{"id":10806,"date":"2022-08-29T15:05:29","date_gmt":"2022-08-29T15:05:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/?p=10806"},"modified":"2023-05-16T12:42:44","modified_gmt":"2023-05-16T12:42:44","slug":"home-sweet-shipping-container","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/2022\/08\/home-sweet-shipping-container\/","title":{"rendered":"Home, Sweet Shipping Container"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>CBS Sunday Morning presented <strong>Home, Sweet Shipping Container<\/strong>, a story about shipping container homes yesterday. It wasn\u2019t my imagination that it sounded familiar. It was originally broadcast May 22, 2022.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>In 2016 Zack and Brie Smithey built their dream home in St. Charles, Missouri: a 3BR, 2.5 bath, 3,000 sq. ft., two-story structure made out of eight shipping containers. Now, they\u2019re helping other people build container homes. Correspondent Luke Burbank talks with homeowners who refuse to be boxed into traditional notions of home construction.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/video\/home-sweet-shipping-container\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.cbsnews.com\/video\/home-sweet-shipping-container\/<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bAd2N6opJ9k\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Zack and Brie Smithey\u2019s project has been covered by other sources. They built their house using eight 40-foot containers with nine-foot-high ceilings.<\/p>\n<p>Zach Smithey told Curbed, \u201cWe paid $1,600 for each, and $375 to have each of them delivered, so they ended up being about $2,000 apiece. The whole project cost us about $135,000.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>You can read the article and see a lot of photos.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>A 3,100-square-foot, $135K container house lets its owners live mortgage free<\/strong><br \/>\nMissouri couple makes an affordable, recycled home out of shipping containers<br \/>\nBy Mary Jo Bowling Sep 11, 2017, 10:00am EDT<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.curbed.com\/2017\/9\/11\/16234506\/shipping-container-home-tour-missouri\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">archive.curbed.com\/2017\/9\/11\/16234506\/shipping-container-home-tour-missouri<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This article documents some of the building process, including some of the problems they ran into.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>When the Smitheys began their project, the city of St Charles had no laws in place to prevent them from building a container home. However, as the red units were assembled, they began to turn heads\u2026 Sadly, the city ended up passing ordinances that made it almost impossible for anyone in the future to follow in Zack and Brie\u2019s footsteps.<\/p>\n<p><strong>This couple live mortgage-free in the shipping container home they built<\/strong><br \/>\nThese first-time homebuilders created a metal masterpiece<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.loveproperty.com\/gallerylist\/102229\/this-couple-live-mortgage-free-in-the-shipping-container-home-they-built\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.loveproperty.com\/gallerylist\/102229\/this-couple-live-mortgage-free-in-the-shipping-container-home-they-built<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This video shows inside and some of the construction.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LE55wff02ps\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>What other costs were involved?<\/h2>\n<p>Grading was needed before they even got started. Then they put in an 11-foot concrete foundation. The home is built on a walk-out basement. They needed a crane to stack the containers. Although the couple were able to do much of the work themselves. They had to pay contractors for the plumbing, electric and HVAC.<\/p>\n<p>They used a lot of secondhand and recycled materials, but there were still a lot of construction materials to buy. They also comment on how difficult it is to cut the thick metal.<\/p>\n<p>It took them just a little over a year and they learned a lot along the way. They now offer design and consultation on container structures.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Zack Smithey and his wife, Brie built their 3100 square foot home out of eight 40-foot shipping containers that traveled around the world 12 times on a boat, train, and truck before coming to rest as the structure of the Smithey\u2019s home in St. Charles, MO. The Smithey\u2019s say they have no desire to \u201cfit in\u201d, and believe that being different is a positive trait.<\/p>\n<p>Smithey offers design and consultation services on container structures. He has designed and consulted on many projects throughout the US since building his in 2017. The Smithey\u2019s are featured on Netflix, and has been featured in CURBED, Insider Lifestyle, At Home, KSDK, to name a few!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/zacksmithey.com\/pages\/smithey-container-homes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">zacksmithey.com\/pages\/smithey-container-homes<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Google shows what the lot looked like before they started. This is the view from August, 2012.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: 0;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/embed?pb=!4v1661786559527!6m8!1m7!1sVqhKlbRgLfOfWGsqc3q00g!2m2!1d38.81100233706104!2d-90.51286773666065!3f80.55681083082966!4f4.514994410420428!5f2.23726886842396\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>By December 2016 you can see the house under construction.