Hinckle Container Home

Elements

2 Container(s)

Size

480 Foot²

Age

Built In 2016

Levels

2 Floor(s)
Address: 370 Boundary Road, Kalama, Washington
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 1
Units: 1

Note: Map location may not be exact. Click to open in Google Maps.

Hinckle Container Home

Description

The Hinckle Container Home, lovingly designed and built by Dave and Jaimie Hinckle, is a tiny container home with a big story behind it. Set on a picturesque homestead in Washington, this 480 square foot container house is a testament to the drive and motivation of DIYers.

Dave and Jaimie decided they wanted to downsize, move to a more rural area, and find a way to live mortgage-free. They sold their traditional home in Vancouver and purchased about 5 acres of land (which later grew to 12 acres) near tiny Kalama, Washington in Cowlitz County. The property sits in the southwest corner of the state, close to a river and covered in soaring trees.

They eventually came to call their property Highland & Company Acres, named after their Highland Cows that you can see in one of the pictures below in the gallery. But before they had the cows or the home, they had a lot of work to do. It all started with two containers (one 40 foot and one 20 foot), and the rest was history.

Luckily, we were able to get in touch with Jaimie and ask her a few questions about their container house. She is frank with the challenges and frustrations they experienced, but also offers some insights into common roadblocks like building permits.

What’s the background of your container home project?

It is totally permitted and legal for occupancy, and except for the foundation and dry walling, we designed and built the entire home by ourselves.

We have been blessed and we love our home, and the lifestyle it affords us to live and the memories we are able to make because we aren’t tied to a bunch of upkeep or a mortgage 🙂

It was a huge challenge, especially considering its size and the unique challenge with building codes, but we really enjoy it.

How did you get the idea of building your home with shipping containers?

My husband and I wanted something unique and different from what anyone else had.  I have always loved the aesthetics of metal and my husband has worked in the metal fabrication field for years.  I figured this was right up his alley – ‘honey, can you please build me one of these homes?’  kind of request.

He did have to test and qualify for his WABO welder certification to build our home.  This was just one of the many obstacles that we had to overcome to build it legally and permitted.  Thankfully, he was able to accomplish this quickly, and without a lot of difficulty.

Why did you decide to build your home out of shipping containers?

Before we settled on a shipping container home, we looked at many different options.  We had just purchased 5 acres in a rural area and wanted to build our home mortgage free so that we could get up to the property as quickly as possible and out of the townhouse we were living in at the time.

Ultimately, we decided on building our first home out of containers because it seemed the most cost effective method of reaching our goal. Little did we know the processes and hoops we would have to jump through to make our home legal and livable in our state of Washington.

How long did the home take to build?

From the time we decided that we were going to build our home out of containers, it took us 11 months.  This includes the design, which we did ourselves, to structural engineering that was required by our county Building and Planning department, to permits, fabrication, interior and exterior work.

We did all the work ourselves, except for the foundation, insulation and sheetrock – mostly because it was just as cost effective to sub these items out.

My husband and I spent every evening and weekend working on our home. We experienced a major setback when, about halfway through the project, my husband suffered a major brain bleed.  This delayed us a couple of months, but we were very blessed by our family and church friends who helped us to at least get the house weatherproofed during this time as we were headed into winter.

Part of his rehabilitation and therapy process was centered around some of the smaller projects he could accomplish on the home. This brought him both a sense of accomplishment and worked toward his overall recovery and return of function.

While this health crisis was not something we were prepared for, it brought us closer together, and made us realize just how blessed we were to be able to complete and finish our home, which only adds to our Shipping Container Home story.

Roughly how much did it cost to build?  Can you give us a high-level breakdown?

This really was the most shocking part of the entire project; nothing is cheap when you are working with a unique metal home design.

We spent about $175 per square foot on our home, which doesn’t include any of our labor. We couldn’t repurpose as many materials as one would hope when building a home of this type, especially when trying to build it all to code.

(Editor’s Note: The $175/SF figure is based on the Net SF of 400SF not the Gross SF of 480SF. Calculated the more traditional way with Gross SF, the cost would be around $146/SF)

We are the first home in our county, and they struggled trying to fit our ‘metal box’ into their ‘round peg’ rules.  We were able to meet all existing codes, with the exception of our spiral staircase, which I had to go to the Washington State Building & Planning Commission for an allowance.

According to the current code, we could have had a Ship Ladder Stairwell, but our Spiral Stairwell had to have a special variance, which thankfully we were granted!

