Frequently Asked Questions

Containers arrive on a tilt-bed truck, which slides the container off the back. That means the truck needs a straight, level run at the drop point:

• 20ft container: 110 feet of straight clearance from the drop point
• 40ft container: 130 feet of straight clearance from the drop point

The truck needs at least 15 ft of height to drive, at least 22 ft of height along the entire unloading path, and at least 10 ft of width. Low utility lines, tree limbs and roof overhangs can stop a delivery. If you are unsure, describe the approach when you ask for a quote so it can be reviewed before anything is scheduled.

Watch a delivery: container delivery video.

Price depends on the size, grade and condition you choose, on what is in stock, and on the distance and access to your address, so there is no single statewide number. The starting prices on this site name the grade and the city they apply to. For your address, the quote form or a phone call gets you a written quote with delivery details.

Warranty runs by grade: one-trip units carry a 10 year structural and 10 year no-leak warranty, cargo worthy and wind and water tight units carry a 5 year structural and 5 year no-leak warranty, and economy units carry a 1 year roof leak warranty. The warranty travels with the grade you buy, so if warranty length matters to you it is worth comparing grades before you compare prices.

We sell containers. We do not rent them. Rent-to-own runs through a third-party partner, My Container Rental, and spreads the payments until you own the container. Our rent vs buy guide walks through when each path makes sense.

Michigan pricing starts at $2,067 for a 20ft Wind and Water Tight container delivered in Detroit. The same unit is $2,067 delivered in Lansing and $2,309 delivered in Grand Rapids. Price moves with size, grade, what is in stock and how far the truck runs, so the number that matters is the one quoted to your ZIP code. The quote includes delivery details for the address.

Containers for all three cities ship from a depot in the Detroit area. Detroit is about 18 miles out, Lansing about 82, and every size and grade prices identically in the two cities. Grand Rapids, at about 148 miles, is where the distance finally shows up, at roughly two hundred and forty dollars more for a 20ft Wind and Water Tight container. Pricing changes, so the quote a Container One sales representative prepares for your ZIP code reflects the price on that day.

Michigan splits that into two questions with two different answers, and each can be answered by a different office. The building code half is statewide: the Stille-DeRossett-Hale Single State Construction Code Act, Public Act 230 of 1972, applies one code everywhere, and Section R105.2 of the Michigan Residential Code exempts one-story detached accessory structures of 200 square feet or less from a building permit. A 20ft container at 160 square feet sits under that line and a 40ft container at 320 square feet does not. The zoning half is entirely local, delegated to counties, townships, cities and villages by the Michigan Zoning Enabling Act, Public Act 110 of 2006, and it changes at the city line. Call the zoning office of the government that has your address before you call anyone about a building permit.

They are, and the three cities show a range of approaches in Michigan. Detroit does not name containers in a residential context at all, so a container is read as an accessory structure and the answer comes from a determination on your parcel. Grand Rapids names them directly, ruling a container out as a permanent accessory or storage structure and allowing a temporary portable storage container that is smaller than a 20ft box. Lansing names them once, permits them only as temporary structures, and puts a two week clock on them with two possible extensions. Call the government that has your address and ask it to read you the section of its code that covers shipping containers.

Not necessarily. A charter township can wrap around a city and run a completely different code. Greater Lansing is one example, where Lansing Charter Township is its own jurisdiction and the City of Lansing reaches into three counties. Around Grand Rapids, Wyoming, Kentwood, Walker, Grandville, Cascade and Ada are separate governments with their own codes. Your property tax bill names the government that actually has your parcel.

It can, and it changes what has to be ready. A plow bank across the end of a driveway, an unplowed approach or a drop spot nobody cleared can stop a truck, and the approach and drop spot have to be clear before the driver arrives. There is also a spring window to plan around. As frost leaves the ground, road agencies post seasonal weight restrictions, which are called frost laws in Michigan. In 2026 the Michigan Department of Transportation's restrictions began February 17, came off southern Michigan on April 13 and were fully lifted statewide at 7 a.m. on Friday, May 15. County road commissions can set their own. On a paved city street it matters less. On a gravel county road it can decide the date, and the delivery address determines which restrictions apply.

