Over Haul: Container Construction

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Federalist Public House

Welcome to the world of container construction! Whether it’s an intimate home in the country, highrise urban apartments or specialty commercial buildings, this innovative re-use of huge, heavy shipping containers seems limitless.

“When you understand the industrial nature of the containers, you start to realize how great of a building block this is,” says Patrick Collins, co-founder and chief operating officer of Montainer, Inc. “They’re like Legos.”

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A base-model, single-cargo home starts at $65,000. Though an empty container arrives in Montana weighing between 5,000 and 8,000 pounds, the weight increases to between 10,000 and 20,000 pounds once it’s built out and ready to ship. The 40-foot containers easily attach to each other to create larger housing options; furthermore, just as with traditional home construction, porches and other amenities can be added.

The Netherlands has been using cargo construction for decades, but the process received a huge boost in the United States in 2008. With the recession in full force, companies discovered it was cheaper to abandon the containers rather than pay return shipping costs. One person’s trash is another’s treasure, and the containers have proven deceivingly flexible. Their strength allows easy cut outs for windows and doors, and the removed pieces can be used as parts for other projects.

When Marvin Maldonado was building the Federalist Public House restaurant in Sacramento, CA from seven shipping containers, the cutoffs were an integral part of the design.

“We used 90 percent of the fall off as re-use on the site,” recalls the owner, who has an architecture background. Everything from bathroom walls to fences was constructed from the “waste.”

Federalist Public House has been so well received that the founders are considering a “Federalist in a box” option to open additional restaurants in the outlying areas.

“There’s an economic advantage of a ‘restaurant in a box,’” Maldonado states. “For the cost of one traditional restaurant, we could do five or six operations.”

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Montainer, Inc.

In fact, when the restaurant was first proposed, it involved the containers and remodeling of an older building at the cost of $200-$300 per square foot. Zoning challenges ultimately altered the plan to only the containers, and the final project came in just over $100 per square foot. Then, the individual containers were dropped by crane, once welding and utility connections were made. The project – from inception to opening – took 18 months. Collins notes that the appeal of finished custom construction landing on a job site was the impetus to start Montainer, located in Missoula, MT. Clients can choose designs and household features, while Montainer secures permits, does site prep work, builds the cargo home, and delivers and installs the finished product.

“We do all our manufacturing here,” he states. He buys containers from throughout the country, looking at their condition. Some clients prefer an “authentic” look, which means the containers need to be used multiple times, while others prefer a more pristine version, which usually requires a single use. Collins also researches the cost of transport to Montana.

“The environmental factor is really cool to people,” tells the co-founder. “It’s a bonus that you’re recycling this big hunk of metal, but really, it’s a great building block for modular structures.” And as for delivering the finished product to its final destination? “That’s the easy part,” admits Collins. “They are shipping containers; they were designed for transport.”

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