A Container Home In The Woods

The Internet has been blowing up with stories of a container home in the woods. So naturally I needed to find out what all of the fuss was about.

Twenty nine year old Canadian Joseph Dupuis started planning his home in the woods in 2010. He would spend an hour or so each day sketching out the plans, before finally taking the leap in 2012. He purchased the 3-20′ used shipping containers for $3400CAD each, and began the process of turning the boxes into a livable home after 3 months of 14-hour work days.

The finished home sits of part of his family’s farm about 35 miles west of Ottawa, Canada. Dupuis, who does renewable energy research at Algonquin College in Ottawa, wanted a home that allowed him to live off the grid as much as possible. The repurposed shipping containers are connected in the middle, and when the doors are closed, they look like 3 containers sitting oddly out in the middle of nowhere. It’s only after you open the doors do you see it’s actually a house with a deck in front.

And what a cool house it is!

The 325 square foot home has 9 325-watt solar panels to provide electricity and since there is no plumbing, Dupuis relies on a neighbor to supply water which he stores in a bin behind the house. The winters can get pretty brutal in that part of Canada, but through insulation, a wood-burning fireplace and heated floors, that hasn’t been a problem.

Dupuis has now moved out of the house and listed it for sale, with the current asking price of $58,000CAD. He has plans to add a 4th container on top of the current 3 to add bedroom that will allow him to have a sky view. Since the house is meant to be portable, the price doesn’t come with the land, so you’ll have to move it to your own location. But with shipping containers, that’s much easier than with other types of pre-fab or modular homes. Aside from the front porch, the houses can be lifted from its foundation via a crane and moved in about an hour with a Hiab truck.

“I want to help as many people as I can get out of the pocket of big banks and make people more self-sufficient,” he told HuffPost. “I see my friends buying $400,000 houses and they’re in debt for the next 35 years. It’s pretty backwards — we don’t need these expensive homes and all this stuff we have in our lives.” 

“It’s very, very simple living,” Dupuis said. “Take out the utilities and mortgages…it’s about community. That’s the most important thing to me.”

Long term, Dupuis would like to turn this into a business — manufacturing low-cost pre-fabricated housing made from used shipping containers. We think he’s off to a great start.

Has this article motivated you to create your own shipping container home in the woods? Or perhaps an smaller version of what you see here in Canada? Sourcing from sellers worldwide just got a whole lot easier. Whether you’re in Ottawa or Ossining, the Shipped.com Marketplace connects buyers and sellers from all over the world, enabling you to get the lowest price possible along with the fastest delivery time. You can sign up in seconds and within minutes sellers worldwide will be sending you their very best offers on exactly what you’re looking for. You’ll have your choice of the highest quality shipping containers at the lowest possible prices. Visit the Shipped.com Marketplace and submit your container request now.

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Thanks to Japhet Alvarez of S7vn Photography for the great photos.

A Container Home In The Woods

A view inside

You can see a shower, kitchen and fireplace

With the doors open, the home appears

The dining area and kitchen

Plenty of ambient light

With the doors closed, it looks like 3 containers on a deck

In the winter

Notice the corrugated container roof, left uncovered. Nice touch!

Looks cozy to us

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