Shipping container more traditional than a tiny home

Walking through the 8foot-by-40-foot shipping container, people talked among themselves, noting the large kitchen, pointing out the storage space and exclaiming shock at the sight of the full tub.

Converting shipping containers into homes isn’t a new idea, but the trend is. The shipping container people explored Saturday was the first to appear at the Denver Home Show. The unit’s seller said he’s confident the repurposed homes will stick around.

Kansas City, Mo.-based Custom Container Living co-owner Lon Holden said people want something that’s new, unique and architecturally interesting. Additionally, the homes are sturdy and can last for a long time, making people more willing to invest than if they were temporary.

The shipping container home trend is intertwined with the tiny-home movement, he said, but shipping containers reside in their own gray area.

Shipping container homes like the ones Custom Container Living builds are similar in size to tiny homes. But unlike tiny houses, they’re not mobile. They are fixed to the ground, structurally strong and offer utilities in a way that is more like traditional homes, Holden said.

The shipping container field is split between commercial use, such as the mixed-use complex 25th & Larimer in RiNo and the food hall Avanti Food & Beverage, and living spaces, such as a house built with sweeping views in Nederland and another built out of nine containers in northwest Denver.

Holden said most shipping-container homes are one-offs built by the residents themselves.

“In terms of building mass in shipping containers, we only know of a few companies doing it,” Holden said. One of those companies is Louisville-based Rhino Cubed.

Shipping containers are operational for a limited time. Afterward, they sit in a shipyard or landfill, Holden said. But creative builders can buy them for roughly $2,200-$2,500 and repurpose them. Custom Container Living sells 8-foot-by-40foot units that run from 320400 square feet for $50,000 to $75,000. Smaller 8-footby-20-foot units with half the square footage cost $20,000 to $35,000.

Shipping containers are built to withstand water, wind, insects and rodents. Custom Container Living uses closed-cell spray foam that dries “hard as a rock” on the walls, ceiling and under the floor as insulation.

Half of Holden’s customers are looking for a parttime home they can use as a getaway while the other half is looking for a permanent residence, usually in rural or small towns. Shipping container homes are still trying to break into urban areas but tend to run into zoning issues.

Another issue potential homeowners run into is financing. The industry is so new that banks don’t know what to do with it.