While many people believe their home is their castle, Cronulla’s Mark Christopherson will soon be king of his own container.
The 56-year-old financial planner and his wife, Sue, are about to demolish their 1950s fibro house in Links Avenue and construct a two-storey house built from recycled shipping containers.
Their new two-storey home is being built using eight 20ft (6.09 metres) containers and three 40ft (12.12 metres) containers to give them a three bedroom house with four bathrooms and a study.
“While we thought it was probably comparable to the cost of a project home the construction time was only six weeks,’’ Mr Christopherson said.
“We moved out of the house last week. It will be knocked down this week. The levels and piers put in next week and the containers will be dropped on site by mid-May.
“Installing the decking might slow us down from getting the occupancy certificate but we hope to be in our new home in six weeks.’’
The house is being constructed at a factory in Lismore by the Container Build Group and once completed will be transported to Sydney on eight semi-trailers and installed on site over two days and welded and locked into place.
The house will arrive with plumbing and electrical works completed and bathrooms and laundry fully fitted.
The kitchen will come as a flat pack and be installed on site along with the external decks, garage and new roof.
The house is attempting to be green with extra water storage, solar water and energy system while the decking will be a combination of recycled plastic and wood.
On-site construction will be done by local builders Aden and Troy Moxon from Moxon Brothers at Cronulla.
The house was designed by Mrs Christopherson who first suggested the idea of using containers.
The Christophersons have a property at Forbes where they were thinking of installing a container house.
When they moved to Cronulla a year ago so Mrs Christopherson could pursue her love of surfing they also transplanted their idea of building a house using old containers.
“The cost will be cheaper than a two-bedroom unit in Cronulla,’’ Mr Christopherson said.
“I think it is the first in the shire and maybe the first for Sydney.
“There’s a lot of interest. So many people wanted to come and see it installed I could have set up a grandstand but having 20-tonne containers swinging over people is not a good idea.
“People ask me what’s it going to look like on the outside. I said it will look like a shipping container but with windows and doors.
“It’s a bit of a quantum leap in thinking but in the end it’s just another building material.”
