Development Group Using Shipping Containers to Make Homes.

In Newark, NJ a development group is using eighteen shipping containers to make homes. They are going to create a multi-family dwelling on a vacant lot.  They are building it in hopes of it serving as a model for urban development for other cities across the United States.

     The developers have proposed using the steel boxes to create a three-family house. The homes will have three bedrooms and two bathrooms in each home.  This is not the first time that shipping containers have been utilized to create multifamily homes. They are in use in Washington, D.C. and Connecticut. The developers are hoping that this project will jump start development in New Jersey. If you use shipping container construction, you open up many options to families especially in urban areas.

     The units have been designed be energy efficient. Each particular unit will be built from five shipping containers and then three will be used for the stairway.  The developers hope that this construction will cost 15 percent less than a wood-framed home. The units cost are expected to sell for a range of $225,000 to $250,ooo.

     These containers are a great way to recycling things for useful purposes instead of having them build up in mountains. Repurpose and reuse. The shipping containers have been used as retail space in NJ. The developer hopes with this construction, that other towns will consider similar projects to break from the usual ways of home construction.