Quick Answer: Shipping Container Garage
A shipping container garage is one 20ft or 40ft container used as a garage, or two with a roof between them. The container itself costs $1,200–$5,000 for a 20ft and $1,800–$6,500 for a 40ft standard, from wind and watertight to new one-trip, plus $300–$2,500+ for delivery. Door cutouts, roof kits, insulation and the pad are quoted by size, condition and location. The end doors typically open about 7'6" wide, so measure your vehicle, and check zoning and permits before you buy.
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Shipping Container Garage: Build Options, Fit, Permits and Cost
A shipping container garage turns a steel box built to cross oceans into a place to park a car, a motorcycle or a small tractor. It arrives as a finished shell with a floor, walls, a roof and lockable doors. That head start is the appeal. The catch is that a container was sized for cargo, not for a driver climbing out of a seat.
This page is for anyone weighing a shipping container garage or carport. It covers the three common ways to build one, what actually fits through the doors, and what cutting the steel does to the structure. It also covers condensation, the pad, permits and zoning, what the container costs, and when a purpose-built steel garage is the smarter buy.
Three Ways to Build a Shipping Container Garage
Most projects use one of three layouts. Each one solves a different problem. Each one also changes what the building department will want to see.
- A single container used as a garage: one 20ft or 40ft unit, entered through the original end doors or a new opening cut into a wall. It suits one vehicle, a motorcycle, a mower or an ATV.
- Two containers with a roof between them: the containers sit parallel with a gap between, and a roof spans the gap. Left open at the ends it works as a carport; closed with end walls and a door it becomes an enclosed bay.
- A roof kit over or across containers: prefabricated roof kits are sold to span the gap between two containers or to cover a single unit. Spans and load ratings differ from kit to kit.
The single box is the simplest shipping container garage you can put on a lot. The two-container layout gives you the wide parking space one box cannot, with lockable storage down both sides. It is also the version that most clearly becomes a building, because a roof now ties separate structures together.
Pick the layout from the vehicle. Never the other way round.
What Fits Inside: Length, Width and Door Opening
Before you plan a shipping container garage, know the box. Standard exterior container sizes are set by ISO 668: 8 feet wide, 8 feet 6 inches tall, and 20 or 40 feet long, with the high cube a foot taller. Inside, the steel walls, floor and door frame take some of that space back. The figures below are typical, and interior sizes vary by manufacturer. Measure the unit you are buying.
| Typical Measurement | 20ft Standard | 40ft Standard | 40ft High Cube |
|---|---|---|---|
| Interior length | 19'4" | 39'5" | 39'5" |
| Interior width | 7'8" | 7'8" | 7'8" |
| Interior height | 7'10" | 7'10" | 8'10" |
| End door opening, width | 7'6" | 7'6" | 7'6" |
| End door opening, height | 7'5" | 7'5" | 8'5" |
The door opening is the tightest point on the whole box. Measure your vehicle's width with the mirrors out, its height with any roof rack, and its length including a hitch or tow bar. Then compare each number with the unit, not with a chart.
Width is the real limit. Wall to wall, a container is about 7 feet 8 inches inside. A car can drive in, but opening its door wide enough to step out is another matter. That is why a single-box shipping container garage often suits vehicles you store or straddle. Daily drivers are harder.
Length decides between a 20ft and a 40ft. At about 19 feet 4 inches inside, a 20ft is short for a long pickup, so check your vehicle's spec sheet against the unit. A 40ft leaves room for a workbench at the far end. The high cube adds a foot of height to the doorway, which matters for vans and tall trucks.
Measure the Opening, Not the Listing
If you can, take a tape measure to the depot. Measure the end door opening with both doors swung fully open, because door hardware and seals on a used unit can narrow the space you actually drive through.
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Shipping Container Carport and Roof Options
A shipping container carport solves the width problem by parking the vehicle between two containers instead of inside one. The containers become the side walls and the storage. The roof across the gap keeps the rain off. Simple in concept.
How wide that gap can be depends on the roof, not the containers. A roof kit or a framed roof has a rated span and rated loads, and the wind and snow loads it must carry are set for your site. A wide roof also catches wind. That is one reason the containers under it need anchoring.
Codes treat an attached roof differently from a lone box. California's building code section on intermodal shipping containers, for example, requires container roof assemblies to meet its roofing chapter. It exempts a single stand-alone container that is not attached to other containers or structures. The same section requires containers to be anchored as needed to give a continuous load path for design and environmental loads.
Closing the ends turns the carport into an enclosed shipping container garage. End walls and a garage door make one building out of three parts. That combined structure is what an engineer and the permit office will review.
Roof kits and the framing for enclosed ends are quoted by size, condition and location. Ask each supplier what span, snow load and wind speed a kit is rated for. Ask whether engineered drawings come with it. Anything sold as a shipping container garage kit should come with a written list of what is included and what it is rated for.