Level and firm, with a straight run for the truck to slide the container off. Gravel, compacted crushed stone, concrete or asphalt all work. In a freeze and thaw climate, consistency matters: give every corner casting the same bearing, because a freeze and thaw cycle finds uneven blocking and lifts it, and a container that has been racked by one lifted corner is one whose doors no longer close. Southeast Michigan clay holds firm dry, softens after a heavy rain and heaves over a winter. West Michigan and the north are more often sand, which drains well and spreads under a point load. Either way, blocks or timbers under the four corners keep the box level, the doors swinging true and the wood floor out of standing water.

Not on its own. A container roof is not a structural roof deck. Under ISO 1496-1, the standard these boxes are built and tested to, the roof strength test applies about 660 pounds spread over an area roughly two feet by one foot at the weakest point. That test exists so a worker can stand on the roof during handling. Michigan assigns ground snow loads county by county in Table R301.2(5) of the residential code, running from 20 pounds per square foot in Wayne County up to 90 in Keweenaw County, with Kent at 35 and Ingham at 25. The container's real strength is in the corner castings, corner posts and rails, which is why these boxes stack on a ship and still oil-can under a boot in the middle of the roof. For plain storage, keep the roof clear and keep the box level. For anything you intend to occupy or finish, have a designed roof structure over the container, and plan it from the start rather than adding it later.

Container One sells five grades: 1-Trip, Multi-Trip, Cargo Worthy, Wind and Water Tight and Economy. 1-Trip is the newest, has made a single loaded voyage, and carries a 10 year structural and no-leak warranty. Cargo Worthy has been surveyed and certified fit to carry freight again, with the paperwork to prove it, and carries 5 years. Wind and Water Tight has been retired from ocean service but is still dry inside, with sound doors, a sound roof and no daylight through the walls, and carries 5 years. Economy is the working grade, sold as it stands, and carries 1 year against roof leaks. Ask the Container One sales representative preparing your quote about Multi-Trip units. For storage on the ground in Michigan, Wind and Water Tight does the job for less money. 1-Trip is what you want if the box will be seen, insulated or converted.

Yes, Container One delivers to the northern Lower Peninsula and the Upper Peninsula where the route can support the truck. Delivery timing depends on location, payment, weather, container availability and site access. Container One's Delivery/Dispatch department schedules the date after payment is received and the site is reviewed.

• One-trip: made one loaded ocean crossing. Clean floors, intact paint, close to new.
• Cargo worthy: certified fit to carry cargo at sea. Structurally sound, cosmetically used.
• Wind and water tight (WWT): inspected to confirm the doors seal, there are no holes, and the interior stays dry. Surface rust, paint wear and minor dents are normal.
• Economy: the lowest grade we sell. Weathered, and priced accordingly.

For a grade-by-grade walkthrough, see the container condition guide.

It depends on what the container is for. If it is going to be seen, lived in, or converted, the clean interior and intact paint save real work later and the 10 year structural and 10 year no-leak warranty is the longest available. If it is going behind a shed to hold equipment, a wind and water tight unit does the same job for less.

We offer 20ft standard, 40ft standard and 40ft high cube containers, plus modified containers and refrigerated units in 20ft and 40ft.

Personnel doors, roll-up doors, windows, vents, skylights, electrical wiring and a panel, LED lighting, insulation, spray foam, HVAC, shelving, workbenches and exterior paint. Insulation and HVAC choices depend on the climate the box will sit in: Michigan's main energy load is heating everywhere, and unlike states that sit in one energy zone, Michigan's residential code sorts the counties into three. Table N1101.10 of the Michigan Residential Code puts zone 5A across the southern Lower Peninsula, which is where all three of our cities sit: Wayne County and Detroit, Ingham County and Lansing, Kent County and Grand Rapids. Zone 6A covers the northern Lower Peninsula and much of the eastern and central Upper Peninsula. Zone 7 covers the coldest Upper Peninsula counties. What changes as you drive north is the ceiling, the floor, the basement wall and the slab, because Michigan holds wood frame walls at R-20, or R-13 cavity plus R-5 continuous, in all three zones alike. The practical consequence for a container is that the roof and the ground are where the money goes, not the walls, and that a table published for a warmer state will not match Michigan's cells. Ask which state's table a supplier is quoting from before you buy foam.

