A steel box turned into a cool, dry home

Container homes in South Africa: sizes and types

Two sizes do most of the work:

• 20 ft: about 6.06 x 2.44 m outside, roughly 14.6 m², a room or studio.
• 40 ft: about 12.19 x 2.44 m, roughly 29.7 m², a one bedroom unit with a bathroom.
• High cube: about 2.9 m high instead of 2.59 m, worth it for ceilings and insulation.

Two or more containers side by side or stacked make a two or three bedroom home. Ask whether a container is one-trip or used, and check for rust and dents. Compare modular homes and park homes.

How to choose a conversion

Bare steel gets very hot in the sun and drips with condensation on cold nights, so a container home lives or dies by its insulation and ventilation.

• Insulation: in walls and roof, with an inside lining.
• A shade roof on its own poles over the container helps a lot in hot areas.
• Steel framing around every opening cut in the walls, because the walls carry the load.
• Coated steel and fixings near the coast, where salt air rusts bare metal.

Plans, base and delivery

A container you live in is a building, so it needs plans approved by the municipality under SANS 10400, and a permanent new home needs an NHBRC registered builder. Some councils ask for an engineer's sign-off on the cut openings. The base is usually concrete plinths or a slab, level and square.

A 40 ft unit needs a long truck and usually a crane, so check gate width, overhead cables, trees and where the truck can stand. A common mistake is choosing a cheap used box and paying later to fix rust.

Container homes price and what to ask

Published South African figures put a converted container home at about R7,000 to R11,000 per m², depending on finishes. A 40 ft unit of about 29.7 m² comes to roughly R210,000 to R330,000. Transport, crane, base, connections and council fees are usually extra. Ask each yard:

• one-trip or used, standard or high cube;
• the insulation type and thickness;
• what is fitted: bathroom, kitchen, wiring, geyser;
• the delivered price with the crane.

What to put in your request

• Say 20 ft or 40 ft, and how many units
• Ask whether the container is one-trip or used
• Say which fittings you want inside
• Ask for the insulation type and thickness
• Describe the access for a long truck and crane

Container Homes for different clients

• Homeowners: a one or two bedroom container home on your stand, or a studio behind the house
• Backyard landlords and families: insulated 20 ft container rooms to rent, each with a shower and toilet
• Farms and smallholdings: container staff housing or an off-grid cottage on a remote part of the farm
• Lodges, guest farms and resorts: container guest units with a deck and shade roof on a game farm
• Schools and creches: a container classroom, library or store dropped onto the school grounds
• Contractors and mines: container offices and sleeping units moved from one long project to the next
• Shops, offices and small businesses: a container shop, coffee kiosk or clinic room on a business stand
• Municipalities, churches and NGOs: container clinics and offices for municipalities in places without buildings

Frequently asked questions

Container Homes by province and city

• Gauteng
• Mpumalanga
• North West
• Limpopo
• Northern Cape
• Free State
• KwaZulu-Natal
• Eastern Cape
• Western Cape

• Johannesburg
• Pretoria
• Centurion
• Midrand
• Sandton
• Randburg
• Roodepoort
• Krugersdorp
• Randfontein
• Germiston
• Boksburg
• Benoni
• Kempton Park
• Alberton
• Vanderbijlpark
• Vereeniging
• Durban
• Pinetown
• Pietermaritzburg
• Richards Bay
• Newcastle
• Ladysmith
• Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth)
• East London
• Kariega (Uitenhage)
• Mthatha
• Cape Town
• Bellville
• Paarl
• Stellenbosch
• George
• Worcester
• eMalahleni (Witbank)
• Middelburg
• Secunda
• Mbombela (Nelspruit)
• Rustenburg
• Brits
• Klerksdorp
• Potchefstroom
• Mahikeng
• Polokwane
• Tzaneen
• Kimberley
• Upington
• Bloemfontein
• Welkom
• Sasolburg

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