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A few years ago, I started a thread on the possibility of using either an old coach or a shipping container as office, and it started a really helpful discussion. I have just spent the last half hour search for it among my old posts and can't find it anywhere, so forgive me. Here I go again.
I am once again returning to the idea of buying and using an old coach, a shipping container, an old railway coach, or a wooden 'cabin' as an office and small social space. It would be located on disused land on the outskirts of the city.
I seem to remember people on here saying 'don't do it' for a number of reasons, but it was so long ago that I can't remember what they were.
So, I am wondering once what the hazards of the idea might be. Of the four possibilities I have mentioned, which would be the best (or least bad) and why? I mean, if I can get an old double-decker for between five and ten thousand pounds, is there a reason it would not work (setting aside questions about planning/utilities/etc.)?
We have a 20ft shipping container as part of of our business. We are mostly an online company but have a very small shop set up in an old Evergreen container in our yard if customers want to come down locally
Mixed bag. A lot of people think it's a fun novelty, and you can actually dress it up quite nicely in a sort of rustic way, and the small space makes It really cheap to do It works fairly well for that.
Some people tend to think it looks a bit dodgy though, and it's a pain in the arse to open and close in front of people. Gets really hot in the summer and it's Baltic in the winter...with a 40ft it probably would not be an issue but insulating and recladding it would just make it a bit too small.
Also: it blocks signal! Our WiFi is based in our office. Get full bars still in the yard outside the container, but once you're inside it totally cuts off the settle/iPad from Amy signal. Imagine that may not be a going concern if your WiFi is based actually inside but just a point to raise!
We have a 20ft shipping container as part of of our business. We are mostly an online company but have a very small shop set up in an old Evergreen container in our yard if customers want to come down locally
Mixed bag. A lot of people think it's a fun novelty, and you can actually dress it up quite nicely in a sort of rustic way, and the small space makes It really cheap to do It works fairly well for that.
Some people tend to think it looks a bit dodgy though, and it's a pain in the arse to open and close in front of people. Gets really hot in the summer and it's Baltic in the winter...with a 40ft it probably would not be an issue but insulating and recladding it would just make it a bit too small.
Also: it blocks signal! Our WiFi is based in our office. Get full bars still in the yard outside the container, but once you're inside it totally cuts off the settle/iPad from Amy signal. Imagine that may not be a going concern if your WiFi is based actually inside but just a point to raise!
Used to have a container for tool storage. Condensation is a major problem in winter.
They can look good clad well. Best I've seen had a false roof extended into a canopy which disguised the obvious container outline. Otherwise they look a bit rough for my artisanal sensibilities 🤔
I am once again returning to the idea of buying and using an old coach, a shipping container, an old railway coach, or a wooden 'cabin' as an office and small social space. It would be located on disused land on the outskirts of the city.
I seem to remember people on here saying 'don't do it' for a number of reasons, but it was so long ago that I can't remember what they were.
×So, I am wondering once what the hazards of the idea might be. Of the four possibilities I have mentioned, which would be the best (or least bad) and why? I mean, if I can get an old double-decker for between five and ten thousand pounds, is there a reason it would not work (setting aside questions about planning/utilities/etc.)?
it seems a moot point without the planning. Planning inevitably brings building regs into play, which together with health and safety at work act will expect you to provide toilets and fresh water. Any new facility will need to equality act compatible (ie wheelchair accessible). Heating it (and insulating it) will be hard. Perhaps a bus that moves around could provide a nice get out to some of there regs (think mobile library/bank). BUT then you have various maintenance obligations and need the relevant driving licence.
theres loads of commercial property around I’m not sure why anyone would want to go through the difficulty of any of these options unless location was very important.
Friend of mine turned an old horse box into an airbnb so a coach could well be feasible. Not sure about planning regs.)
A double-decker might be trickier to insulate.
As poly says,it's a lot of work and these projects can quickly grow out of proportion. Friends did it with a double decker tour bus ,so it already had an accomodation space that they could use while working on it.The key thing (for them)was about the site location,so keeping it mobile/driveable made it easier with some of the planning.
Shipping containers are awful. Weather wise it's like being in a car, but with even less insulation and no windows. They're deafeningly loud in heavy rain and worse in hail.
If it's a sunny day then it's like a sauna inside, and in summer the walls are actually too hot to touch.
If it's cold outside then it's cold inside.
If it's cold outside then the walls will run with condensation if you spend too long i there or go in there with wet clothes / equipment.
Unless you add some then there's not enough ventilation.
Unless you add windows then they are very dark places. And the acoustics are what you'd expect for a big metal box, even just working and talking gave me a weird headache after a couple of hours.
They're an absolute magnet for thieves.
You could cut windows, insulate and clad the outside, add extraction / ventilation, add a proper door. But by the time You've done all that you may as well just build a proper cabin that's a useable shape, not 8ft wide and 40ft long!
the idea of buying and using an old coach, a shipping container, an old railway coach, or a wooden 'cabin' as an office and small social space. It would be located on disused land on the outskirts of the city.
Possibly a daft but non-trivial question, is it your land?
In the least flattering way possible, what you're suggesting sounds like the average crusty hippie commune / new age traveler camp / smack house, the kind of thing that's one the edge of every town and we have to sprint past on a night ride and eventually achieves local notoriety as the place they found the body 🤣
a friend of mine actually used to live in an old bus, all year round for several years. It was ok but inevitably ended up leaking and of course was subject to massive temperature fluctuations.
I once stayed in another converted bus on a holiday, it was a laugh but still subject to noise from rain and the temp fluctuations. That said you will never get tired of shouting tickets please! as you go in, or indeed making swooshing door sounds or pretending to be air brakes releasing. So there is that.
ding ding, next stop manshun 'ouse!
Yes sounds like a lot of potentially expensive problems that could be easily avoided by renting some edge of town business park unit.