Can you talk about the process of building your home?  What were some of the highlights of the process?

We chose to go with one-trip containers.  Unfortunately, our 40-foot container was delivered with a gaping hole in the roof of it.  It was quite a job to get it repaired so that it still met our engineering requirements.

Probably the most time-consuming and expensive part of the build process was our windows.  Each window frame was fabricated with angle iron and square tube steel and then welded front and back on a flat surface to make the frame.

They were then welded front and back into the container walls, which is its own challenge. We then had to go through the long checklist of installing the windows so that they were completely waterproof around the sills.  This was a process of vapor barrier, caulking, foam board, stainless metal screws and finally cedar trim.

We then framed the interior walls with wooden 2 x 4’s, essentially building a wooden box inside a metal box.  The metal and wood couldn’t touch at any point, again because of condensation transfer. Once our electrical and plumbing were complete, we had our foam insulation blown in.

(Editor’s Note: This should actually be ‘heat transfer’, and is referring to thermal bridges.  Read our article here for more information.) 

Our finished home has a living room, full size galley kitchen, washer and dryer, full bathroom and small second bedroom in the 40-foot container main floor.  Up the spiral staircase into the 20-foot container is the master bedroom that opens out onto a 20-foot deck that overlooks our gorgeous Pacific Northwest valley.

How did you insulate the containers?

We used closed-cell spray foam to meet all county building & planning requirements for the walls, ceiling and floor.

This was very expensive and one of the things we would change if we could do it over.  The closed-cell foam was used as both a vapor barrier and insulation.  If we were to do it again, we would use a vapor barrier product (which we used in another container on the property as storage and have had no issues with condensation transfer) and then use a panel insulation.

(Editor’s Note: While we appreciate Jaimie’s thoughts, we recommend using closed-cell polyurethane spray foam in most circumstances, especially in containers used for habitation in cold climates.  Read here for our explanation about why this is so important)

We estimate this would have saved us about $5,000 in insulation costs.  But if we have learned anything about this project, it is that you literally learn as you go.

In your experience, what are the advantages of building with shipping containers?

Well, our home can withstand five times the wind that a typical wood home can ;).  Other than that, we would have to say that it has a definite wow factor and will be here long after we are gone.

Unfortunately, the process of building a home of this type is a challenge, and not for the faint of heart.

Would you recommend building with shipping containers?

Honestly, with what we spent building our tiny metal home, we could have had a very nice tiny wood home for half of the cost.

(Editor’s Note: It’s very easy to find yourself in an unfair apples-to-oranges comparison unless you have detailed line-item costs you can compare against, so take cost savings estimates like these with a grain of salt).

Yes, our home is unique, but logistically it was a very difficult process and not nearly as cost effective as we thought.

Ultimately though, we did achieve our goal of being mortgage free and living at our property in less than a year.  So we accomplished what we set out to do!  We really do love our home and most importantly, are enjoying the freedom it gives us to really live, take adventures, make memories and experience life with our family and each other.

With the challenges we faced building our home, including my husband almost dying, we realize that life is precious and time together is both valuable and such a blessing!

Conclusion

A special thanks to Jaimie for sharing the knowledge she gained through her build. Since we heard from her, the family has added a new 50-foot suspension bridge to the property that connects the 2nd floor of the container to a deck near the workshop. The workshop itself was added to the property as well and includes a small apartment in the back.

Dave and Jaimie have started renting the container (and the workshop apartment) out on Airbnb due to all the interest their container home has garnered over the years. So if you’re interested in enjoying the forest valley views yourself (and meeting the cows!), you can make a booking.

Finally, we’d like to clear up a few points. As the first container home in their area and somewhat early adopters of the concept in general, Dave and Jaimie had to deal with building officials and contractors who weren’t experienced with container home construction.

This not only slowed the pace of their work but increased the cost and led to a few errors and issues because everything was a first and there were no precedents. Costs were also probably affected by their rural location as well. All that to say, they probably could have built their home a bit cheaper.

As an example, they hired a structural engineer for $5,000 to design the foundation and get structural approval for the container modifications. Given the size of their home, this is much more expensive than should be expected. And their foundation and container stacking still had some issues they had to address with field changes during construction that added extra costs and time.

Even still, to Jaimie’s point, shipping containers aren’t always the best or cheapest building material to use for every project.  The merits of shipping container construction should be carefully balanced against the unique requirements of your particular build.

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