08/30/2026
He Built a 46x40 Shop Without a Permit
The comment section wanted to know why he didn't just put up a pole barn. Same question over and over, dozens of ways.
The answer is that his county won't let him build an accessory structure without a dwelling on the property first. He's living in a fifth wheel on his own land. No house means no shop — unless the shop isn't permanent.
Two 40ft high cubes aren't attached to the ground. No footings, no slab, no concrete anywhere in this build. Set them 24 feet apart, run trusses from a local truss company across the gap, add pony walls and a lean-to roof over each container so snow and rain shed off the boxes instead of sitting on them. Finished size is 46x40 with 14 feet of clearance — enough to pull the fifth wheel and two trucks in and shut out the winter.
Around $15,000 all in. The LED strips lighting the whole thing at dusk were $22 on Amazon.
Posts are bracketed to the containers, which is the part people miss — they're there to stop the boxes from rolling or shifting in wind, not to hold the roof.
And when he finally builds the real pole barn, this comes apart and he builds under it in the meantime.
Built by Emmett McDermott.
Cost is the builder's own figure, and permit rules on containers vary wildly by county — check yours before you copy this.
