Are Permits Required to Build a DIY Shipping Container Home?

Written by Larry Lane in Container Basics

Most communities require the home owner to obtain permits before they are allowed to build their shipping container home.

Depending upon the municipality, the home owner will be required to submit various documents to be reviewed by officials. The officials will issue permits if they are satisfied the design complies with all the codes and laws.

DYI shipping container home builders will need to obtain various types of permits before building. Some permits can include building, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection, along with approvals from aesthetic and/or historic landmark commissions.

Some project types and municipalities require you to hire an architect and/or engineer to prepare signed and sealed drawings and specifications in order to obtain permits.

If you are considering to hire an architect help you design your new shipping container home, be sure to read the post that discusses what architects do to make it worthwhile hiring them. Here is the blog link: https://liveinacontainer.com/do-you-need-an-architect-to-build-a-container-house/

Sometimes, a home owner can prepare and submit documents for permits by themselves and without an architect’s signed and sealed set of documents.

When an Architect is Not Required to Design Your Home

In some cities, like New York City, you will always need an architect or engineer to sign and seal the permit set of drawings if you are planning to build a new building or alter an existing one.

But, that is not true in all municipalities.

I was looking at my local municipal’s building department website to see what type of projects can be done without an architect or engineer. You should do that too.

In my town, a home owner can do construction, plumbing, and electrical work on their own home without an architect or an engineer.

The home owner will need to do their own drawings and follow all applicable codes. Check with your local authorities to find out what codes and laws (and which edition) will need to be followed.

In much of United States, here is a list of commonly required codes to follow:

Here are some of the items to be sent to the officials in your municipalities that are usually required from the home owner before permits can be issued.

The Use Group per the State Code designation.

So, you will need to know the enough about the state building codes in order to include this information.

The local zoning map will also help you at finding the Use Group designation of your property.

Floor Area and Cubic Volume of the home.

This will require accurate floor plans and building sections. More about that below.

Floor Plans

Some home owners will hire a draftsperson to draw up the floor plan. Then, the owner will need to sign off on it as if it was done under to watchful eye of the home owner for accuracy.

Be sure that the floor plan is dimensioned accurately.

Those dimensions will need to agree with the floor area and cubic volume that you reported in the bullet point above.

The building will also need to be accurately dimensioned to show that it does not take up more area of the property than what the local zoning laws permit.

Dimensions are also important to make sure that the building is within set back requirements and is not over the property lines.

Cross-section of all proposed walls and partitions to indicate ceiling heights and finishes

Cross-sections are drawings that show what the house looks like if you were to cut with an imaginary knife through the home and look into it like you would look at the back side of a doll house.

It will show the floors, walls, ceilings, and how the roof is supported on the walls.

The building officials will want to know what the floors, walls, ceilings, and roofs are built with.

This might require details of the floors, walls, ceilings, and roofs so the building official will know if they are code compliant.

The codes will often dictate how much load those items needs to support. The loads can be vertical, like the dead load weight of the building products, or live load weight of people walking on or in the building.

Another live load could be the snow or rain weight on the roof.

The building official will want to know the height of the ceilings because the building codes have limits to how low they can be.

The finishes are also requested by this municipality. Choose finishes that comply with the current requirements that may include materials that do not have asbestos, lead, or other carcinogens in them.

Show How Walls, Doors, Floors, and Ceilings Provide Separation with Fire Resistant Materials

Details have been drawn by various entities like Underwriter Laboratories (“UL” for short), that show how many hours different assemblies resist fire.

Often, the municipality will want to see the official testing number that shows how the construction assembly complies with the building code’s fire rating requirements.

Here is a great resource that I use a lot to find fire rated assemblies of walls, floors, ceilings and roofs built with gypsum board products: https://www.usg.com/content/usgcom/en/design-studio/wall-assemblies.html

Show Any Proposed Plumbing fixture Plan and Riser Diagram

The size of waste and supply piping of plumbing fixtures is very important. Be sure to provide the sizes that will allow proper flow. The building codes will help you find this.