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: 0;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/embed?pb=!4v1661786686408!6m8!1m7!1saqg2iI0bpwy1r_OkvgumXg!2m2!1d38.81099338175953!2d-90.51279860143794!3f79.40556957332949!4f9.615177908740662!5f1.4154069783857617\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This is what the house looked like by May 2019.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/embed?pb=!4v1661786501423!6m8!1m7!1sEZxlt6_VrHStwR3D-8n57A!2m2!1d38.81099325680312!2d-90.51286369956405!3f81.20340774447543!4f7.3476552354360365!5f2.5348999511454764\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>At one point there was brick\u2026<\/p>\n<p>By July 2021 it looks like the house on CBS News.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: 0;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/embed?pb=!4v1661786892792!6m8!1m7!1sSMIhu_xKTj7Irfveox9VpA!2m2!1d38.81101443767467!2d-90.51280155716451!3f89.5613262886695!4f5.764566548416525!5f0.7820865974627469\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Which is what it still looks like when the Google Maps car drove by last on July 2022. Here you can see the house in it\u2019s setting, with the other more typical houses around it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: 0;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/embed?pb=!4v1661786980728!6m8!1m7!1sdF6s-SYEGsinDvdVA1hk-Q!2m2!1d38.81099085536827!2d-90.51286535765723!3f93.44514009794568!4f4.94421037042558!5f0.7820865974627469\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CBS Sunday Morning presented Home, Sweet Shipping Container, a story about shipping container homes yesterday. It wasn\u2019t my imagination that it sounded familiar. It was originally broadcast May 22, 2022. In 2016 Zack and Brie Smithey built their dream home in St. Charles, Missouri: a&nbsp;<a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/2022\/08\/home-sweet-shipping-container\/\">&hellip;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10807,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[67],"tags":[77],"class_list":["post-10806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-container-homes","tag-shipping-container"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/container.jpg?fit=810%2C431&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13301,"url":"https:\/\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/2024\/01\/airbnb-shipping-container-and-student-shipping-container-housing\/","url_meta":{"origin":10806,"position":0},"title":"Airbnb Shipping Container and Student Shipping Container Housing","author":"Carla","date":"January 13, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"BBC Unexpected Elements podcast this week concluded with a brief piece about staying in an Airbnb Shipping Container and Student Shipping Container Housing. Chhavi Sachdev: I\u2019ve experienced firsthand what a container feels like because I went to stay in an Airbnb which was a tiny house and it was basically\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Container Homes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Container Homes","link":"https:\/\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/category\/container-homes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/featured-shipping_container_home.jpg?fit=810%2C431&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/featured-shipping_container_home.jpg?fit=810%2C431&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/featured-shipping_container_home.jpg?fit=810%2C431&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/featured-shipping_container_home.jpg?fit=810%2C431&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7201,"url":"https:\/\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/2020\/02\/casa-cubed-shipping-container-homes\/","url_meta":{"origin":10806,"position":1},"title":"Casa Cubed Shipping Container Homes","author":"Carla","date":"February 25, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"A new Container house showed up in my Facebook feed this morning. They are made by Casa Cubed. I looked them up. This is their website: casacubed.com This is their Facebook page: www.facebook.com\/CasaCubedLLC They are a family owned and operated company. Andres and Maria Guillama, build these container houses in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Container Homes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Container Homes","link":"https:\/\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/category\/container-homes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Casa Cubed Shipping Container Homes","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/featured-casa_cubed-2.jpg?fit=810%2C431&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/featured-casa_cubed-2.jpg?fit=810%2C431&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/featured-casa_cubed-2.jpg?fit=810%2C431&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/featured-casa_cubed-2.jpg?fit=810%2C431&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7206,"url":"https:\/\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/2020\/02\/step-by-step-container-home-conversion-by-casa-cubed\/","url_meta":{"origin":10806,"position":2},"title":"Step-by-Step Container Home Conversion by Casa Cubed","author":"Carla","date":"February 25, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Casa Cubed builds container houses