Static caravans fill a need. Owning one seems to indicate status and standing as, for the ordinary working-class person, the static caravan is a holiday home.  It’s somewhere you can go at a moment’s notice, it’s a treat for your children and their families and it can be a money-earner.

But they are not cheap.

Container homes are as good as the real thing.  In fact, they’re actually better.

As a result of an increase in exports from China, there is an abundance of shipping containers and, as they are usually used only once, these containers are therefore in almost new condition.  They come in a variety of sizes: the standard size is 20’ x 7’ x 7’6” high, though there are also shorter and longer ones available.  Made of non-toxic steel, these shipping containers are not only environmentally friendly but also corrosion-proof and resistant to climatic weather extremes. A perfect example is a container home which was being used as a research centre in the dense rainforest adjoining the World Heritage Centre in Queensland, Australia.  Unfortunately, Cyclone Larry with winds speeds of up to 180 mph hit the rainforest in March 2006 and, although the makeshift roof that the researchers had put onto the containers was destroyed, the containers weren’t damaged at all. (http://earthsci.org/education/fieldsk/container/container.html)

I’m not sure the same can be said for static caravans.  News reports in the past have spoken of caravans being knocked off their footings during gale-force winds and, with time, the roofs do rain in.

Professionally recycled shipping containers are more than holiday homes.  The sky really is the limit.  They can be used as student accommodation, granny flats, disaster relief accommodation and even sales offices on building sites.

Today, there is growing demand for affordable accommodation but house prices are just not within the average person’s price range.  Container homes made from recycled shipping containers could fill that need and there are professionals who turn these into prefabricated houses in one-third of the time of a regular build. One standard container is ideal for a single person, though these containers can be stacked or attached alongside each other, to create bigger container homes.

Taking green issues into account, these modular buildings benefit the environment and local government are keen to take this approach.  A container home can be ready for use in as little as twenty weeks after the paperwork has been completed and the experts out there help you with that, as well!