San Antonio has an esitmated shortage of some 140,000 housing units, needed to deal with the city's growth, and one company is meeting that demand by making homes out of shipping containers, the same kind you might see on the back of a truck or on a train, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Phillip Aguilar is CEO of Done and Done Property Solutions, and he says he plans to construct more than 100 single family and multi family homes out of shipping containers on the city's East Side.
"With the style of build we're doing, it actually cuts the time to build down by 60%," he said. "With this style of build, we can be done two to three times as fast"He says a shipping container home can be completed in 2-3 weeks, compared to the 4-8 months it usually takes to complete standard home construction.
He says the homes are eco-friendly, and he points out that because the basic frame of the home is already built, money that would have gone into parts of the buildings that are never seen can be spent on top quality amenities.
"It doesn't take much to finish them out with a higher end finish, depending on what people are looking for," Aguilar said. "So you can go with the more modern look, or you can go with more industrial, which is very popular."
He says a 1,0000 to 1,200 square foot home, which is the most popular among both retiring empty nest Baby Boomers and among Millennials, can be guilt out of four shipping crates. He says the cost of a 1,000 square foot shipping crate home is $70,000 less than the exact some home built from the foundation up.
This isn't new technology. Shipping crates are increasingly being used to deal with housing pressures across the world.
He says the lower cost and quick build will be a good way to deal with the city's growing housing crunch, which in some cases is driving up housing costs and leaving families homeless.
And one added benefit: Aguilar says in today's fast moving society, with people moving more than ever, when it is time to get that new job, you can literally pick up your home, put it on the back of a flatbed truck, and move it with you.
PHOTO COURTESY: DONE AND DONE PROPERTY SOLUTIONS