Realtor.com’s Angela Colley chats with shipping container home designer Susan Fredman, who, as chairman of Fredman Design Group and CEO of Stones Throw Builders, has designed over 40 homes—four of which were constructed using shipping containers.
Fredman reveals that the new obsession is much more complicated to create than may appear, as a shipping container home should ideally conceal the fact that it was built from one.
Typical shipping container homes can look foreign against the landscape. I own the property where the house sits and have built several other more traditional homes in the area. I wanted something that would blend well with the other homes, while still having that modern feel.
Fredman also outlines ways she made the construction process cheaper for her projects, which combined shipping containers and traditional stick building, with the traditional building done in the center.
You don’t have to do [the traditional building in the center], but it is the cheaper option. When you have a traditional foundation in the center, it is much easier (and cheaper) to run plumbing and electrical to the home.
Read more of the Q&A at Realtor.com >