A Shipping Container Roof Over a Single Unit
A container's own steel roof keeps weather out, but it heats up in sun and water can pool in dents. A separate pitched roof over one unit adds shade and sheds water. It is still a structure attached to the container, with its own loads to meet.
Cutting a Garage Door Into a Container
A container's strength runs through its corrugated walls, corner posts and top and bottom rails. Cut a wide opening in a side wall and you remove part of what holds the box square. Whether that is safe for your shipping container garage is an engineer's call. It is not a welder's.
The code shows why. Under the simplified design path in that California section, the top and bottom rails, corner castings and columns may not be notched, cut or removed in any manner. That path limits openings in any one wall to half the wall's length. Each opening must be framed with steel, and new steel must match or exceed the section it replaces.
Local rules can be tighter. Portland's cargo container code guide limits the combined width of new openings on a side, other than the original end doors, to 20 percent of the wall's length. On a 20-foot side wall, that is 4 feet. That is a walk-in door. It is not a garage door.
So a wide side-entry door on a shipping container garage means engineered framing and plan review. Using the original end doors avoids the cut entirely. They are heavy swing doors, though, and both leaves need clear space in front of the container to open.
Cutting Steel Is Hazardous Work
OSHA lists metal fumes and ultraviolet radiation as health hazards of cutting and welding, along with burns, eye damage, electrical shock and cuts. Read OSHA's welding and cutting hazards guidance, get the opening engineered first, and let a qualified fabricator make the cut and weld the frame.
Ventilation, Condensation and Exhaust
A steel box sealed against the weather also seals moisture in. Warm, damp air meets cold steel, and the walls and ceiling start to drip. A wet car or snow melting off the tires is enough to start it. Every shipping container garage needs a plan for moisture.
The physics is simple. Illinois Extension's guidance on metal-walled buildings explains that when the metal's interior temperature is below the dew point of the air inside, condensation forms on the wall. It also stresses that ventilation is the primary means of reducing condensation potential.
- Ventilation: vents at both ends let moving air carry moisture out before it reaches cold steel.
- Insulation done properly: the same guidance notes that insulating the metal alone can move condensation inside the insulation unless a vapor barrier or closed-cell insulation is part of the wall.
- A pad that drains: keeping ground water away from the floor keeps the air inside drier.
Exhaust is the other reason to move air. The CDC's carbon monoxide guidance says to always open the door of a detached garage when you run a car or truck inside. It says never to run one in a garage attached to a house, even with the door open. In a shipping container garage this small, open the doors before you start the engine.
Vents, insulation and wiring are quoted by size, condition and location.
The Pad Under the Container
A container is built to sit on its four corner castings. It needs a base that stays level, because a corner that settles can make the doors bind and stop sealing. The pad under a shipping container garage deserves as much thought as the box.
- Compacted gravel pad: a level, draining base for a single container that may move again one day.
- Concrete piers or footings: support under the corners, with room for air to move beneath the floor.
- Concrete slab: a drivable floor, which suits the parking space between two containers in a carport layout.
Where a container becomes a permanent building, codes expect a designed foundation. The California section requires permanent containers to sit on foundations designed and built to its structural chapters. Portland's guide requires firm, level, undisturbed ground or existing paving. It also requires containers over 200 square feet to be anchored against sliding and overturning from seismic and wind loads.
For a slab, run the numbers in the concrete slab calculator. The pad itself is quoted by size, condition and location.
Permits and Zoning for a Shipping Container Garage
Plan on two separate approvals. Zoning decides whether a container may sit on your lot at all, and where. The building department decides whether it needs a permit and what the build must meet.
A container is not a building until you use it as one. Parking a car in it is using it as one.
Rules are local, and many are still catching up. The International Code Council says local jurisdictions and state programs can be behind on container regulation. It publishes the ICC G5 Guideline for the Safe Use of ISO Intermodal Shipping Containers Repurposed as Buildings to help officials, owners and engineers design, review and approve them.
Portland shows how a shipping container garage changes the answer. Its guide lets containers be used as storage without meeting the full building code, but only within its scope. That scope excludes storing motorized passenger vehicles. Outside it, a container must meet the building code's requirements for a site-built structure, and trade permits are always required for electrical work.
Homeowners associations add a third layer. Covenants can bar containers even where the county allows them. Read yours before you order.
Ask Before the Truck Arrives
Call zoning and the building department before delivery, and tell them you plan to park a vehicle inside. A box that has to leave the lot after a violation notice means paying for delivery twice. Our metal building permits and codes guide covers what the permit office usually asks for.
