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.

Missouri pricing starts at $2,332 for a 20ft Wind and Water Tight container delivered in St. Louis. The same 20ft Wind and Water Tight unit is $2,438 delivered in Kansas City and $2,681 delivered in Springfield. 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. The quote includes delivery details for the address.

It changes the haul, which is the part of a delivered price that moves. Kansas City and St. Louis each have a Container One yard, about sixteen miles and under six miles from their downtowns. A 20ft Wind and Water Tight container is $2,332 delivered in St. Louis against $2,438 in Kansas City. Kansas City is lower on three of the twelve size and grade lines, including a 40ft standard height Wind and Water Tight at $2,703 delivered against $2,730 in St. Louis. Give us your ZIP, the size and the grade and the quote shows the delivered price for your address.

There is no Missouri rule to look up. Missouri has no statewide building code for general construction and no state agency authorised to adopt one, and zoning is local as well, so the answer genuinely changes at a city line. Kansas City names portable storage containers directly in its adopted code and puts a clock, an area limit and a height limit on residential placements. Springfield does not name containers at all but requires a building permit for an accessory structure over 100 square feet, which both container sizes exceed. St. Louis is a question for the counter. Start with one call to the office that would issue your permit, with your parcel address in hand.

Not always. Kansas City's limits sit in four counties at once, the City of St. Louis belongs to no county at all, and St. Louis County holds many separate municipalities. Around Springfield, Nixa and Ozark are in Christian County rather than Greene. A mailing address is not a jurisdiction. Your property tax bill names the government that actually has your parcel, and that is the office to call about a container.

Level and firm at the four corners, because that is where the entire load goes. Gravel, compacted rock, concrete or asphalt all work, with blocks or timbers under the four corner castings so the box sits level, the doors keep swinging true and the floor stays out of standing water. Missouri adds three local wrinkles. River bottom gumbo holds water into early summer and ruts under a loaded truck. New subdivision fill in the Northland or St. Charles County will not carry weight until it has settled. And in the Ozarks the rock underneath can be good news for bearing, but karst means a sinkhole, spring or soft low corner is worth pointing out before the box is set rather than after.

Container One's Delivery/Dispatch department schedules the date after payment and site review.

The warranty depends on the grade. A 1-Trip container has made a single loaded voyage, looks close to new, and carries a 10 year structural and no-leak warranty. Cargo Worthy has been surveyed as fit for ocean shipment and carries a 5 year warranty. Wind and Water Tight is the practical storage grade and carries a 5 year warranty; it is the grade our advertised Missouri price is quoted on. Economy is the budget grade with a 1 year warranty covering roof leaks only. Refrigerated units are inspected and tested before delivery. Ask about their warranty terms before you buy.

In Missouri, condensation on the inside is the issue to plan for, more than rust on the outside. These boxes are built from weathering steel that forms a stable surface layer, and they spend their working lives crossing oceans in salt spray. Summer here delivers high dew points for months, and on a clear night the roof panel radiates heat to the sky and can fall below the temperature of the air touching it, which is when moisture condenses on the ceiling. The fixes are simple: set the box level and off the ground, ventilate it, and if you insulate, make the insulation touch the steel everywhere so there is no air gap behind it to condense on.

Delivery to a farm or a rural site depends on the last half mile rather than the parcel. Is it gravel, chip and seal, blacktop or a field road? Is there a slab crossing or a one-lane bridge with a posted limit between the road and the drop spot? Is any of it bottom ground that stays soft into June?

Yes. Rent-to-own is available, with the monthly payment building toward ownership instead of ending when you hand the box back. A straight rental from a rental company suits a need that is genuinely short. To choose, compare the delivered purchase price, the rental company's monthly rate and the rent-to-own terms for the same size at the same address.

• 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: Missouri is mixed rather than cooling led or heating led. Under the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code the state spans three climate zones: 3A in Dunklin and Pemiscot counties at the very bottom of the Bootheel, 4A across most of the state including Kansas City, St. Louis, Springfield and Columbia, and 5A across twenty-six northern counties. What that means for a steel box is that moisture drives inward through a long humid summer and outward on cold winter nights, so an assembly optimized for one direction fails in the other. Missouri also has no mandatory statewide energy code for private construction, so the model code's insulation values are a benchmark rather than automatically your legal requirement. Ask your building department which edition they enforce, if any.

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.

A house spreads its weight along a continuous footing; a container puts all of it through four points, which is why containers end up out of level with doors that no longer close. North of the Missouri River much of the state is claypan that drains slowly and stays soft for a stretch every spring. In the Missouri and Kansas river bottoms it is gumbo, heavy clay that holds water into early summer and sets hard in August, and neither behaves well under four point loads at the wrong time of year. South of the river most of the Ozarks sits on soluble limestone and dolomite, which means karst. Thin soil over sound rock gives excellent bearing at shallow depth once you know what is under the pad, which is the reason to look before you set rather than a reason not to build there.

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 rock 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. On new subdivision fill in the Northland or St. Charles County, a few sheets of plywood along the wheel path keeps a loaded truck from rutting the yard on a wet week.

For permanent placement or a conversion: Use poured piers or footings under each corner casting, bearing on undisturbed soil and sized for the actual load. The IRC requires exterior footings at least twelve inches below undisturbed grade and below the local frost line where one applies, and in Missouri that frost figure is set by your jurisdiction rather than by the state. On karst ground, check the parcel against the Department of Natural Resources GeoSTRAT mapping for documented sinkhole points and areas before you spend anything on drawings. In the southeast quarter of the state the connection between the box and its foundation is designed under a stricter seismic design category than in the northwest corner, and that is work for a Missouri licensed engineer.

Frost depth: There is no single statewide figure, because Missouri has no statewide building code and no state row in IRC Table R301.2 to fall back on. The depth used in Rock Port is not the depth used in Kennett. Ask your building department for their number, and where there is no building department, have your engineer establish it. The IRC minimum of twelve inches below undisturbed grade is the floor, not the answer.

Houses in Missouri are built on basements or full frost depth foundations, so a local building department can have a frost figure and a soil expectation on file for your address. What governs a container is different: where the water goes, whether the ground under the four corners stays firm through a wet spring, and whether the pad has been benched into a hillside or dropped on fill that has not finished settling.

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.