As a seasoned registered architect, I have worked with other architects, engineers, contractors, builders who specialize in shipping container house construction, building officials, construction cost estimators, and developers who has helped me with the creation of the Construction Cost Calculator.
This construction cost calculator may appear simple. But, you will find that it is a powerful tool when determining the estimated construction budget for your shipping container building.
Whether you are a potential shipping container home owner, contractor, banker, or a developer, you will find that this tool will save you time can help you determine where your money can be most wisely spent.
You can download for free at “Construction Cost Calculator for Shipping Container Homes.”
Also, be sure to share the link of this article with this free offer to your friends, spouse, architect, engineer, contractor and banker so they can work along with you when figuring out the construction cost of your shipping container building.
Here is How to Use the Construction Cost Calculator Most Effectively
After you downloaded your Construction Cost Calculator for Shipping Container Homes, you will need to fill in the boxes that apply to your unique building design.
Not all of the line items you will find on the Construction Cost Calculator will apply to your project.
At the line items that do apply to your project, just fill in the quantity and the unit price. The Construction Cost Calculator will do all the other number crunching for you.
Where to Get the Quantities of Each Item
Walls:
Most of the interior walls will be 8′-6″high in all high cube shipping containers. The standard (non-high cube) shipping container’s ceiling and wall height is only 7′-6″. So, use a high cube.
Just multiply the perimeter of the room and the height of the walls, which is probably 8′-6″ in your case. This will give you the quantity of the walls.
Use this number in the line item for the drywall, tiled walls, painted walls, masonry walls, siding on walls, etc.
Foundations, Floors, Ceilings and Roof Decks:
This quantity can be easily found by multiplying the length and the width of the floor plan, ceiling plan, or roof plan.
Individually Pre-built Item Like Doors, Windows, Plumbing Fixtures, Lighting, Appliances:
Just count the number of these items and put that number in the line item for them.
Where to Get the Unit Costs of the Division Items
The unit costs of the various construction products used in each of the divisions can be from a lot of different sources.
Here are some ways to get them:
- Go to my blog post that has many of the key unit costs already figured out for you at “How Much are Shipping Container Homes?”
- Search the internet. There are some websites that will give unit costs of various items. This is especially true with finishes like tile, wood flooring, painting, and roofing
- From retail stores. In the US, we have a couple of large construction supply chains such as Home Depot and Lowe’s. The prices at these establishments might be higher than what you might find from more local shops. That leads to the next bullet point…
- Call wholesale/retail suppliers that commercial contractors shop in bulk for construction materials.
- Call a contractor that has built shipping container homes. They will already have many of unit costs you are looking for.
- Call an architect. They may also have access to a very useful series of books called RSMeans Data. There are a lot of helpful books in their series. You can buy, and sometimes rent, these books at RDMeans Data.
The Construction Cost Calculator for Shipping Container Homes is organized in a very logical way. It follows the Construction Specifications Institute’s MasterFormat’s organized order of steps in construction they call “Divisions.”
Construction Specifications Institute’s MasterFormat of Divisions
Construction Specifications Institute, CSI for short, publishes MasterFormat. It breaks down all of the important elements to construct a building.
The Masterformat has been around since 1974 and is the most commonly used format in the specifications of the buildings.
The original list started with 16 divisions. And, throughout the years, the number of divisions continue to expand.
The MasterFormat’s List of Divisions Follow the Order Most Buildings are Built
The reason the divisions are numbered is because the topic of each numbered division precedes the following division’s topic in the actual process of building a building.
The MasterFormat’s List of Divisions Most Commonly Used in Building Specifications
- Division 00 – Procurement and Contracting Requirements
- Division 01 – General Requirements
- Division 02 – Site Construction
- Division 03 – Concrete
- Division 04 – Masonry
- Division 05 – Metals
- Division 06 – Wood, Plastics, Composites
- Division 07 – Thermal and Moisture Protection
- Division 08 – Openings
- Division 09 – Finishes
- Division 10 – Specialties
- Division 11 – Equipment
- Division 12 – Furnishings
- Division 13 – Special Construction
- Division 14 – Conveying Equipment
- Division 15 – Mechanical (Plumbing and HVAC)
- Division 16 – Electrical
The list above is only an abbreviated list. There are many more that will not normally pertain to a standard shipping container house.
