An Expert Guide to Building a Shipping Container Office

1. April 20, 2018 An Expert Guide to Building a Shipping Container Office If you are looking for ways to lower the cost of building an office, consider using shipping containers as your base material. Not only do these metal boxes cost way lesser than traditional materials, but they are also easy to work with and install. Before you start shopping around for shipping containers, however, there are a few things you need to keep in mind. Page | 1

2. Find a Trusted Supplier Unless you live near a seaport or want to build your shipping container office close to one, you will find only a handful of shipping container suppliers in your area. Chances are the boxes have to be delivered to you from off the coast, which could be hundreds of miles away. This is why you need to be careful when choosing a supplier. They have to be able to transport the shipping containers safely and on schedule to your chosen location for your office. Luckily for you, though, there are suppliers like Equipment Management Services that have off-dock shipping container storage and maintenance facilities in Houston. This means you don’t have to drive all the way to the coast just to find units that will suit your needs. Choose a Good Spot After finding a property that has access to major roads and establishments, the next step is to find a spot on that property where you can put up your office. As much as possible, choose a spot where the trucks that carry your shipping containers and the crane that will unload them can park with ease. Even though shipping containers are much lighter than concrete, they still need sufficient ground support, so make sure the spot has tough soil. If the ground is soft, you will have to pin piles to hold up the foundation. Leave Original Features Alone You may be thinking of fully polishing and refurbishing the shipping containers from the inside out. While this seems a great idea, it might cost a fortune. Since you’re trying to cut down on building cost, which is why you chose to use shipping containers in the first place, it would be better to just leave the original features, at least the exterior, untouched. After all, your office will look way cooler when it’s concealed in an unsuspecting façade. Cut and Support To build a bigger office, you need a couple or more units. You just have to cut out the sides to create an open floor plan. Keep in mind, though, that the sides you cut originally provides additional support to the columns of the containers, so removing them may jeopardize your office’s structural stability. Add more bracing, beams, and columns depending on how many levels you intend your office building to have. Page | 2

3. Energy Efficiency Shipping containers are made of steel, which is a very good conductor of heat. They can easily warm up in a sunny day and cool down in winter. So make sure to properly insulate your building from the inside. Using large single pane windows may also help reduce your energy cost as they can provide natural lighting during the day. About Equipment Management Services: EMS is a local container sales company that operates off-dock container storage and maintenance facilities in Houston. Having a combined footprint of over 80 acres proximate to the port locations, we are one of the largest shipping container suppliers in the US Gulf region. Whether you need high-quality units for your shipping business or used ones for your shipping container office construction project, we can deliver. Sources: Building an Office Of Shipping Containers, NPR.org Top 10: Shipping Container Offices, ContainerHomePlans.org Page | 3