Shipping Container House Construction

Shipping containers can be used to build houses and have become a mature modular construction model. Here are the details:

Construction Method

The complete house is disassembled into standardized modules and transformed based on shipping containers. Most construction processes, including the main structure, water and electricity pipelines, bathroom waterproofing, bathroom fixtures, cabinets, and wardrobes, are completed inside the factory with a manufacturing precision consistently controlled between 1 and 2 millimeters. Afterward, the modules are transported to the project site and assembled like building blocks to form a complete building. For example, the three-story multi-purpose office building in the Nantong COSCO Shipping Shipyard area was precisely assembled from 96 specially made housing containers. The container manufacturing took 6 days, and the on-site assembly took 5 days, completing the building construction in just 11 days.

Advantages and Characteristics

• Fast Construction Speed: A parallel operation model is adopted, with multiple processes carried out simultaneously, shortening the construction period by more than 60% compared to traditional construction. For instance, a modular elderly care apartment manufactured in China and purchased by British merchants was hoisted and installed on-site in just two weeks after arriving at the UK port; the MRDC modular hotel project by China Construction Science and Engineering Corporation in Papua New Guinea had a traditional construction delivery cycle of 14 to 18 months, while the modular solution took only about 7 months in total.
• Lower Cost: The cost of a 40-foot container is usually much lower than that of traditional building materials with a similar square footage; the steel waste from standardized CNC cutting in the factory is only 3% to 5%, while the waste of building materials on traditional construction sites is between 8% and 12%; lightweight steel structure modules can also significantly reduce the consumption of foundation materials, lowering the amount of foundation materials used by 60% to 70%.
• Controllable Quality: Manufactured on a factory assembly line, it is less affected by environmental factors, resulting in more stable quality.
• Flexible and Diverse: Spaces can be flexibly combined according to needs, equipped with a complete water and electricity system, suitable for long-term residence or commercial use; it can also be designed into special functional containers with special structures such as insulation layers and fireproof materials, suitable for extreme climate conditions or special industry needs.

Application Scenarios

It can meet the needs of both temporary and permanent buildings. In the field of engineering construction, it can serve as workers' dormitories and project office buildings; in urban public services, it can be used as emergency shelters and mobile police stations; in the commercial field, it can be transformed into characteristic homestays and mobile shops.