McBee Container Home

Nestled in the heart of the United States where the South meets the Great Plains sits Oklahoma. The dynamic metropolis of Oklahoma City is near the center of the state, blending modern urban amenities with a rich cultural heritage.

Oklahoma City (called OKC by locals) boasts a diverse and resilient economy, a strategic central location for transportation, and a mix of urban landscapes surrounding the shimmering waters of the Oklahoma River winding through its core. Oklahoma City is also known for some of its bold architecture in recent years, and the McBee Container Home only helps extend that reputation.

Josh McBee was living in a one-bedroom apartment in Venice Beach, California when he saw a shipping container home online in 2012. A little less than four years later, he was living in one in Oklahoma City. In between (with respect to geography and time) were a lot of changes!

In 2013, McBee quit his job and traveled internationally for six months, eventually landing in Oklahoma City where he had a network of old friends. There he purchased a vacant 50-foot by 140-foot lot for $2500, kicking off his container journey.

His attraction to container homes was the spirit of minimalism and desire for durability, wanting a space only as big as he needed and with less cost to maintain and operate. With the help of an architect and later a construction team and a container modification company, McBee was able to see his container home slowly turn into a reality. 

Discussion were had about combining two 20-foot containers in various L and T shape floorplans, but ultimately the team decided on a single 40-foot high cube container. This layout did require a crane for set-up, but ultimately proved simpler and cheaper to construct.

The design is simple, with a bedroom on one end and a kitchen and living room on the other, separated by a bathroom. The high cube provides the interior ceiling height for a small lofted area as well. 

The McBee Container Home does contain some interesting features on its exterior. First is the container foundation, which is composed of a series of three concrete stem walls. The V-shape design is primarily for looks, although it does provide an area for utilities to run under the container as well. The foundation is simple, but still required an engineer’s assistance to comply with the city’s requirements.

Another interesting feature is the external doors. On one end of the container is a full-height window, beautiful but perhaps lacking in privacy and durability. Thankfully, it was designed so that the container’s original end doors could be closed and locked when needed, protecting the glass behind.

On the side of the container, a sliding barn door was constructed from leftover corrugated metal removed from the size of the container during construction. This barn door allows the owner to quickly cover up doors and windows on the side when desired, essentially adding metal armor to the entire periphery of the container.

When you remember that Oklahoma City is right in the middle of Tornado Alley, these features start to sound quite reasonable. And they are also likely appreciated when the owner is out of town and wants to keep things secure.

As a pioneer in container home construction in Oklahoma City, the McBee Container Home also paid careful attention to the home’s orientation and integration into the neighborhood. Facing challenges related to the 50-foot wide lot, the team decided on a distinctive layout incorporating well-established trees along the western property line. By rotating the container slightly with respect to the lot and road, they created a strong delineation between front and back yards, optimizing solar gain and minimizing overheating in the summer months.

Getting the home built in the middle of a major city required some extra steps to be sure, but was nothing that couldn’t be handled by the owner and his team. Since this was the first container home in the city, officials were understandably uneasy about some of the subtleties of container construction and required some extra approvals, such as with the foundation previously discussed.

Still, McBee was ultimately able to get the home built, spending just over $61,000 despite hiring out most of the design and construction work. His focus on minimalism was also successful with his utility bills, as he reported an average of $25 per month in energy expenses after finishing the home.

Despite only 320 square feet of gross floor space (and 270 square feet of interior floor space), the McBee Container Home is just the right size for its owner. It has everything he needs, plus room for guests with a pull-out bed in the living room and a pull-out futon bed under his lofted bed in the bedroom.

While we’ve featured plenty of large, luxurious container homes, this Oklahoma container home is certainly neither. Instead, it’s a tribute to one man’s dream to live more simply and more affordably while not sacrificing comfort or security.

And it’s a commitment to a city and a neighborhood that unique approaches to architecture can be placed almost anywhere. The first permitted container home by the City of Oklahoma City is certainly not the last. Let us know what you think of this inspiring example of cost-effective and sustainable housing in the comments below.