

Help Us Build a $300 House  - cwan
http://hbr.org/web/slideshows/help-us-build-a-300-dollar-house/1-slide?cm_mmc=social-_-facebook-_-032411

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kovar
I've researched building spaces with conex containers. I've not actually
pulled the trigger and done it, but a lot of other people have. It is fairly
likely that I'll build a semi-mobile office into one before too long, but I'm
not a mechanical/electrical hacker, alas. If anyone is and would like to
explore this, please drop me a line.

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brudgers
You would be better off buying a used mobile home. Not only would you save
money over converting a shipping container to a dwelling but you would have a
far more habitable space.

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kovar
The integrity of most mobile homes is subpar for my desired application. I do,
among other things, IT consulting and computer forensics. We were working on a
project to deploy to disaster zones to provide ISP services, data recovery,
and other related services. Packing our entire operation into a container that
could be shipped to the area via normal shipping options would reduce our
deployment costs and logistical complexity.

(And, as always, anyone interested, please drop me a line.)

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brudgers
A tablet computer but no place to shit? Give me a fucking break - the iPad's
magic won't cure dysentery.

I'll add that the whole ownership theme is in Marie-Antoinette-let-them-eat-
cake territory because it ignores the most basic fact of urban poverty -
people typically don't own the land beneath the slums and are occupying it
illegally.

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kovar
The link is currently invalid, but I distinctly recall an outdoor toilet in
the diagram.

Why is land ownership relevant to the posting? If they're told to pick up and
move, they can do so very easily. Or, a benevolent land owner (government,
commercial, other) could offer them space at low or no cost, particularly if
they're willing to live in something such as this, rather than a typical
dwelling for the area.

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dmm
Check out: <http://www.undergroundhousing.com/>

He built a house for $50, albeit with many salvaged materials and in the '70s.

