An Idaho manufacturer that began converting decommissioned shipping containers into sustainable homes just a year ago plans to double its size and quadruple its output in coming years.
Scott Flynn, who founded IndieDwell with Pete Gombert, told The Idaho Press that as he looked for a way to produce sustainable, durable, and affordable housing options, he became drawn to the millions of railroad shipping containers idled after their retirement from cargo service.
Flynn told the paper that some 24 million steel containers with "an ideal exoskeleton for a house" are "just sitting around the world doing nothing."
The company takes old, rusted containers from Utah and Oregon, outfits them with modern finishes and appliances, and sells them for between $46,500 and $107,850. The completed homes are then shipped to the buyer’s property and installed by IndieDwell.
Even the container homes at the higher end of that price spectrum tend to be less expensive than conventional houses of similar sizes, and Flynn said the all-electric modular homes could be operated for less than $50 per month.
The company’s initial customers are individuals who hope to live more sustainably, but the homes could also be a solution in areas where affordable housing is increasingly scarce.
IndieDwell currently employs about 30 people at a temporary factory outside Caldwell, Idaho, that began finishing a home about every four days this summer.
Gombert said the company is ahead of schedule to move into a more permanent facility in Boise within two years. That 50,000-square foot facility would be capable of manufacturing one home each day.
And the company already has its eye on additional markets that could benefit from alternative housing options. Denver is next on their list, Flynn and Gombert said.
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