Travel almost anywhere in the world and most people will have heard of Texas. It's one of America's largest states and arguably the most famous due to its unique culture.
With tons of land and freedom, it's a great place to build an incredible container home whether you choose to live in it full-time, generate rental income, or for any other purpose.
Why would you want to build a container home in Texas?
Texas has some of America's largest and most well-known cities like Dallas, Houston, and Austin, but it's perhaps more known for its rural areas. While it does have some large mountains in the west, most of Texas is marked by plains, rolling hills, forests, and even swamps.
A tourism ad campaign a few years ago used the phrase "Texas. It's like a whole other country." And with a state as large and diverse as Texas, it certainly could be its own country!
Texas is one of the fastest-growing states in the US, so clearly there is something that is drawing people to the state. And the reasons are pretty clear.
First is the job market. Led by some of its largest cities, Texas continues to have a strong economy with growth in good-paying jobs. It's a great place to start or continue a career.
Second is the tax environment. With no corporate taxes, businesses are incentivized to move there. And the lack of personal income taxes makes it desirable for individuals to move there as well.
These two factors play off of each other. More talented people moving to Texas for work makes the state look better for companies thinking of relocating. And good companies moving to Texas makes job seekers consider a move to the Lone Star State.
The result is that Texas has more Fortune 500 companies than any other state. Huge employers like ExxonMobil, AT&T, Dell, Oracle, and American Airlines all call Texas home.
Another art of the draw to Texas is a strong university system that results in a well-educated populace that's ready for work. Schools like the University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University, Rice University, Southern Methodist University, Baylor University, and many, many others are found in this state.
And Texas is so big and geographically that is it feels like several states in one, so you find almost any environment you're looking for. There's the mountain west, home to the city of El Paso and Big Bend National Park. The flat plains of the Panhandle, with small cities like Lubbock and Amarillo.
North Texas is where you'll find the thriving metropolis made up of the twin cities of Dallas and Fort Worth. There's beautiful central Texas and the famed Texas Hill Country around Austin and San Antonio.
To the east is the Piney Woods that three national forests (Davy Crockett, Angelina, and Sabine) as well as thriving smaller cities like Texarkana and Tyler.
South Texas and the Rio Grand Valley have a thriving Hispanic culture and incredible growth in cities like McAllen. Finally, there are the coastal planes along the Gulf of Mexico, from Beaumont and Houston in the north to Corpus Christi and Brownsville to the south. So whether you like urban or rural, flat or hilly, desert or forest, Texas probably has it.
Given all of these great reasons to move to and live in Texas, plus the state's spirit of rugged individualism, you would be right to expect a lot of interest in container homes.
Does Texas Allow Shipping Container Homes?
Absolutely! Texas allows shipping container homes to be built and in fact, has a lot of them! You can scroll down and find several Texas Container Homes in our Project Database. Some are essentially tiny houses made from containers, while others are quite big!
There aren't any rules at the state level that prevent you from building a home in Texas out of shipping containers. But you will have to abide by any local regulations in your area.
Building a Texas Container Home: What to Know
While moving to Texas is certainly a compelling idea, the execution of actually building a container home in Texas may seem a bit overwhelming. While there are certainly a lot of moving pieces, we have plenty of resources here on our website to help you. But, whether you build your house yourself or work with a professional Texas container home builder (several of which are listed below), you'll more than likely need to get permission from the government.
According to the Texas State Law Library, Texas has adopted a version of the IRC for the state, but each local authority having jurisdiction is able to modify it as needed. Counties with unincorporated areas can require residents and builders also abide by the IRC, but this is a decision for each county.
In other words, some rural county areas don't necessarily require building code compliance. As always, it's best to check at the lowest regulatory level to find out more information.
Even though there are many areas of Texas where construction code compliance is required, don't take this as a bad sign. If you started today, you'd be far from the first container home in Texas, so the path has already been proven many times over.
Further down the article is a collection of remarkable container homes built in Texas that we've added to our database. Building your custom container home in Texas will be much easier after you see what those who have gone before you have accomplished!
Once again, you absolutely can build a fully legal, code-compliant container house in Texas. You'll just need to work with local officials to come up with a way to ensure your project complies with all the requirements that will help keep you and your family safe.
The main Texas-specific issues we'd like to remind you to keep in mind are wind and flood resistance. Much of Texas is in Tornado Alley or the path of Gulf of Mexico hurricanes, like Hurricane Harvey which hit Houston in 2017. Texas is also known for frequent thunderstorms in some parts of the year that bring torrential rains.
To address the wind, we recommend securely attaching your container home to a strong foundation. Furthermore, ensure that all roofs, porches, decks, and other attachments have good structural connections.
A strong foundation attachment is also an asset during flooding, but even better is ensuring you build your Texas container home high enough that flood waters can't reach it. After all, one of the benefits of a container home is that it doesn't need to be built on a slab at ground level. Instead, it can safely, simply, and cheaply be elevated a few feet above the ground.
How much does it cost to build a container home in Texas?
In addition to the good foundation and structural enhancements we mentioned previously to deal with winds and flooding, you'll also want good insulation for your Texas container home. As you probably know already, it can get very hot in the Texas summers, and surprisingly cold during occasional winters as well.
It's tough to provide a one-size-fits-all price range for container homes in Texas given these and other variables. Instead, we recommend using our free Container Home Calculator to get a cost estimate based on the specifics of your project.
If you decide you just don't have the time or expertise to tackle building your own container home in Texas, there are plenty of professional builders standing by. Our list below of cargotecture designers and shipping container builders in Texas have experience in turning shipping containers into custom dream homes, weekend cabins, guest houses, and anything else you can imagine.
