Anabelle Viegas's home near Nandi Hills is a headache. It is not an ordinary cement structure, but a container that becomes a living space.
Yes, it measures 320 square feet, which is smaller than most 1BHK apartments in Bangalore. But it was enough for Vegas, her husband and their baby girl to stay on vacation.
"We did not buy this house because it was built with containers, nor because small houses are a trend. My husband and I are both outdoor people and we are trapped in the city because of the pandemic. We are looking for A house that can be built quickly," said Viegas, who is also an architect.
Her house was manufactured off-site and delivered within 90 days in December last year. It has a living room, kitchenette, bedroom and toilet, and it is painted with a layer of light yellow paint. It was unloaded on four concrete plinths and plugged into electricity, water and sewage connections. The grounding is complete, and two days later, it is ready to move in.
A house built with abandoned containers is not a new concept, nor is it unfamiliar to Bangalore.
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Twelve years ago, Kameshwar Rao used four containers to build a house for his family in Ramamurthy Nagar. He may be the first person in India to do this. His company continued to build eight such houses in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
So, will this new container house continue? Habitainer, a construction company from Bangalore, provided an optimistic service to Viegas' home. “We have delivered 20 container houses to families in Kanakapura, Sakleshpur, Nandi Hills, Hosur and Mysuru,” said a company representative.
Now they are developing another 9 for developers to install in their closed community. “By the end of this fiscal year, we might do it 60 more times because we have received a lot of inquiries, actually 1,500,” he said.
The buyers are mainly industrialists, technicians and architects in the 35-55 age group. They own the land and are looking for alternative lifestyles.
"They chose a container house as their second home outside the city, as a farmhouse, as a cave for one person. A lady gave it to her daughter instead of a tent," the representative said. Vegas called their home in Nandi Hills a "doll house"-a gift for her daughter Arianna.
Others hope to build Airbnb's "container" rental houses in mountainous areas to overcome the complexity of building concrete houses.
The biggest attraction lies in their manufacturing, delivery and installation speed.
Take the 49-year-old businessman Arun Choudhari as an example. He booked a 1,000 square foot 3BHK container house for his nephew near Kempegowda Airport. This is a conscious choice to avoid the troubles and delays encountered by builders when buying traditional houses in India. The Habitainer team plans to deliver before the end of the year.
Then there is the advantage of flexibility. Preetham Daniel said he built a 20-foot container house near Nandi Hills to hang out with other cyclists after the ride. When the blockade was lifted and people began to ride their bicycles farther, the idea failed.
Now, the 42-year-old is offering weekend rentals for those who want to experience a minimalist life. If this idea does not work, he will move his home to a motorcycle training center 11 kilometers away from the city and use it as an office.
After all, the container house is a container. You can load it on a truck, transport it to another city, and start living almost immediately because the interior remains intact.
However, when houses are built in mixed styles, using containers, concrete, wood, etc., this may not work quickly.
Can container houses become permanent houses? Daniel is skeptical: "This hasn't even happened in the West."
But the representative of Habitainer is more hopeful, he said: "At least 20% of our customers have moved in permanently."
Know these before you buy
How big is the container house?
There are two sizes of containers-20 feet and 40 feet.
20 feet can be used as a home for 1 BHK, while 40 feet can be used to create two rooms. You can attach more containers on the sides or stack them on the top to increase the room. Keetwonen is a student housing project in Amsterdam. It consists of one thousand containers arranged in multi-storey blocks.
How much weight can it bear?
Containers are designed for transportation, so they can withstand much heavier weight than traditional households require. The main body of a 20-foot container weighs 3,000 kg and can carry a payload of 25,000 kg.
How long will these houses last? Are they rusty?
The main body of the container is made of corrosion-resistant steel (called corten steel). It usually lasts 30 to 45 years.
Does the wall make noises like tin foil?
Yes, so your architect should work on soundproofing the house.
Will it be hot inside?
It depends on the design. Architects usually add large windows and multiple windows for cross ventilation.
Just like concrete houses, they require occasional paint, plumbing, and electrical repairs.
Are they a good investment option?
Resell containers can get the same money as scrap. Given the current price (30 to 35 rupees per kilogram), it can be sold for 90,000 rupees to 100,000 rupees.
Ensure that the used container is not more than 15 years old, damaged or weak in structure.
A prefabricated house is a house with parts built in a factory and assembled on a destination plot. They save time, promote recycling, and are said to be cost-effective.
In India, prefab houses are made of containers, bamboo, plastic and light steel frames. Tata Group launched a prefabricated home series called Nest-in. The market is expected to grow at a rate of 8.5% between 2021 and 2026.
The cost of a container house ranges from 300,000 rupees to 3.5 million rupees, depending on the number of containers used and the degree of customization and complexity involved. Shipping costs are extra.
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