Remote Container Home Site: Guidance would be AMAZING!

Hello All,

I have purchased land near Wrightwood, CA. The site and views are gorgeous but of course present unique difficulties in terms of building a cost efficient and durable home due to the terrain to get to the site. The land itself is already graded and has an extensive retainer wall. However there is a winding road to the site with two formidable hills. I sincerely doubt a big rig can make the trip. We are hoping to utilize 2 40ft containers for our home structure. Any advice as to how we can get them “home”? I have researched the possibility/feasibility of having them staged at the bottom of the hill and flown to the site, not sure if that will work out financially and/or logistically though. Browsing on here, I saw a thread from about 6 years ago where someone recommended having the containers broken down to smaller pieces and re-assembled on-site. I know this will add cost and possibly reduce the overall structural integrity but it’s currently the front runner of how to hopefully make this pipe dream a reality! Any and all advice is more than welcome!


Thanks in advance,

Paula

Hi Paula;  Welcome to Permies!
First thought that comes to me is four 20' containers rather than two 40'.
Second thought is if a concrete truck made it up there than a specialty trailer (with rear wheel steering) can make it as well.  
Using a dozer to help pull up extra steep hills, is something we do with the big cranes that I work with.

Air lifting sounds horribly expensive, Unless... your from a family of helicopter  loggers...

I'm with Thomas on this.  A 20 footer would be a lot easier, but the only way to really find out is to get guys from a few of the transport companies in to see if they think it's doable.

If they all say yes, you're probably fine.  If only one guy says yes, he may be able to do it or not.  If you're comfortable with the attempt, good.   If not, you may need to look at other options.  

Also wanted to add that you'd be surprised just how good these operators can be, so they may not think it's much of an issue, especially if a concrete truck made it, though with a much smaller wheelbase.  They get 30-50,000 lb modular home boxes well into the bush and sometimes the 90-110 ton cranes for the set.

thomas rubino wrote:Hi Paula;  Welcome to Permies!
First thought that comes to me is four 20' containers rather than two 40'.
Second thought is if a concrete truck made it up there than a specialty trailer (with rear wheel steering) can make it as well.  
Using a dozer to help pull up extra steep hills, is something we do with the big cranes that I work with.

Air lifting sounds horribly expensive, Unless... your from a family of helicopter  loggers...

That’s a great idea and I honestly never thought about 4/20’ containers. The logistics makes a ton of sense and I’m sure will definitely be more manageable to get to the site. Thank you!

Timothy Markus wrote:I'm with Thomas on this.  A 20 footer would be a lot easier, but the only way to really find out is to get guys from a few of the transport companies in to see if they think it's doable.

If they all say yes, you're probably fine.  If only one guy says yes, he may be able to do it or not.  If you're comfortable with the attempt, good.   If not, you may need to look at other options.  

Thank you, I agree as well! Feels silly that I never thought of the idea honestly. I will definitely take your advice as well and contact multiple transport companies to get the overall consensus and pricing.

No help for you, just wanted to say "best of luck".  That site is beautiful.

I worked on a Wind Farm project 10 years ago that moved 80 meter wind turbine parts into the mountains north of Tehachapi. With adequate planning, and like Thomas said, a bulldozer to assist on steep grade, you can get them up there. Our steepest grade was 22% and we took 130' mid sections up it. Finding a few transporters to drive the route is the best way to get a good answer, and the 20's will be easier although it might cost a little more with making 4 trips.

Keep us posted! Picks of the move would make for quite a story.

i had a narrow window to get a 40' loaded container to my property
barely driveable road
it had to be frozen and i scouted it out..it was good
2 days later when i arrived with the driver there was a lot of snow on the road
we ended up leaving the container barely off the highway (and we got stuck whole other story)

once it was late spring i had the help of a logger who put it on a heavy duty trailer with 3 axles and dragged it in with a wheel skidder

cant say for sure what the grades are but there were definitely some hills and soft sections

If it's graded, that means heavy machinery has made it out there before, which means they can absolutely get containers out there. Containers are extremely light — heck it's the empty shell they fill with heavy stuff to put on trucks! In fact, they're barely heavier than most commuter vehicles, and absolutely lighter than the any semi that's going to be pulling it. Most people I know use dually trucks to haul containers since they're so light. I think the bigger challenge is going to be getting a crane out there to move the containers. I'd recommend talking to a transportation company — the guys who do this stuff know what they're doing and they'll be able to answer any of your questions definitively.

I'd look at a knuckleboom instead of a crane.  If you're not lifting much and can keep it in tight, I think it would do.