They’re missing a lot of the structural elements and fixtures of a traditional home. Shipping container homes are adapted, not built, as a living space. Overall, even the smallest prefabricated home is much more durable than one built from shipping containers. Quality of Materials and ConstructionĮchoing the advantage above, our custom prefabricated homes are built to the highest quality standards using top-notch building materials.They comply fully with any municipal by-laws and provincial building codes. They require expensive modifications on-site to be efficient. Shipping containers, by nature, aren’t built to be energy-efficient or well-insulated. Prefabricated homes are built with more energy-efficient materials and designed to be better insulated and sealed. However, custom prefabricated homes are also more affordable than traditional homes, and they can offer significant cost savings in other areas like energy. It’s a relatively simple project and the majority of the costs are related to interior work. Cost-effectivenessĬompared to a stick-built home, there’s no doubt that building a shipping container home will see you save a ton of money in terms of the overall cost. There are other distinct advantages to customizing your home from the ground-up rather than starting from shipping containers. The distinct design aesthetics of a shipping container home set it apart from traditional homes, while a custom prefab home can be built in almost any architectural style imaginable.īut that’s not all. To start, a custom prefabricated house doesn’t need to look prefab or ‘modular’ at all. Of course, not all prefab homes are anything like a shipping container home. Technically, all shipping container homes can be classified as prefabricated homes, since most of the manufacturing is done off-site and assembly is done on-site. There, contractors can complete any finishing touches and connect the home to plumbing, electrical and gas utilities. How Does a Shipping Container Home Compare to a Prefabricated Home?Ī prefabricated home, also known as a prefab, is any house constructed off-site and shipped to the building site to be fully assembled. A shipping container home also makes a statement about environmental sustainability, demonstrating how old, industrial materials be repurposed and made useful again. First, since these homes can be assembled on-site in a modular fashion, they are are far cheaper than purchasing a traditional homes. Most people who choose to own shipping container homes do it for several reasons.
Any interior work is then carried out on-site either by the homeowner or professional contractors. These container homes are usually shipped to the building site as a bare skeleton, then assembled in place. But there are some impressive and creative home designs out there that use shipping containers. You might not think much of living in shipping containers assembled together to form a house. These boxes can be bought relatively cheaply, thus bringing down the cost of the entire home. To put it simply, shipping container homes are homes made from shipping containers! The basic structure of the house uses one or more old, out-of-service containers. With shipping container homes gaining in popularity, we think it’s worth looking at how they compare to a custom prefabricated home ‒ and why you might be better off thinking out-of-the-box. These so-called ‘shipping container homes’ offer a unique spin on the typical prefabricated home…but are they an option prospective homeowners should take seriously? One unusual concept that has attracted a lot of press recently is the idea of homes built from shipping containers. It’s no surprise that many families are looking for alternatives to traditional, stick-built homes as a way to afford this luxury without breaking the bank. Finding an affordable home in cottage country can be tough.