in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. They post photos on their Facebook page as they build. Building a Container Home Outside They start by cutting the openings for french doors and windows. The exterior walls are clad in cedar. Cedar is beautiful, natural and durable. They\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Container Homes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Container Homes","link":"https:\/\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/category\/container-homes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Casa Cubed Shipping Container Homes","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/featured-casa_cubed-1.jpg?fit=810%2C431&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/featured-casa_cubed-1.jpg?fit=810%2C431&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/featured-casa_cubed-1.jpg?fit=810%2C431&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/featured-casa_cubed-1.jpg?fit=810%2C431&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2703,"url":"https:\/\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/2018\/04\/shipping-container-tiny-house-or-workshop\/","url_meta":{"origin":10806,"position":3},"title":"Shipping Container Tiny House or Workshop","author":"Carla","date":"April 30, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"This guy showed up in my Facebook MarketPlace feed this morning. He sells shipping containers out of Lyman, South Carolina. He sells them \u201cas is\u201d or he paints them and puts in doors and windows. I\u2019ve seen a lot of shipping container homes on Pinterest. Some are really cute. Some\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Container Homes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Container Homes","link":"https:\/\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/category\/container-homes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Shipping Container - Project Small House","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/featured_image-shipping_containers.jpg?fit=1200%2C639&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/featured_image-shipping_containers.jpg?fit=1200%2C639&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/featured_image-shipping_containers.jpg?fit=1200%2C639&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/featured_image-shipping_containers.jpg?fit=1200%2C639&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/featured_image-shipping_containers.jpg?fit=1200%2C639&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15258,"url":"https:\/\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/2024\/11\/2650-shipping-container-home-diy-or-ready-for-delivery\/","url_meta":{"origin":10806,"position":4},"title":"$2,650 Shipping Container Home DIY or Ready for Delivery","author":"Carla","date":"November 11, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"You can buy a container for as little as $2,650 to turn into a Shipping Container Home. Or you can buy this one that is already completed. It has two bedrooms, a full bath, kitchen, even a fireplace! The containers range in price. They are listed at $2,650, $2,750, $3,300,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Container Homes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Container Homes","link":"https:\/\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/category\/container-homes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Shipping Container Home","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/featured-shipping_container_house.jpg?fit=810%2C431&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/featured-shipping_container_house.jpg?fit=810%2C431&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/featured-shipping_container_house.jpg?fit=810%2C431&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/featured-shipping_container_house.jpg?fit=810%2C431&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":16291,"url":"https:\/\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/shipping-containers-as-adus-studio-one-bedroom-and-multi-dwelling-housing\/","url_meta":{"origin":10806,"position":5},"title":"Shipping Containers as ADUs, Studio, One Bedroom and Multi-dwelling Housing","author":"Carla","date":"August 17, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday CBS Saturday Morning news had a report on turning shipping containers into housing and Compact Living, another company making shipping container homes, showed up in my Instagram feed. The news story covered larger scale projects to use shipping containers as housing. The company, Sparkbox, is already using \u00a0shipping containers\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;ADUs&quot;","block_context":{"text":"ADUs","link":"https:\/\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/category\/adus\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Compact Living Container House","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/featured_mycompacthome.jpg?fit=810%2C431&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/featured_mycompacthome.jpg?fit=810%2C431&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/featured_mycompacthome.jpg?fit=810%2C431&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/featured_mycompacthome.jpg?fit=810%2C431&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10806"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10806\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10811,"href":"https:\/\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10806\/revisions\/10811"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}