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.

North Carolina pricing starts at $2,540 for a 20ft Wind and Water Tight container delivered in Charlotte. The same 20ft Wind and Water Tight unit is $2,555 delivered in Raleigh and $2,616 delivered in Greensboro, a $76 spread across the three cities on that grade. The grade you choose moves your number far more than the city you live in does. Price also moves with size, with what is in stock and with how far the truck runs, so the figure that matters is the one quoted to your ZIP code.

North Carolina splits this into two questions handled by two different offices. The building code is set statewide and every local inspections department enforces it. Zoning, which decides whether a container is an allowed thing on your particular lot, is entirely local, and the answers differ. Charlotte created a Temporary Outdoor Storage Container use and gives it 90 calendar days in every district. Greensboro caps portable storage units at 16 feet long, 45 days and two units on a site, which a 20ft container does not fit inside. Raleigh has no container rule either way and requires a permit for an accessory structure of any size. Start with one call to the office that would issue your permit, with your parcel address in hand.

Level and firm, with water running away from it rather than under it. A container carries its entire weight through four corner castings, so it needs solid bearing at those four points rather than along a wall. On Piedmont clay over saprolite, which runs from Charlotte through the Triad to the western half of Wake County, the clay is firm when dry and softens after a wet week, so blocks, timbers or a compacted gravel pad under the corners keeps the box level and the doors swinging true. A band through western and southern Wake has clay that shrinks and swells with moisture more than the surrounding Piedmont. Head east or south toward the Sandhills and the soil turns to deep sand over a high water table, and the concern shifts from softening to settlement.

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.

There are five grades and the warranty runs by grade. One-trip containers have made a single loaded voyage, look close to new, and carry a 10 year structural and no-leak warranty. Cargo worthy units are certified fit for ocean shipping and carry 5 years. Wind and water tight units are dry and serviceable and carry 5 years. Economy is the budget grade and carries a 1 year no-roof-leak warranty. Multi-trip units are also sold, so ask the Container One sales representative preparing your quote about them. Refrigerated units are inspected and tested before delivery. Ask about their warranty terms before you buy.

Containers are built from Corten steel, which forms a stable surface layer that slows corrosion. Condensation on the inside is a separate problem in North Carolina. On a clear night the roof radiates heat to the sky and can fall below the temperature of the air around it, and when the steel drops below the dew point of the air inside, water forms on your ceiling. Cross ventilation high and low on opposite ends, setting the box up off the ground on its corner castings, and keeping it level so the roof sheds water help reduce it. On the coast and the sounds, add a look at the roof and the door gaskets on arrival, and touch up the paint anywhere the finish is thin.

It depends on the last quarter mile and the drop spot, because a tilt bed truck needs a firm, reasonably level path and a long straight run to slide the box off. Container One delivers to farm, hunt club and rural sites when the truck has that access. Describe the approach and the drop spot in your quote request.

Container One sells containers and does not rent them. Financing is available through third-party partners, including Clicklease and Shop Pay installments by Affirm, and rent-to-own is available through a third-party partner, My Container Rental. With rent-to-own the monthly payment builds toward ownership, so at the end of the term the container is yours. How long you need the container decides which option costs less, so compare the delivered purchase price, a monthly rental quote from a rental company and the rent-to-own terms.

A container is strong in compression at the corner posts, which is why they stack nine high on a ship, and it is comparatively light for its surface area, which means uplift and overturning are the conditions worth planning for rather than crushing. For ordinary storage, set it level on firm bearing and keep the doors closed. If you are anchoring it, or building with it, that is engineering work rather than a rule of thumb. The state Residential Code carries Chapter 45 for the 130, 140 and 150 mph wind zones, and its anchorage requirement is a continuous load path from the roof to the foundation wall or pier, and to the footing in the two higher zones. Hurricane Helene in September 2024 reached counties hundreds of miles from the coast, so inland sites need to plan for wind and water as well. Ask your building department for your design wind speed and have the connection between container and foundation designed by a North Carolina licensed engineer.

Two questions decide it. The first is what the truck can do at your site: a 40ft needs a longer straight run to set down than a 20ft, so a constrained lot can take two 20ft boxes where one 40ft will not place. The oak canopy in Raleigh and the older streets in Dilworth and Fisher Park are examples. The second is the shape of your load: a 40ft is one long room, while two 20ft units give you two doors, two locations, and the option to move one of them later without moving both. Tell us where the box has to land and a Container One sales representative will help you choose the size your ground can take.

• 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: North Carolina has three energy code climate zones, and the counties do not line up by region. The 2018 North Carolina Energy Conservation Code assigns every county to a zone in Table R301.1, and the state lands in zones 3A, 4A and 5A. Zone 3A covers the coastal plain and a broad band of the southern Piedmont, Mecklenburg County and Charlotte included. Zone 4A covers the central and northern Piedmont and most of the west, which is where Wake County and Raleigh and Guilford County and Greensboro sit. Zone 5A is six high elevation counties: Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Mitchell, Watauga and Yancey. Charlotte is in zone 3A and Raleigh is in zone 4A, so confirm your own county in Table R301.1. In every zone the main concern is moisture. R-value matters, but controlling where humid air meets cold steel matters more, so the insulation plan is a moisture plan first.

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.

Charlotte, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Durham and the western half of Raleigh sit on Piedmont red clay over saprolite, a layer of soft, weathered rock. The Cecil series, the official state soil, is a deep red clay. The clay holds water, drains slowly, softens when saturated and compacts under load. The saprolite beneath it changes strength over short distances. That matters more for a container than for a house, because a container puts essentially its whole weight through four corner castings rather than spreading it along a continuous footing. Four point loads on Piedmont clay that has softened after a wet week is how a box ends up out of level, with doors that no longer close and a roof that ponds water.

For temporary placement: Set the container on solid bearing at the four corner castings rather than straight onto turf. Pressure treated timbers, solid 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, and leave enough space beneath for air to move.

For permanent placement or a conversion: Use poured piers or footings under each corner casting, bearing on undisturbed soil, with drainage that carries water away. The Residential Code requires termite protection statewide under Section R318, which constrains how foam plastic is used at and below grade and drives an inspection gap detail at the foundation, so it belongs in the foundation conversation rather than the finishing one. Any structural build needs the foundation and the anchoring designed by a North Carolina licensed engineer.

Frost depth: 12 inches statewide, set at the state level in Table R301.2(1) of the Residential Code, so there is one number to work from.

A 12 inch frost line is shallow, so footings below it are not deep. What governs the design is water: where it goes, how fast the soil sheds it, and whether the ground under the corners stays firm through a wet week.

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.