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Launch HN: Boxouse (YC W17) – Shipping-container homes

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Re: Launch HN: Boxouse (YC W17) – Shipping-container homes

#42

Post by shriphani »

Exuma wrote: post #35
shriphani wrote: post #26

There was a shipping container home on Grand Designs (what a show!) that looked absolutely breathtaking: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/09/24/1411571780563_wps_... I think a bit of sprucing up (with wood and a sound paint-job) would go a long way to remove that whiff of trailer park that I get from your landing page.

Do you have a link to more photos of that house?

I believe this is the part of the episode where they discuss the finished building: https://vimeo.com/147232218

Re: Launch HN: Boxouse (YC W17) – Shipping-container homes

#43

Post by howderek »

These prices seem too high. Low-end mobile homes are around the same price, are larger, offer nicer interiors, and face fewer legal complexities. I also know tiny home builders who can custom build homes with similar square footage as these for around the same price. I live in Missouri so housing is cheap, but isn't the advantage of pre-fab homes the ability to ship them for a much lower cost than building on-site?

I don't see how this could scale past cities where rent is insane and have housing regulations that allow this kind of home.

What is the advantage of this versus other pre-fabricated homes? What justifies the price?

Re: Launch HN: Boxouse (YC W17) – Shipping-container homes

#46

Post by rootedbox »

Not trying to be a hater. I understand what is pictured may be prototypes.. if they are you shouldn't be showing them unless you have that caveat in the picture. Both the design is poor, and the craftsmanship is low. If this is past the prototype stage, and this is what you will actually be selling. Then you really don't understand the pre-fab space nor the price points of the pre-fab space.

Re: Launch HN: Boxouse (YC W17) – Shipping-container homes

#48

Post by Veratyr »

howderek wrote: post #43

These prices seem too high. Low-end mobile homes are around the same price, are larger, offer nicer interiors, and face fewer legal complexities. I also know tiny home builders who can custom build homes with similar square footage as these for around the same price. I live in Missouri so housing is cheap, but isn't the advantage of pre-fab homes the ability to ship them for a much lower cost than building on-site? I…

I agree. Not only can you get low-end mobile homes or build a tiny home but in much of the world you can get a reasonable apartment.

Re: Launch HN: Boxouse (YC W17) – Shipping-container homes

#50

Post by brudgers »

willholloway wrote: post #30
cbr wrote: post #4

How are you going to deal with zoning? Generally the big problem with tiny houses is that while they're relatively cheap to make they're not allowed by existing zoning.

Many places treat these types of dwellings as mobile homes, and there is probably no form of development that is more widely banned than mobile home parks. Even putting one of these on your own lot as an accessory structure is going to be very difficult in much of the country. These rules are all legally codified class discrimination, and is very much largely about middle class single family homeowners keeping out wh…

Mobile homes have a distinct legal disadvantage: they are classified as vehicles rather than real property. Local municipalities have statutes on the books that readily allow impounding vehicles and regulating their parking that are much more 'action oriented' than the legal formalities for liening real property for zoning non-compliance.
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