Before anything else, most people planning a container home get stuck on one question: what size do I actually need? It matters, because the container size decides your floor space, your budget and how many units you will need to join. Here is the plain version.
The three sizes you will actually use
- 20ft standard is about 6 metres long, 2.4 metres wide and 2.6 metres tall on the outside. That is roughly 14 square metres of floor. Think a studio, a shop, a site office or a single room.
- 40ft standard is about 12 metres long, the same width and height. Roughly 28 square metres. A comfortable one-bed, or the base of a larger home.
- High-cube containers add about 30cm of height. It sounds small, but once you insulate and line the ceiling, that extra headroom is the difference between a home that feels normal and one that feels cramped. For living spaces we almost always recommend high-cube.
Remember: you lose a little space inside
The dimensions above are the outside of the steel box. Once you add insulation, framing and interior lining to the walls and ceiling, you lose a few centimetres all round. That is not a reason to skip the lining, it is what makes the home comfortable, but it is why the extra height of a high-cube is worth it, and why a 20ft feels cosy rather than roomy.
What fits in what
- 20ft: a smart studio, a shop or kiosk, a secure site office, or a single bedroom.
- 40ft: a genuine one-bedroom home with a proper living area, or a two-room workspace.
- Two or more containers joined: this is how you get two-bed and family homes. We cut out the shared wall, reinforce the opening, and the two boxes become one open space. There is almost no limit once you start combining.
So which should you choose?
Start from how you will live, not from the container. A single person or a rental studio is happy in a 20ft high-cube. A couple or a small family wants a 40ft, or two containers joined. A shop wants a 20ft with a good frontage. When in doubt, size up slightly: the cost of the next container is small next to the regret of a home that is too tight.
If you tell us how many people will use the space and what rooms you need, we will tell you exactly how many containers it takes and what it will cost, before you commit a shilling.
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