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: about 70 feet of straight clearance from the drop point
• 40ft container: about 100 feet of straight clearance from the drop point

It also needs roughly 10 to 12 ft of width and clear air above. Low utility lines, tree limbs and roof overhangs stop a delivery more often than anything on the ground does. If you are unsure, describe the approach when you ask for a quote and we will tell you before anything is scheduled.

Watch a delivery: container delivery video.

Price moves with three things: the size, the grade, and how far your address sits from the depot holding the unit. That last one is why we do not publish a single statewide number. The starting prices on this site name the grade and the city they were captured in, so you can see the floor rather than a marketing figure. For your address, the quote form or a phone call gets you a real number, delivery included.

Warranty runs by grade: one-trip units carry a 10 year structural and no-leak warranty, cargo worthy and wind and water tight units carry 5 years, and economy units carry a 1 year no-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.

Yes. We sell containers outright, and we work with financing partners who offer rent-to-own, which spreads the payments and leaves you owning the container at the end. We do not do short-term rentals. If you want the full comparison, our rent vs buy guide walks through when each path makes sense.

Virginia pricing starts at $2,147 for a 20ft Wind and Water Tight container delivered in Norfolk, captured from Container One on 6 August 2026. Virginia is the flattest pricing map we run: the same 20ft Wind and Water Tight unit came back at $2,147 delivered in Virginia Beach and $2,147 delivered in Richmond on that same capture, even though Richmond is roughly 96 miles from the depot and Norfolk is about 6. 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. Delivery is included in every figure above.

Virginia splits this into two questions, and one of them has the same answer everywhere in the Commonwealth. The building code question is settled statewide: Section 102.2 of the Virginia Construction Code provides that the Uniform Statewide Building Code supersedes local building codes, and Section 108.2 exempts one story detached storage sheds and similar uses from permit application where the building area does not exceed 256 square feet. A 20ft container is about 160 square feet and sits under that line. A 40ft is about 320 and sits above it. That is true in Norfolk, in Richmond and in Wise County alike. The zoning question is the opposite and it is where the real variation lives. Norfolk names shipping containers in its ordinance and lists the districts that allow them. Virginia Beach runs a Portable Storage Container Permit through its Zoning Administrator. Richmond requires a certificate of zoning compliance for almost anything three feet or taller that you set on the ground. One call to whoever issues your zoning approval, with the parcel address in hand, settles nearly all of it.

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. East of the fall line, through Norfolk, Virginia Beach and the Peninsula, the soil is sandy over a high water table and the concern is bearing and settlement, so blocks, timbers or a compacted gravel pad under the corners keep the box level and the floor out of standing water. West of the fall line the Piedmont turns to clay that is firm when dry and greasy for days after a hard rain, and the same four supports do the same job for a different reason. Along the Interstate 81 karst belt there is a third question worth asking before anything is set down: has this spot held a loaded truck or a piece of equipment before.

Typically 1 to 2 weeks for Hampton Roads, greater Richmond and Northern Virginia, and 2 to 3 weeks for the Shenandoah Valley, Central Virginia, the Southside and Southwest Virginia. One depot serves the state and it sits in Norfolk, about 6 miles from downtown, with Northern Virginia orders routed from the closer Baltimore depot rather than back across the state. We give you a window when you book rather than a date we cannot hold, and we would rather move a field placement by a day after heavy rain than force a truck through soft ground.

There are four 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, and they are the workhorse grade for storage. Economy is the budget grade and carries a 1 year no-roof-leak warranty. Refrigerated units are sold inspected and tested, with any service history we hold, and carry no separate refrigeration warranty.

Containers are built from Corten steel, which forms a stable surface layer that slows corrosion, and they spend their working lives crossing oceans in salt spray. What actually causes trouble in Virginia is condensation on the inside, not rust on the outside. Hampton Roads runs summer dew points in the upper 60s and low 70s Fahrenheit, and warm humid air meeting a steel roof that cooled overnight puts water on your ceiling. Cross ventilation high and low on opposite ends, setting the box up off the ground, and keeping it level so the roof sheds water handle most of it. Near the water, add a look at the roof seams and the door gaskets on arrival, and touch up the paint anywhere the finish is thin.

Yes, and across most of Virginia that is easier than an intown alley. Fields, hunting tracts, packing sheds and equipment yards usually have room to work. What decides it is 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. One Virginia detail is worth knowing: the state maintains most rural roads here, so the lane at the end of a farm is usually a numbered state secondary route that may give up its pavement somewhere along the way. A low water bridge after a hard rain, a soft shoulder, a narrow gate or a hollow with nowhere to turn around are the usual reasons a delivery has to be repositioned. Send photos of the approach and the drop spot when you book and we will tell you honestly whether it will work.

