Dad was an old school master builder and known for his quality workmanship. When his crews built a house, it was solid, boxy, and built to last. Before he could follow in his footsteps, the credit crunch of the 1960s hit, he closed shop and we farmed, but I’ve always been interested in developments in the construction industry.

Traditional structures are built with wood or steel frames, and with materials not being as plentiful as they once were, wood frames are no longer of the quality they used to be. I still have friends who are in the construction game and one is a drywall repairman. These days, one of his biggest frustrations is trying to hang drywall on frames that aren’t square and have warping in the studs. If the underlying structure is not square and flat, the finish may not look as good as it should. He often falls behind in his work while artificers are called in to adjust their work.

Also consider the time and use of materials in the construction of the frames, their assembly and finishing, all of which add to the cost of the structure. Also consider the foundation of the traditional structure, the many stumps to stabilize the floor or the concrete slab. Then there is the bug test and decay test to add to the costs.

Used shipping containers are built to carry 20-ton payloads, across the world’s oceans, without distorting or corroding. They’re built to precise measurements so they can be stacked on top of one another, loaded onto trucks, trains and ships, and precisely locked in place so they don’t shift in transit. They are designed so that they can carry their payload of 20 tons supported only on the four corners of the container, without deforming and I repeat, they can be stacked one on top of the other. They are sealed to be weather resistant and secure to prevent break-ins and theft.

Of course, they have been used for some time for storage sheds and offices on construction sites, because they can be easily relocated without damage. They are designed to be lifted and moved by cranes and forklifts. In places like Papua New Guinea, they are used as corner stores due to the security they offer as burglar and burglar proof structures. They are built to be safe.

Mining companies have seen the benefits of using shipping containers as accommodation for their workers in mines for some time, as they can be outfitted in a shop, transported to a mine, and quickly set up and inhabited.

There has recently been discussion that the use of shipping containers as housing could be a useful alternative to housing the poor and homeless, but the criticism has been that this will create ghettos of poor housing, creating more problems than it would solve.

I would suggest that the humble shipping container represents the biggest revolution in the construction industry for some time. As other materials become less available and the problems described above persist and increase, shipping containers, which have outlived their original purpose, litter shipyards around the world. They are ready-to-use housing modules, awaiting discovery and use. They are inexpensive building blocks, stronger and more durable than traditional materials and methods, that can be erected faster and with greater precision than our current housing styles.

When placed on solid foundations, they are cyclone/hurricane proof, would better survive earthquakes and landslides and can be used both above and below ground level.

Of course there are some limitations. Modules predominantly come in 8-foot widths and 10- or 40-foot lengths. Cutting them smaller would compromise the strength of your design. They already come at standard ceiling height for housing. However, the sidewalls can be opened for larger living areas, but layouts must be multiples of standard shipping container dimensions. And of course they look like shipping containers, unless of course, with a bit of imagination, you clad them like you would any other form of housing. And there will be some building authorities for whom these are beyond their ability to perceive the benefits and approve them.

Realistically, the limitations are just our lack of imagination in using these amazing building blocks for safer, greener, and cheaper shipping container homes. They have been approved as housing structures and additions in various authorities around the world and any change requires effort to achieve.

For those who can catch the vision, here is an opportunity waiting to be explored further.