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Shipping Container Garage Cost
The container is the one price in a shipping container garage you can pin down before a site visit. Everything added to it — the cut, the roof, the pad, insulation and engineering — is quoted by size, condition and location. These are the container prices this site publishes.
| Container | Grade | Purchase Price |
|---|---|---|
| 20ft standard | New one-trip | $2,500–$5,000 |
| 20ft standard | IICL / multi-trip | $2,000–$3,500 |
| 20ft standard | Cargo-worthy | $1,500–$2,800 |
| 20ft standard | Wind and watertight | $1,200–$2,200 |
| 40ft standard | New one-trip | $3,500–$6,500 |
| 40ft standard | IICL / multi-trip | $2,800–$4,500 |
| 40ft standard | Cargo-worthy | $2,000–$3,500 |
| 40ft standard | Wind and watertight | $1,800–$2,800 |
| 40ft high cube | New | $4,000–$7,000 |
| 40ft high cube | Used | $2,200–$3,800 |
| Delivery | By distance from the nearest depot | $300–$2,500+ |
For a shipping container garage that stays put, wind and watertight is often enough. It is sealed against weather but not certified for shipping. Cargo-worthy units are inspected and certified to carry cargo, which a parked box never does. New one-trip units cost more and start with the least wear.
Worked Example: Two 20ft Containers for a Carport, Before the Roof
Two wind and watertight 20ft containers: 2 × $1,200–$2,200 = $2,400–$4,400.
Two deliveries at $300–$2,500+ each: $600–$5,000+.
Containers on site: $3,000–$9,400+.
Still to be quoted by size, condition and location: the roof kit or framed roof, the slab or piers, anchoring, engineering and permits. Ask whether both units can come on one delivery.
The shipping container prices guide explains each grade in more depth. The 20ft container cost page and 40ft container cost page cover specs by size. Renting runs $75–$200 a month for a 20ft, but a rented unit is not yours to cut; the storage container rental guide covers renting.
When a Steel Garage Building Is the Better Buy
A shipping container garage wins when you want secure storage fast and one vehicle is enough. It loses ground once you need two bays, a wide door and a tall ceiling. By then you are paying for containers, a roof, engineering and cuts to get what a steel garage is designed to be.
A steel garage building is ordered to the size and doors you need. The Metal Building Manufacturers Association describes metal building systems as able to enclose large volumes of space with an efficient use of steel. A wide garage door is a line on the order. It is not a cut through a load-bearing wall.
- Choose a container for one vehicle or equipment, lockable storage, a site you may leave, or a carport between two units.
- Choose a steel garage for two or more bays, doors wider than a container allows, more headroom, or daily parking with room to open car doors.
Compare sizes and layouts on the metal garage buildings page. The shipping container vs metal building comparison sets the two side by side.
Frequently Asked Questions About Container Garages
The container costs $1,200–$5,000 for a 20ft and $1,800–$6,500 for a 40ft standard, from wind and watertight to new one-trip, plus $300–$2,500+ for delivery. The door opening, roof, pad, insulation, engineering and permits are quoted by size, condition and location.
Check three numbers. A container is typically about 7'8" wide inside, with end doors opening about 7'6" wide and 7'5" tall on a standard unit. Interior length is about 19'4" on a 20ft and 39'5" on a 40ft. Sizes vary by manufacturer, so measure the unit and your vehicle.
A 20ft suits motorcycles, ATVs, mowers and short cars. A 40ft takes longer vehicles and leaves room for a workbench. A 40ft high cube adds a foot of headroom and door height for taller vans and trucks.
Expect to need zoning approval, and often a building permit. Rules are local, and some storage-container rules exclude parking vehicles inside. Call your zoning office and building department before delivery, and check any HOA covenants.
Only with engineering. Cutting a side wall removes part of the structure, and codes limit how much wall can be opened and require the opening to be framed with steel. Have an engineer design it and a qualified fabricator do the work.
Set two containers parallel with a gap between them, anchor them, and span the gap with a roof kit or a framed roof rated for your site's wind and snow loads. Close the ends with walls and a door if you want an enclosed bay.
Ventilate first, since moving air is the main defense against condensation on metal walls. If you insulate, include a vapor barrier or use closed-cell insulation, and keep the pad dry and draining.
A shipping container garage needs a level base under the corner castings: a compacted gravel pad, concrete piers or footings, or a slab. A permanent building needs a designed foundation and anchoring, so ask your building department what applies.
Wind and watertight is usually the value pick for a shipping container garage, because it is sealed against weather. Cargo-worthy certification matters for shipping, not parking. New one-trip units cost more and start with the least wear.
For two or more bays, wide doors or daily parking, usually yes, because it is designed around the doors and size you order. A container suits one vehicle, secure storage, or a carport built between two units.
A shipping container garage works best when the vehicle, the door opening and the local rules all line up. Measure the unit, choose a layout that fits the way you park, and treat every cut and roof as engineering. Ventilate from day one.
The container price is the easy part to settle. Get quotes on the size and grade you need, delivered to your address, then price the roof, pad and permits around it. If the plan keeps growing past one bay, price a steel garage building too.
Related Resources
- Shipping Container Prices by Size and Grade
- 20ft Shipping Container Cost and Specs
- 40ft Shipping Container Cost and Specs
- Shipping Container vs Metal Building
- Metal Garage Buildings: Sizes and Options
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