Yes, rent-to-own is available in Virginia, and it is worth understanding how it differs from renting. With rent-to-own the monthly payment builds toward ownership, so at the end of the term the container is yours. With a straight rental the payments end and so does your claim on the box. Which one costs less depends entirely on how many months you actually need it, so ask for the delivered purchase price, the monthly rental and the rent-to-own terms on the same call, and the arithmetic makes the decision for you.

A container is exceptionally strong in compression, 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, setting it level on firm bearing and keeping the doors closed handles normal Virginia weather. If you are anchoring it, or building with it, that is engineering work rather than a rule of thumb. Hampton Roads and the Eastern Shore carry higher design wind speeds and, close to the water, opening protection requirements that inland Virginia does not have, and the Central Virginia Seismic Zone means seismic design category is a real line in your locality's table rather than a formality. Ask your building department for their filled in Table R301.2 and have the connection between container and foundation designed by a Virginia licensed engineer.

Two questions decide it, and neither is about how much you own. 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 often takes two 20ft boxes where one 40ft will never place. That comes up constantly in Richmond alleys and up a hollow in Southwest Virginia. 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. There is a Virginia code wrinkle worth knowing too, because the statewide building permit exemption stops at 256 square feet and a 20ft container sits under it while a 40ft sits above it. Tell us where the box has to land and we will tell you which one your ground can actually 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 with photographs, 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 no-leak warranty is the longest we carry. 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. Which of those matter depends on the climate the box will sit in: Virginia is genuinely mixed, and the 2021 code says so out loud. For years the whole Commonwealth sat in climate zone 4A. The 2021 Virginia Residential Code adopted the updated ASHRAE map and split the state three ways: nineteen localities along the southern and eastern edge, Norfolk and Virginia Beach among them, are now 3A warm humid, five localities on the northwest edge are 5A cool humid, and everything else, Richmond included, stays 4A mixed humid. What that means for a container is that the wall number is the same everywhere and the ceiling, floor and glazing numbers change as you move north and west. What does not change anywhere in Virginia is that moisture governs. 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.

Start with the ground you actually have. In Virginia, Virginia hands you five physiographic provinces and expects you to know which one you are standing on. A container carries essentially its entire weight through four corner castings rather than spreading it along a continuous footing, so four concentrated point loads on ground that softens, settles or subsides is how a box ends up out of level, with doors that no longer close and a roof that ponds water. East of the fall line, through Norfolk, Virginia Beach, the Peninsula and the Eastern Shore, the soil is sandy with the water table close to the surface, and bearing capacity and settlement govern. West of it the Piedmont turns to deeply weathered residual soil and saprolite with high clay content and slow drainage, and Virginia has genuinely shrink and swell soils in that mix.

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.

For permanent placement or a conversion: Poured piers or footings under each corner casting, bearing on undisturbed soil, with drainage that carries water away. IRC Section R403.1.4 requires exterior footings at least 12 inches below the undisturbed ground surface, and below the frost line where one applies. On Tidewater sand or Piedmont clay a soil test is cheap next to remediating a settled corner, and anywhere along the Interstate 81 karst belt a geotechnical investigation is the honest first step rather than an upgrade. Any structural build needs the foundation and the anchoring designed by a Virginia licensed engineer.

Frost depth: There is no single statewide figure to look up, because IRC Table R301.2 is filled in locally in Virginia the same way design wind speed and seismic category are. The IRC minimum of 12 inches below undisturbed grade is the practical floor across most of the state, and the mountain counties run deeper. Ask your building department for their number before you pour anything. Anything meant to be permanent needs its bearing points below that line, or the whole assembly moves with the first hard freeze.

Crawl space and slab on grade construction are the Virginia norm, and frost depth is rarely the governing factor outside the mountain counties. What governs instead is water: where it goes, how fast the soil sheds it, and whether the ground under the corners stays firm through a wet week. In Tidewater Virginia the flood zone and the finished floor elevation frequently decide the design before soil strength does.

At a minimum, make the placement area level and firm, and clear debris, rocks and brush out of the way. Confirm the straight run above, and look up for lines and limbs. Soft ground is the single most common cause of a delayed delivery: a loaded flatbed will sink, so a driver will wait for the ground to dry rather than tear up your property. Send photos of the site with your quote request and we will tell you if anything needs doing first.

The box itself is 14-gauge Corten steel and is very hard to cut. The lock is the weak point, so use a hidden shackle lock, sometimes called a puck lock, inside a lockbox welded over the handle. Many of our units already have 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 physical business address, and pressure to decide today. A real dealer will give you a phone number, answer questions before payment, and put the quote in writing.