All natural gas fixtures require piping sizes too.

Show the Electrical Layout

To obtain a permit for the electrical work, you will need to provide a single line electrical circuit plan, switch, outlet and fixture plan, sub-panel location, amperage of sub-panel, panel labeling plan of each circuit and a reflective ceiling plan.

In order for a home owner to produce this information, the home owner will need to have quite a lot of knowledge about electricity.

Site Plan

Show a scaled plan of how the building will fit on the site. This relates to the comments about the floor plan above.

Show the Door and Window Information

The location and size of all the doors and windows will need to be indicated on the floor plan. Often there are schedules or tables that list all of the doors and windows with their locations, size, materials, and hardware.

If any of these doors or windows need to have special components to them, like fire rated, special glass, different frame material, then the drawings will need to show that too.

This section will also include details of the doors and window. Often, our architectural drawings will include details at the head, jamb, and sill or thresholds.

Show Location of Furnaces, Boilers, etc.

If the home is to have a furnace, boiler, water heater, or other appliances, then the permit set of drawings should indicate where they are to be installed. The drawings will also show what source of energy it will require (electric, natural gas, etc.).

This information may trigger the need to provide more information as to how the room that houses these appliances will be fire rated.

Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detectors

The Building codes will also direct where smoke and carbon monoxide detectors need to be placed throughout the house.

All municipalities have their own rulings. So, be sure to check with them to stay current with their requirements.

Landscaping

Some areas restrict what type of planting can be placed around your home. Some plants can thrive in some areas better than others. So, be careful to choose planting that will not only complement the design of the home but will also survive the climate and soil that it is planted.

They also may be concern with how many existing plants can be removed from the property.

Site lines can also be affected by the placement of plants. While planting is great for creating privacy, the municipality will not be to welcoming of a large plant that hides their street signs from the roadways.

Foundations

Depending upon the type of soil, design of the home, and the loads that will be placed on the ground, the foundation will need to be designed to serve the needs of the designed home.

The building official will want to know what materials are to be used and dimension of the home foundation. Even if you are a home owner who will be preparing drawings for permits, it is highly recommended that you hire a structural engineer to design the foundation for your home. (That is true with all structural components of your home design).

Fire Egress

The building codes stipulate how many openings will be needed to get out of the house in case it catches on fire.

Certain sizes of doors and windows are also required.

There will also be a concern about what type of door hardware you select.

Does the Design Look Great to the Officials?

Some municipalities have review boards that need to approve the aesthesis of the home.

Does it blend in with the look of the community?

Does it respect the natural terrain?

Does it help preserve the historic character of the community?

These are just some of the questions that some municipalities will ask before they allow you to receive a permit and build your shipping container home.

Zoning Ordinances and Laws

All municipalities have their own zoning ordinances or laws. With this, the heights, density, and lot coverage is controlled.

Handicapped Accessibility

Check with the local authorities because some may require the home to be accessible to the handicapped.

Maybe the home owner is physically impaired and will need special design elements in teh home to ake the home more suitable to their lifestyle.

If the home does not have all the items required for the handicapped to live in the home, then some municipalities will still require the walls to have blocking (additional hidden supports) for future handrails and altered countertop of adjusted heights.

Inspections

Once the permits are issued. Be sure to know when inspections need to take place. Some officials will want to inspect the construction midway into the construction process and then at the end.

Once the project is complete and the final inspection is done, be sure to keep the approved inspection decals in a folder for future audits.

Use an Architect for an Easier and Smoother Process

As you can see, there are a lot of moving parts and things that need to be considered and coordinated before permits can be obtained for construction.

It is highly recommended to hire an architect to take care of all these requirements. Their fees will be well worth it.

Larry Lane

Larry is the creator of "Live in a Container." He is a registered architect who has designed buildings for over 3 decades and is passionate about creating spaces for people.

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