- Do you have or require DA approval for your container house?
- Do you require DA approval for your container house? unfortunately we can’t answer this question, this is a question you will need to address with your local council
- We have DA approved container houses which have an internal ceiling height above 2400mm, this is usually the determining factor in these houses for passing DA requirements, if there are other DA requirements like roofing, insulation, BAL ratings etc, we will try to help meet those requirements in designing your house where possible.
- We can also supply a trailer to pass most councils ‘mobility’ requirements for the ‘standard’ size houses, again you will need to ensure that ‘mobility’ is the only point you need to pass if council do come and inspect your house, and ensure the trailer we provide also meets the requirements.
- In some cases it may end up being cheaper and easier to get DA approval, and purchase the oversize container rather than buying a trailer.
- Unfortunately we can’t advise which is the best option, and we are unable to assist with any DA enquiries, we can however provide blueprints to help with DA’s and planning if that is the option you go with.
- Truck Access
- Check that you have access to, or close enough to, where you want your house to be placed, even if the house will be lifted into place later, the delivery trucks still need to be able to safely offload the container onto your property.
- Crane lifting
- check If you require a crane to lift your container into place once it has been delivered, even if you have the trailer it may be easier to have everything craned exactly where you need it, we can help with orgnising one for you in most cases, or we can at least provide the weights and measurements to book your own crane when you need it.
- Piers and supports – Supporting and opening the house
- Whether you have opted for the trailer or not, it is highly recommended that you have piers either in place to support the wings to open (these are required) or if you do not have a trailer, have the piers established ready to support the central core of the container before the house arrives, to which we can supply pier footing plans for all sizes of our container houses, or at least plan to have the wing support piers leveled and built in place once the house is ready to open if you do purchase the trailer.
- The container house does come with leveling feet, but this only provides minimal air gap under the house if placed directly on the ground or slab, we recommend a gap of at least 500mm or more between the house and the ground/slab, this is to remove likelihood of animals setting up home, and also to give you access under the house to all your plumbing and electricals for any future maintenance.
- Plumbing – Sewerage
- The container house typically comes with a 100ml sewer connection pipe and grey water pipe, to have the house fully function, these will need to be connected to a service
- Plumbing – Water
- The container house typically comes with 2 water connections, cold water and hot water, both are threaded connections that supply the house water for bathroom and kitchen.
- Plumbing – Hot water
- While we can supply a ‘zip’ style electric hot water heater, it is highly recommended to have an external/additional source ready if needed.
- Most customers tend to purchase gas bottle style instant hot water systems for their hot water, these also maintain a level of independence for the house especially for off grid or rural settings.
- Building your house, once your house is in place and opened up, there is still quite a bit to do to ready your house to use, this is not something we usually do, but we do have contacts that can do this, and we can certainly get you in contact with them to discuss building your house for you, they may also be able to help you open the house for the first as well.
- Building the kitchen
- Connecting fittings to your plumbing internally – sink and taps etc
- Placing your bedroom wall/s in place and securing
- Sealing the container inside and out, this can take some time, and can be tricky, if not done properly you could end up with leaks or drafts.
- Floor trim and roof trim
- Placing your windows and flyscreens