Want a tiny house? This MS Coast company transforms shipping containers into modern homes.

Anita Lee
·4 min read

Houses and offices made from shipping containers are being manufactured in South Mississippi.

Brittany Kahler is the chief executive officer of a company that is selling and manufacturing containers as homes, offices and even hunting camps. The company, Bloxx Building LLC, is set up on 32 acres off U.S. 49 in the Saucier community just north of Gulfport.

“We saw a need for housing,” Kahler said. “The real estate market was going insane.”

Shipping containers as housing is not a new concept, but manufacturing is new to the Coast market. The State Fire Marshal’s Office has certified Bloxx Building as a modular home manufacturer. It’s the only certified manufacturer of modular homes built from shipping containers in the state, Kahler said.

The company buys containers directly from shipping lines and has them delivered to its site, where they are sold as-is or modified to a customer’s specifications. Containers are 20 or 40 feet long and 8 feet wide, but they can be combined side-by-side, stacked or both.

“We see shipping containers as building blocks,” Kahler said.

Bloxx Building employees Kristopher Auderer, left, and Casey Jones work on a project at the company’s manufacturing facility in Saucier, where shipping containers are sold, or converted for housing or offices.
Bloxx Building employees Kristopher Auderer, left, and Casey Jones work on a project at the company’s manufacturing facility in Saucier, where shipping containers are sold, or converted for housing or offices.

Following a passion for real estate

Kahler got into the shipping container business about three years ago with her father, Frank Wilem Jr., and general contractor Todd Besnard.

Wilem was a founder of Triton Systems Inc. in Long Beach, which grew into the country’s largest manufacturer of ATMs and pulled in $100 million a year in revenue before being sold in 2000. An engineer by training, Wilem fostered an entrepreneurial spirit in his daughter.

He made sure she framed the first dollar that she earned as a youngster, catching bait fish for a charter boat captain in the Bahamas. She still has the souvenir.

Kahler earned her degree in advertising at the University of Florida but was always interested in real estate and construction. The partners started the shipping container company several years ago with the goal of building it into the biggest in the southeastern United States.

Shipping container dwellings and offices struck them as a smart business because housing inventory is low, turnaround is much faster than stick-built construction and the 4 tons of steel molded into a container makes for a sturdy dwelling in storm-prone coastal states.

Finished containers can be moved to any location, where they can be welded onto concrete foundations or placed on other suitable bases.

Brittany Wilem Kahler’s father, Frank Wilem, made sure she kept the first dollar that she ever earned when she was a child. She made the money catching bait fish for a fisherman in the Bahamas.
Brittany Wilem Kahler’s father, Frank Wilem, made sure she kept the first dollar that she ever earned when she was a child. She made the money catching bait fish for a fisherman in the Bahamas.

Shipping container housing offers versatility

Bloxx is selling its shipping containers as tiny homes, offices, hunting camps and to investors who want to offer short-term rentals. Construction on one unit can be completed in six to eight weeks.

The company calls its residential units “community cubes.” A basic single container floor plan of 320 square feet starts at $39,500. A double floor plan at 640 square feet starts at $70,000.

The cubes are finished out with insulation, interior walls, split air conditioning and heating units, kitchens and bathrooms. The smaller cube features one bedroom with closet and a living area, while the double model has two bedrooms with closets and a laundry closet for a stackable washer and dryer. Both models include small pantries.

Bloxx calls its hunting containers “camp cubes” and office containers “company cubes.”

All the containers are available with basic interior elements or add-ons, such as a mud room for camp cubes. Exteriors can also be dressed up to suit a buyer’s tastes, with board and batten finishes, decks and roofs. Solar panels and other energy-saving elements also can be added.

The Bloxx website shows some unique container designs.

The kitchen in a 20-foot shipping container modified by BLOXX Building.
The kitchen in a 20-foot shipping container modified by BLOXX Building.

Building sustainable communities

The business is just ramping up and currently has enough bays to build out 11 containers at a time. The goal is to produce 20 units per month in a 15,000-square-foot production area within three to five years.

Bloxx Building also sells shipping containers as they are, with a current price at $1,895 for a 20-foot container. The company also offers simple modifications, including windows, doors and partitions.

The company is preparing a sales site on the U.S. 49 side of its property, where model homes will be set up. Kahler hopes the sales location will be open by October.

This rendering shows what the Bloxx Building sales office will look like when completed. The office is currently being finished and will be set up by October at the company’s manufacturing and sales business off U.S. 49 in Saucier.
This rendering shows what the Bloxx Building sales office will look like when completed. The office is currently being finished and will be set up by October at the company’s manufacturing and sales business off U.S. 49 in Saucier.

Bloxx has so far sold most of its containers for offices, but is seeing interest from hunters with camps in the Delta and buyers looking for second homes. But Kahler also thinks Bloxx will find a market for developing subdivisions, or selling to investors who want to build communities as student and military housing.

Container housing, she has seen, is versatile enough that it appeals to buyers of all types.

“They’re robust,” Kahler said, “They’re sustainable. We’re recycling them, giving them a new purpose.”

“Being able to do communities and point at projects I had a hand in, and being able to show my kids that one day, that all really excites me, for sure.”

Bloxx Building buys shipping containers directly from shipping lines for its modular manufacturing and sales business off U.S. 49 in Saucier.
Bloxx Building buys shipping containers directly from shipping lines for its modular manufacturing and sales business off U.S. 49 in Saucier.
The porch on a 40-foot shipping container modified as a hunting camp.
The porch on a 40-foot shipping container modified as a hunting camp.
The bathroom with shower in a 20-foot shipping container.
The bathroom with shower in a 20-foot shipping container.