Every day clients ask me what is the best type of property on which to place a container home. As many start their quest to find land, this question comes up all the time. So what is the best type of property? There is no "best", but there is certainly "the easiest". When looking for land, the flatter the better. In many urban areas, the pieces of property that are left for sale tend to be on hillside. Sometimes they are also really cheap so many are drawn to them. However, be careful! Slope means that quite a bit of infrastructure needs to be added to make this property buildable. It can mean retaining walls, drainage issues, more expensive foundations etc...Is there room for a garage at the top? Is there a staging area for the containers? Room for a crane to operate? Another thing to watch out for is access: is the road leading to the property wide enough for a large flatbed truck? Are there electric wires right above the property? What is the tree situation like? Can we crane over the trees? Finally there is the question of services. Are there utilities at the street? Bringing power, water and sewer from neighboring properties costs a lot of money. In conclusion, although certain properties may appear to be attractive because of their price, one can end up by spending a ton more to make ready to be buildable. Do you have questions? Comments? Stories you want to share on this subject?
