Just two weeks ago I was texting with a former associate about getting some 53 containers, cutting them up into 5, 8x8x10 cubes and welding what's needed for a few other mods.
I'm thinking to myself, if we can sell these for $1300(?) it would be a good value for some situaitons right?
I've seen some of the problems and come up with a few solutions for a few of them, so it might be viable.
His dad moved his steel shop business, and I have not gotten a chance to get out to the new one.. but think maybe next week we should try to calculate things tighter and consider further.
Might need some seed money to get some prototypes done to show off an MVP and get a real calculation for all the time plus materials.
The usefulness with condos / apartments is much less, and some townhomes / non-attached homes can't fit or have na HOA that would not allow for portable building in backyard - so they would mostly be out for this idea..
however they could use the unit to protect the shipment and then sell or loan to someone else in the area that could use a storage building.
With that in mind, part of my plan is to add siding and have roof options that make this look more like a regular storage building and less like a shipping container, so they fit in more places.
This way they are used for shipping, then also used for storage and can be re-used for shipping or re-sold, etc.
Pricing for regular storage buildings vary, but it seems they are in line with this maybe.. so it might catch on.
I'm not sure it would make sense for moves within the US, since everything would probably go by truck anyway.
Of course I downsized considerably before moving, leaving behind all the obvious bulky things that made no economic sense to transport such as furniture, electronics, etc.
In the end I think I paid to ship 8 cubic-meters of "stuff". It was a couple of pallets which were around 2mx2mx2m when combined. Things arrived smoothly but I recall quite strongly that I paid more for the insurance than for the actual shipping. Happily I didn't need it.
(And, if a moving crew is still needed in any case, it probably mostly doesn't matter if you're using a container not. And there may be some advantages to a regular truck I'm not aware of. I assume any ocean freight is containerized in any case.)
I think I looked at PODS and the like when moving, but they have non-standard containers and end up being kind of expensive.
I know it can be done, because the SO of a friend of mine moved from the US to guam and got the container I believe for $1200.