While they may be durable and budget-friendly, shipping containers aren’t usually considered the most elegant of building materials. But where others might have seen a metal box, one couple saw the bones of a truly unique residence. Undertaking almost all of the work themselves, first-time homebuilders Zack and Brie Smithey triumphed against the odds to create a metal masterpiece of a home where they could live mortgage-free. Click or scroll on to discover their remarkable journey.
With three home renovations under their belt, building their own house felt like the next logical step for Missouri-based Zack and Brie. The pair are inherently creative – Zack is a professional interdisciplinary artist while Brie owns her own premium protein bar business – and they knew ordinary bricks and mortar weren’t for them. “We didn’t want to build with traditional materials… when we came across shipping containers they seemed to fit some of the themes we were trying to follow: recycle, repurpose and reuse,” Zack explains.
The couple had purchased an empty lot back in 2011 in St Charles, Missouri, so they already had the ideal place to bring their home to life. Stretching two-thirds of an acre, it only set them back $7,500, crucially because it was sited on a large hill. To level the plot, they had to excavate 2,500 cubic yards of earth – that’s 200 truckloads of dirt – to create an amphitheater in the hill for their 11-foot concrete foundation.
