Beware of Con Artists in Container Housing
I know there are a lot of con artists out there in the container housing business. Generally these guys are unlicensed people with little or no knowledge of construction that promise to build homes and other buildings from containers for an unrealistically low price. You need to read this article about Jodie Foster’s estranged father. It is the typical type of scam – the deal sounds too good to be true. Low cost housing with little effort using shipping containers. Sorry, it doesn’t work that way. Please be careful out there.
This sounds so familiar. Where have I heard this type of tale before? Oh if only I could name names.
Hope all is well, George. Keep up the good work. Can’t wait to see the CT home completed.
Cheers.
Oh yes, Jeremiah, I think we both are thinking of the same person. I’d like to name names too, but…
BTW, the CT home is almost done. One major issue is that the bottom rails of the top containers weren’t straight, and caused serious bowing issues where the containers joined together.
George
George, is that a common issue when repurposing used containers? I understand them being made of steel there can be some strange dimensional tolerances to overcome, but bowing of the structure seems a bit much.
It is a serious problem – there is a lot of stress locked into them from heat when they are welded together, and they tend to bow out of shape when the sides are cut off. I’ve seen it happen twice now, and it is really an issue.
Interesting. I wonder, if this happens during shop fabrication, if it wouldn’t bet better to join containers together first and then cut the panels out? Or do you think this would cause the welds to pop if the force is great enough?
This wouldn’t help, because you still would have them springing out of shape, and joining the containers together during fabrication would make cutting and welding difficult. Generally it’s handled by bracing the containers before they are cut.