A reefer has a refrigeration unit built into one end. It runs on a 460V 3-phase supply, or a compatible generator where 3-phase power is not available, and holds anywhere from -25 degrees F to +70 degrees F. The walls are insulated as part of the original build, not retrofitted.

A container rests its whole load on four corner castings, set on ground the glaciers left behind and that frost heaves in winter. Michigan soil changes character across the state: heavy clay across the southeast and the Thumb, which holds firm dry, greases up after a rain and heaves over a winter; sand and sandy loam through much of West Michigan and up north, which drains beautifully and spreads under a point load; loam and clay mixed through the tri-county area around Lansing; and organic muck ground in the drained lakebeds of the central Lower Peninsula, which is the worst bearing surface in the state. A house spreads its weight along a continuous footing. A container puts all of it through four points, which is why ground that carries a garage slab without complaint can still let one corner of a container settle an inch and stop the doors closing.

For temporary placement: Set the container on solid bearing at the four corner castings rather than straight onto turf. Pressure treated timbers, concrete blocks or a compacted gravel pad under each corner keeps the box level, keeps the doors square and keeps the wood floor out of standing water. Grade so surface water runs away from the corners rather than under them. Where the ground freezes, as in Michigan, give each corner the same bearing, because uneven blocking is what a freeze and thaw cycle finds and lifts.

For permanent placement or a conversion: Poured piers or footings under each corner casting, bearing on undisturbed soil, sized for the load rather than dropped on as a block. Section R403.1.4 of the Michigan Residential Code requires exterior footings and foundation systems to extend 42 inches below actual grade, with the building official permitted to modify that for freezing temperatures, soil type, groundwater, snow depth experience and exposure. R403.1.4.1 then carries an exception worth knowing: freestanding accessory structures of 400 square feet or less that are other than light-frame construction, with an eave height of 10 feet or less, are not required to be frost protected. A steel container is not light-frame construction, and a 40ft container at 320 square feet sits inside that exception. That is relief from a frost-protected foundation, not relief from the ground. On muck, on fill or on any parcel where you are guessing, a soil test is cheap next to remediating a settled corner, and any structure someone will occupy needs its foundation and anchoring designed by a Michigan licensed professional engineer.

Frost depth: 42 inches statewide. Michigan writes it into Section R403.1.4 of the residential code as a single number rather than leaving it to the jurisdiction. Your building official can modify the depth based on local conditions, so ask, but 42 inches is the figure Michigan starts from.

A footing for a permanent structure in Michigan has to reach below the 42 inch frost line. For a container that number cuts the other way, because the code exception for freestanding accessory structures that are not light-frame construction covers a 20ft or 40ft container, so it does not need to chase that depth at all. What governs instead is drainage, level bearing and consistent blocking through a winter.

At a minimum, make the placement area level and firm, and clear debris, rocks and brush out of the way. Confirm the straight run the truck needs, and look up for lines and limbs. Soft ground can delay a delivery: a loaded truck can sink, so the driver may wait for the ground to dry. Describe the site in your quote request so it can be reviewed before delivery is scheduled.

The box itself is corrugated Corten steel. The lock is the weak point, so use a hidden shackle lock, sometimes called a puck lock, inside a lockbox welded over the handle. Ask whether the selected unit has a lockbox fitted.

The recurring signs are a price far under the market, a seller who will not let the container be seen or photographed, payment demanded by wire transfer or crypto, no verifiable business identity or contact route, and pressure to decide today. A real dealer will give you a phone number, answer questions before payment, and put the quote in writing.