Most books about container homes show you the dream. This one shows you the build.

Steel, Grit & Square Footage is a no-nonsense construction guide written specifically for owner-builders—people who want to design, permit, and build their own shipping container home without hiring a general contractor to manage the process for them.

Written by Ethan Wilder, this guide walks you through every phase of the project in plain language: evaluating containers, reading soil reports, pulling permits, surviving building departments, choosing the right insulation strategy (and why getting it wrong is the most expensive mistake in the industry), managing structural modifications, running subcontractors, and navigating the path to a certificate of occupancy.

Inside you'll find:

How to inspect a container before you buy it—and what to walk away from

The permit and zoning process explained step by step for owner-builders

Why thermal bridging destroys container homes and exactly how to prevent it

Foundation options for every site type, from rocky hillsides to flat clay soil

How to hire and supervise a structural fabricator without getting burned

Realistic budgets, honest timelines, and the line items people always underestimate

Off-grid systems, HVAC, electrical, and plumbing in a steel structure

Long-term maintenance, resale value, and how to expand your build over time

This is not a coffee table book. It is a working manual—the kind you mark up, dog-ear, and bring to the job site.

If you are serious about building your own container home, this is the book you read before you spend a dollar.