Shipping containers... 30k and a house in the ground... good video

[Wise Old Owl]

[hunter63]

Pretty slick.....but I'd question the 30K number......and not for me.
Thanks for posting.

[WalkingTree]

I guess he reinforced the walls in some way too? (not just the roof. can't really tell from what he says) You just drop a container in the ground and backfill, it'll cave in eventually.

[hunter63]

I have always been interested in alternate housing and researched it for years....going back to Buckminster Fuller and Domes.
Add in Mother Earth News many articles on everything from simple huts to "My mother's house"...(good read is you find time.)
http://www.motherearthnews.com/green...z81jazraw.aspx

But yeah, it's never as simple as "get yourself a shipping container and bury it".

My other put off is the Build it yourself for 30K....yeah maybe if you own the land...own the equipment, have the skills, and a good inventory of materials that you have on hand, gathered up, scrounged and repurposed.

So I don't believe what was shown was a 30K project for "Average Joe Blow off the street", that just watched the vid it and says....I'm gonna do it!

[finallyME]

yeah, he lives in Cali, he used contractors, he poured a concrete roof and used heavy equipment to dig out the spot. The land alone is more than 30K. The contracting work is more than 30K. The house materials alone is probably 30K.

[hunter63]

I had always thought that a shipping container would make a good "dug into the side of a hill, storage for Older Jeep, and gear and secure supplies.

I bought my property with the idea that a earth berm dwelling would be energy efficient, and security against tornados....one threat in our area.
Looked for a long time for reasonable priced south facing hill side on a water (river).

Add to this is road access, water at a reasonable depth, perk for septic, access to the grid...easier to build stuff with power...can always shut it off.

Found "The Place"...1989 w the above amenities.
First snag was zoning....for "earthship" type building and most other alternates.....so a location is a big deal.

So...the thought of a buried container ...just dig into the side of the hill.....have a lot of hills....Easy Peasy time to write a DYI and do a vid

Found out that I needed to reinforce the sides....(cost ?)..even if I don't do a dirt covered roof. Strike one.

Then to purchase a container....around here 4-6K...then hire a semi to deliver...getting it here and to a location, most would need a crane. Strike two.

So now if I get past the codes and reinforcements...I have a box in a hole for 10K plus......

For house conversion:
No furnishing, no wiring, water, plumbing, windows interior work (need metal work tools) .....Just my well and septic (had perk) was 4.5 K well, 7K for septic and drain field....so we are up to about 21K with out the land.....

So, maybe good for a project....but too many road blocks for Joe Blow Public...IMO and experience.

BTW ended up with a 16' X 40 log cabin delivered to the site.....for less than the cost my pick up at the time.
Worked for me.......

[kyratshooter]

Yea, these folks seem to be living in areas with zero zoning enforcement and have unlimited money to throw at their projects.

The only way this could be done around here is to declare it a storage building and if they caught you living in it they would condemn the property and arrest you.

In my area you would not get the hole dug before the zoning people were nailing "stop work orders" and setting a court date, and I am rural.

The equipment operators would not even go on site without a building permit, and you will not get one for a buried container.

First plans submitted, then perk test, then building permit, then septic tank, then electric hook up, then construction with inspections at the assigned points of completion. Any of those things out of order or left out and work stops at county orders.

And they have those laws in place just to keep crap like this from being built.

In my area it costs 25K just to prep a lot for parking a house trailer on your land, not including the cost of the trailer. That is done just to discourage parking trailers behind Mom and Dad's place and waiting for them to die so you can move into the big house.

[hunter63]

....................

In my area it costs 25K just to prep a lot for parking a house trailer on your land, not including the cost of the trailer. That is done just to discourage parking trailers behind Mom and Dad's place and waiting for them to die so you can move into the big house.

............You mean the Double Wide?

[Wise Old Owl]

I had always thought that a shipping container would make a good "dug into the side of a hill, storage for Older Jeep, and gear and secure supplies.

I bought my property with the idea that a earth berm dwelling would be energy efficient, and security against tornados....one threat in our area.
Looked for a long time for reasonable priced south facing hill side on a water (river).

Add to this is road access, water at a reasonable depth, perk for septic, access to the grid...easier to build stuff with power...can always shut it off.

Found "The Place"...1989 w the above amenities.
First snag was zoning....for "earthship" type building and most other alternates.....so a location is a big deal.

So...the thought of a buried container ...just dig into the side of the hill.....have a lot of hills....Easy Peasy time to write a DYI and do a vid

Found out that I needed to reinforce the sides....(cost ?)..even if I don't do a dirt covered roof. Strike one.

Then to purchase a container....around here 4-6K...then hire a semi to deliver...getting it here and to a location, most would need a crane. Strike two.

So now if I get past the codes and reinforcements...I have a box in a hole for 10K plus......

For house conversion:
No furnishing, no wiring, water, plumbing, windows interior work (need metal work tools) .....Just my well and septic (had perk) was 4.5 K well, 7K for septic and drain field....so we are up to about 21K with out the land.....

So, maybe good for a project....but too many road blocks for Joe Blow Public...IMO and experience.

BTW ended up with a 16' X 40 log cabin delivered to the site.....for less than the cost my pick up at the time.
Worked for me.......

Hey Hunter - maybe he has a larger circle of friends. Possibly he can wrap his head around it, I noticed he had misgivings about not using three containers... I am seeing these containers showing up on farms for storage... just saying... If I needed to move back into the tornado triangle... I would do this!

