented everything. They'd come to check before we did things, discuss it with us. I know there are councils which aren't so flexible or forward-thinking – we were lucky, and that's how we managed to realise the dream of this house and pursue what David was visualising.”
As if containers weren't unusual enough, the couple's exterior colour choice makes it easy to give driving directions.
"It's a bit of a statement house, so it may as well be bold," Mireille says with a laugh. "You need to use a specific type of steel paint and it's quite limited in colours. It was either this bright red or lime, and David didn't like lime. It works well with the macrocarpa finishing and that will eventually turn silver.”
The couple has recently added a large deck, and made a few changes to make their block more efficient over the last few years.
“We added an extra water tank. We started with two, but we noticed that over a hot Wairarapa summer, we were running low, so we invested in a third one. Water is almost like gold, so we've now got 75,000 litres of storage, and it makes such a difference.”
Their best buy is a low-wattage inverter DAB pump, which draws very little power compared to their original choice, an important attribute when you're off-grid.
Sun power
David spent years working as a salesman in the Australian solar industry, and
A lot of people think building with containers means it's going to be easy, but that's not the case.
the family used solar to help power their home. For their container house, he created a small, efficient off-grid system.
"I based it on our planned use because we already knew how to manage our power very economically," says David. "Basically, the larger you go, the more batteries you need, and that climbs really quickly in price."
The family's system is relatively small compared to others powering a similar-sized house. It's just nine solar panels, producing 2.3kw, with a battery bank of about 700 amp hours.
"I picked bits and pieces from a couple of companies because at the time there wasn't one company that specialised in everything. These days it's getting pretty high tech, like the Tesla Powerwall, but that wasn't available in NZ when we were doing our set-up."
The family do have to be mindful of when they run appliances, so they don't run the batteries down if they've had a few days with low sunlight.
"It's a way of life that's nothing to do with saving money," says David. "You get into the rhythm of looking after yourself, you don't have to worry about the utility bills. That's the most satisfying part."
Feeling the love
Almost six years on, and Mireille says they're still in love with their home. They're continuing to transform the landscape, with alpacas grazing their small pasture – easier than sheep, says Mireille, and a huge hit with their B&B guests. She's just bought her first beehive and wants to get chickens next.
"The goal is to reduce our footprint on the world, so
I'm always looking into ways to be more self-sufficient, sustainable."