patrick.net

tovarichpeter says

Make a shipping container your home

Why waste your money on a shipping container when a box will do?

Hey, if it's good enough for cats...

Is anyone else tired of the drive to lower people's expectations of a quality of life?

Dan8267 says

Wow that's a new variation on Schrödinger's cat: the box is wide open, I'm looking right at it, and I still can't figure out whether the cat is dead or alive.

or if he's mooning you.

Regarding the OP, I like the idea of housing that can travel as a container because it addresses the issue of how to help people move to where they want to be, when they want to be there. It should be possible to build a frame structure like a parking garage above a rail yard, and ship containers to it, like a vertical trailer park except with better views. Northeastern snowbirds winter in Florida, tech people seem to shuttle between the coasts, North Dakota has a housing shortage, FEMA uses trailers that can cause problems. Many cities have rail yards with nothing above, they could have automated crane systems. Freight rail is very efficient.

curious2 says

Regarding the OP, I like the idea of housing that can travel as a container because it addresses the issue of how to help people move to where they want to be, when they want to be there.

True, that's good, but housing isn't expensive because of the buildings. It's expensive because of the space, the land. How much does it really cost to build a $600,000 house in Boca Raton? It's only about $50,000 to $100,000. The rest is due to manipulation of demand and hysteria.

Forget the box, let's just cut to the chase and just get a coffin. That is where they want us all anyways!

Momof321 says

Forget the box, let's just cut to the chase and just get a coffin. That is where they want us all anyways!

Like anyone in the middle class can afford a coffin at today's prices. You're lucky if they cremate your body instead of using it as farm fertilizer.

Dan8267 says

How much does it really cost to build a $600,000 house in Boca Raton?

Construction costs vary with quality. In many areas, good quality construction averages $200/sqft, and premium quality costs more, in addition to the land. Even parking garages cost ~$100/sqft. The advantage of shipping container houses for seasonal demand is to get the housing to match the demand. For example, snowbirds maintain two places, and worry about hurricane damage during Florida's hurricane season. If they had container houses/apartments, they wouldn't worry about that. They would simply schedule the day and time for the automatic crane to load their apartment onto a rail car and transport it. At 400 ton MPG, and $4/gallon, transporting a 20-ton container from one rail yard to another might cost under $2k even with two people on board. That's probably a fraction of paying to maintain and insure an empty house during hurricane season. Likewise, in preparing for and recovering from emergencies, the ability to transport housing and people could save lives and money. Also, for elderly people, an apartment upstairs from a shopping mall makes more sense than a detached house in a suburb where they have to drive everywhere.

Florida wouldn't allow people to use shipping containers as shelters. It would cost them tax dollars. Buildings generate tax revenue year round even if they are unoccupied.