Dreams to beams and finally, a home

Shipping containers are useful in many ways. And Ian and Janna Ebeling, of Isanti, proved that they can be crafted into a dream home.

From the outside of the 4,100 square-foot home, you would never imagine six shipping containers lie between the walls.

A decade-old dream has officially come to fruition, and the Ebelings are ready to make their forever home truly theirs.

“What I’m hoping is that by having this meeting place and having all this space that there’s going to be blessings with it,” Ian said.

He was in a state of shock with how the home came together, as Ian mentioned he can’t picture a project completed before it’s actually finished.

“This place is stunning, and it’s something that no one else has, and we have a lot to be proud of,” Ian said.

Janna agrees and has enjoyed her contribution to the build.

“Working on the style part is so fun, I’ve really enjoyed that,” she said. “I think it’s really nice and we use our space.”

The build

Shipping containers are usually seen on cargo ships or train cars. The containers are made of steel and have the strength to handle shipment overseas; they are resistant to high winds and most severe weather conditions.

The idea came to Ian’s mind when he was at a friend’s business location in the middle of winter. His friend had a shipping container behind the business used to hold tools. When Ian went inside to get a tool, he found it was nice and warm. Only a small heater was being used, as the whole container was spray foamed, trapping the heat inside.

Ian, 45, runs his own business, Onsite Auto Glass, that he started at 20 years old. Janna, 39, also works at Onsite Auto Glass. The Ebelings have two children together, ages 12 and 9.

The project started in fall of 2021 and should be officially completed by this summer, although the plan was to build the home — mostly on their own and with local help — in just over a year.

“I was optimistic right up to six months of doing it. It took seven months to do the structure,” Ian said.

Due to how much time and labor it took for him to do pieces of the project on his own, he needed to take a break from the construction.

“Devoting everything I had to this — I took a year and a half off,” Ian said.

Outside of the time off, it took roughly a year and a half, total, to construct the home.

The Ebeling’s shipping container home consists of three bathrooms, four bedrooms, laundry room, two living spaces, a full-size kitchen, dining area, and a main gathering space when visitors walk in the front door.

All of this was built with six containers total. Some walls of the home have drywall to connect containers.

Although Ian knew he was planning for a big home, he was quite surprised at just the beginning stages.

“When we put these beams up I thought, ‘Oh, this (size) is ridiculous,’” he said.

The Ebelings explained that the containers themselves can be visible from either the inside or outside of the home, but they still need to be insulated. They chose to keep them visible from the inside so there is a reminder of their unique home.

After full construction, Ian said the home is worth roughly $1.4 million, but they were able to build it for under $500,000 and stick within their budget.

“We did succeed on having a ‘Sunfish Budget.’ We call it having a ‘Caviar taste on a sunfish budget,’” Ian said.

Throughout the construction, at the height of inflation for the cost of materials, the Ebelings thought parts of the home would fall over budget. But it wasn’t until they started building the inside of the home that the surprises came.

“I thought the most expensive part (exterior) is over, but the stuff on the inside is so expensive,” Ian said.

For example, the steel wire railing they chose that lines the stairs to their second floor was more expensive than they expected.

“There were things that went up in price, but I really believe that God was with us through this whole process,” he said. “When I needed something, it was available.”

However, many items they were able to purchase at cost or even below-average prices, such as their windows. The main window in the front of the home for example, was returned from the original buyer, where it was then sold at a discount price.

“We maybe have $140,000 worth of windows but spent under $30,000 in windows,” Ian said.

The process

During construction, the Ebelings lived in a 300-square-foot camper for roughly seven months, and then a 1,200-square-foot garage space for the rest of the journey — a total of two years and 10 months for the family of four.

Janna said their kids are very happy to now have their own space.

“It’s nice to have the kids in not just a house but a home, and have sleepovers,” she said. “These are luxuries, but I think they have learned throughout this process to appreciate it.”

Throughout the time of constructing their dream home, the Ebelings would experience more lessons than anything.

Ian continued to work his full-time job and then work on the house afterward, often until midnight — making it difficult to spend time together as a family.

“It’s not for the faint of heart,” Janna said. “I love that about him — (Ian) does have a lot of drive and ambition.”

One positive that came from the struggle of time, was the new friendships and relationships that were built during the project.

“The real value here isn’t this (the home.) You can’t even see the value,” Ian said. “The value to me is the relationships that were built with all these contractors and people that were acquaintances that turned into really good friends.”

One local company they worked with was Rock Solid Plumbing. Jesse and Bethany Haugen own the company, along with Thistle and Ivory in Cambridge.

Although the Ebelings met the couple prior to the project, they have become much closer, especially with the interior design process as Janna connected on ideas with Bethany.

Minnesota Metal Coating and Wasche Commercial Finishes are just a couple other local companies the Ebelings built relationships with.

“These are wonderful people in our community,” Ian said.

Two friends they were also able to gain are Jerry Beckman and Sam Person, who greatly helped in the build of the home, especially when they need assistance the most.

“We couldn’t do it without them,” Janna said.

Now the family is able to get more settled into its dream shipping container home and appreciate the hard work that came with it.

“Being in it, we love it. We enjoy it. We value it,” Ian said.

They plan to invite those who helped put work into the home to see the final project later this year.

Something special as a family they started to do to make the home their own is putting coins made from each family member’s birth year in the floor of their upstairs living space. They’ve left enough room for future family members to add their own coins.

If you’d like to see the process of the build, the Ebelings have a YouTube channel called Sunfish Budget where you can watch the project.

Click here to read a story about the home while it was in the process of being built. It is FREE!