[Wise Old Owl]

Yea, these folks seem to be living in areas with zero zoning enforcement and have unlimited money to throw at their projects.

The only way this could be done around here is to declare it a storage building and if they caught you living in it they would condemn the property and arrest you.

In my area you would not get the hole dug before the zoning people were nailing "stop work orders" and setting a court date, and I am rural.

The equipment operators would not even go on site without a building permit, and you will not get one for a buried container.

First plans submitted, then perk test, then building permit, then septic tank, then electric hook up, then construction with inspections at the assigned points of completion. Any of those things out of order or left out and work stops at county orders.

And they have those laws in place just to keep crap like this from being built.

In my area it costs 25K just to prep a lot for parking a house trailer on your land, not including the cost of the trailer. That is done just to discourage parking trailers behind Mom and Dad's place and waiting for them to die so you can move into the big house.

Yup I agree... and he bypassed a lot of it.. as there was not a code...

[Wise Old Owl]

found a better one

[hunter63]

There are a lot of them out there.
Doomsday Preppers even a two story Fort/compound in the NatGeo program.

http://channel.nationalgeographic.co...tainers-46916/

Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

"We don' need no stinking building codes"......

Note mandatory school busses.

[Wise Old Owl]

Uh yea - I was trying very hard not to show preppers as a minority group of deadbeats or losers... I was attempting to upscale the thread as both video's talk about the hardships of dealing with the building codes and crap of getting authorization to do these projects... The above examples show Solar - Water Collection - dealing with septic and not using worn out school busses. I was hoping to move on from a "Waco" like thread.


Waco before the siege.

516a488c45b8d.image.jpg

[hunter63]

Uh yea - I was trying very hard not to show preppers as a minority group of deadbeats or losers... I was attempting to upscale the thread as both video's talk about the hardships of dealing with the building codes and crap of getting authorization to do these projects... The above examples show Solar - Water Collection - dealing with septic and not using worn out school busses. I was hoping to move on from a "Waco" like thread.



Waco before the siege.

516a488c45b8d.image.jpg

No worries....Nat Geo already did that.

You do need to be aware that most of the world will view a "container building" as "alternate" housing, as much as you try to shine it up...they are what they are.

So, you can call it a "Tiny House" and sell anything.
Last week on the program one option of the three Tiny Houses for consideration appeared a 80's travel trailer....worth $400 buck to most any one ....but call it a "Tiny House", jumps to $30 K.

[WalkingTree]

A 'tiny house' is intrinsically the kind of thing that a person should be able to build on their own. And not spend so much. If they can't figure out how...creative ways to make things efficient and minimal...then they probably couldn't live the lifestyle in the first place.

I have an awesome design in my head for a SHTF prepper container setup, that really would be defensible and completely self sufficient for decades into a post apocalyptic time...but I'd probably never build it because of codes and permits. It would get quite involving and ridiculous.

[Wise Old Owl]

I get it... but if you wanted to set up a young family member in a "inexpensive" situation. The local gov is a terrible hindrance. I watched first hand a local inspector kept a restaurant for opening for two months... reason? no raised braille men and woman bathroom signs. We need smart regulation. not stupid people that feel they are doing their job.

[crashdive123]

So why didn't the owners walk into the local office supply place and by the ADA compliant signs? Could've solved the problem in less than 15 minutes instead of two months. Not saying I agree with over regulation, goodness knows there is plenty of that.

[hunter63]

I agree with some of the "Over regelation" that seems common for a while now being well intentioned but can be a PITA.
Running into many situations where the laws good intention was actually a major road block.

Personally....ran into and got thru many of these building the "Place", our cabin.

Example: Road grade, relating to that hillside that the OP container building was built on.

There is a difference between a "agricultural access road"....and a "Residential Driveway".....
Difference is grade limits, and access angles and line of sight.

Although not spelled out I gonna guess that residential driveway is used more than a "ag. road"......and the nanny society protecting the populace sees the need to have much stricter regulations.

BUT...if the "ag road" happens to have a residence "on it" on the way to the "in use ag field"...at the time....is fine.
If the fields are no longer used...the road may still be OK as a "grandfathered road"....and the possibility that you "could" use the fields for ag again.
BUT if you are a city person, that tends to have distain for the locals, and are an azzwhole......you can believe the rules WILL be enforced to the full extent.

Sady that tendency to protect us from ourselves....gets to be a major PITA sometimes.

Interpretation is subjective regarding who, what, when, where, and why...of both the enforcer and enforce-ee.

Getting pulled over for a license plate light out,... being a reason to check you out?......Sound familiar.

I gonna say, that there may be a possibility that there more to the restaurant sign story.......Or it could be bureaucratic indifference and just laziness.
FYI......
Ken Kern....author of the "Owner built Home" books....(my favorite author of alternate building) ...was killed buy one of his unfinished projects during construction.
http://www.deatech.com/pipermail/cob...02/004657.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Kern

[adcoch1]

If you go through whatever necessary building inspections, alternative housing isn't impossible, but trying to skirt around zoning will get you every time. Having a project put together by an engineer can help a municipality pass off the liability if anything happens that can put the city, county, etc in hot water if someone gets hurt. Permitting is a lot easier when the municipality doesn't have to assume responsibility. There are companies already doing this all over the country, it just depends on how motivated you (and your wallet) are.

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