By now you have surely seen shipping container office space, or at the very least you have read about it. Perhaps you are interested enough, or curious enough, so that you want more information about this very affordable office space for lease. If so, this article should answer some questions. We are Box Office Warehouse Suites, a business park made entirely from retrofitted and professionally designed shipping containers, located in North Fort Worth, within the Fort Worth Design District. Call us at 817-439-3224 for more information about units available and current pricing information.
The basic shipping container office space model.
You have all seen shipping containers. They are seemingly everywhere, near the shipping docks, in warehouse parking lots, loaded atop freight trains and cargo ships, and we know that your first impression of them is that they are practical in design and not terribly attractive. We understand. The shipping containers everyone sees are rectangular boxes, painted with some rust-prevention paint, and they are about as attractive as the old metal school lockers we all had in high school; in fact, take one of those school lockers, lay it on its side, and you would have a mini shipping container.
Now, take that unassuming, totally blah in appearance shipping container, paint is a bright color, put some standard doors on it, cut out windows, insulate it, put down flooring, possible carpeting, add furniture, and you suddenly have a very modern office space, ready for business.
Welcome to the world of Box Office Warehouse Suites and shipping container office space.
The pros of shipping containers.
Let’s take a look at just a partial list of pros for shipping container office space:
- Strength and structural stability
- Ease and speed of construction and retrofitting.
- Affordability
- Off-site construction possible
- Eco-friendliness
- Aesthetics
- Easy relocation
- Long shelf life.
Consider for a moment that a used shipping container, and there are millions to choose from, can be purchased for, say, $5000. Add another $5000 for retrofitting and interior design. Total cost, ten grand, and where are you going to find a 320-square-foot office space which only costs ten grand to build? Construction costs for traditional post-and-beam construction would approach forty-or-fifty thousand dollars for a 320-square foot building.
And, because of the low construction costs, that savings is passed on to the client when they want to lease such a container building.
The cons of shipping containers.
Now let’s look at the flip side of this discussion, namely the cons:
- Limited interior space; a standard shipping container is only eight feet wide and forty feet long.
- Zoning and permits; not every county or city will allow shipping container designs.
- Limited supply; it might surprise you that, in some sections of the country, shipping containers are in short supply.
- Need to be property insulated; otherwise, hot summer temps will be much hotter inside a container.
- Finding someone skilled at shipping container construction might be difficult in some areas.
Bottom line: the pros far outweigh the cons, and even the cons are problems which can be overcome in most cases.
These are tough economic times. The need to save on expenses is vital for small businesses to succeed. Shipping container construction is a viable way to beat the cost of traditional construction and thus is viable alternative to consider.
A final word about Box Office Warehouse Suites.
Box Office Warehouse Suites is locally owned and operated by RDS Real Estate, serving the Greater Fort Worth area with outstanding and affordable industrial space and commercial property for rent. Call us today to learn more about shipping container construction.
