Rhode Island Company Turns Shipping Containers Into Accessory Dwelling Units
It all begins with an idea.
Regina Cole Contributor Real Estate
I think old houses, and the people who love them, are fascinating.
A Rhode Island company has launched a line of prefabricated accessory dwelling units made from shipping containers.
“This came about early in the pandemic,” says Anders Hansen, founder and principal of ADDASPACE, located in Bristol, Rhode Island. “I was at home with two kids and a 130-pound dog, and thought that, while it was nice to work from home, it would be nice to be just outside the house.”
Hansen, who grew up in Denmark, has a background in interior design.
“I wanted to create space that was mobile and modular and that compliments the main house. I also thought it would be good to use the yard, which goes unused during the winter.”
He turned to used shipping containers.
“We use ‘one-trip containers’ that have a minimum of dents or rust, and we make sure that they were not used to carry dangerous or dirty cargo,” Hansen says.
ADDASPACE offers a variety of configurations formed from 40-by- 8-foot and 20-by-8-foot containers, as well as larger buildings made by combining two or more containers. Doors and windows are cut into the container and it is clad with materials such as Kebony, a pine softwood treated to give it the same qualities as Ipé.
Product of the pandemic
It all begins with an idea.
Barrington residents create company that offers additional living and working space.
By Josh Bickford
Barrington's Anders Hansen (left) and Andrew Naperotic (center) built ADDASPACE to help people bring additional living and working space to their properties.
Photo by Richard W. Dionne Jr.
Picture this: You are working in your home office (a.k.a. at the dining room table), while your children take a break from their distance learning to play with the family dog. After a few minutes, the scene turns a bit loud as your children and the dog switch to a game of chase — the children laughing and the dog barking as they all run around the house.
Good luck with that work of yours.
This described scenario was exactly what Anders Hanson and Andrew Naperotic had in mind when they came up with the idea for their new business, ADDASPACE.
About nine months ago, the Barrington residents and longtime friends began discussing the idea of building a company that would bring additional living spaces to people. ADDASPACE offers homeowners the opportunity to add a custom-designed, environmentally-friendly modular space alongside their current home, and it makes the process of increasing living space more user-friendly.
"We can build these units in as little as four weeks," Mr. Naperotic said during a recent interview, "and we can build them for a third of the cost of traditional construction."
The ADDASPACE co-founder also said the company is focused on making the design, construction, permitting and installation phases of the work easier for the customer.
"We want to make it all turn-key," he said.
Concept creation
Lock-downs, stay-at-home orders, and quarantines.
In March, as much of the world struggled to cope with the early stages of the pandemic, Mr. Naperotic and Mr. Hanson began discussing their new business venture. Both men had started working from home, and their children were experiencing the early days of distance learning.
Their homes were functioning as offices, classrooms, fitness centers and more.
"We needed additional space," Mr. Naperotic said.
They visualized a modular unit that could be installed on a property near a home, separate from the living space but well integrated with the house and landscaping. They also wanted to make the process as easy for the customer as possible: construction takes place off-site; the unit can be designed to exact specification; the company will assist with permitting required by the town and handle the on-site installation.
"We're also trying to make it as environmentally-friendly as possible," Mr. Naperotic said.
The modular units are constructed from repurposed shipping containers — the larger is a 40-foot container and the smaller is a 20-foot.
"The 20-foot container is perfect for a home office layout," Mr. Naperotic said, adding that the unit could also be built to include a bathroom. The larger model can accommodate a guest suite with a bathroom, and also a small home office.
Mr. Naperotic said the design and construction of the modular units completely transform the shipping containers, making it hard to believe that they were once used for that purpose. Instead they look more like an additional room from your home, he said. The exterior and interior finish materials range from eco-friendly composites to Kebony, a wood product that turns soft woods, such as pine, into a harder building material through a process of repurposing sap.
"We didn't want to skimp on it," Mr. Naperotic said of the materials used on the units. "We don't want it to look clinical or cheap.
"It looks really sharp."
The co-founders had planned to use their first unit as a model to show potential buyers and Realtors in the area, but once word got out, an interested party purchased it for his own property. The ADDASPACE website offers a virtual tour of what someone can expect from the product.
Meanwhile, the increased interest from buyers has been eclipsed only by the potential markets opening up daily for the ADDASPACE units. Mr. Naperotic said his company is working on plans to address needs in the elder-care or assisted-living environments, and affordable work-force housing. He also spoke about the "Tiny house" movement around the world, including in his native land of Australia.
He added that there is also a discussion about "stacking" the units.
Competition
Mr. Naperotic said there are products similar to ADDASPACE on the market, but his company sets itself apart with its turn-key approach.
"We wanted to take that headache away," he said.
ADDASPACE offers key assistance, Mr. Naperotic said, through the permitting process as well as site preparation and installation. The company will assist with hookups for electricity and plumbing, and the foundation necessary for a unit.
The living spaces are secured to metal piling foundations — metal cylinders that about three inches thick and are hammered into the ground.
"When you secure it on a foundation, it's not going anywhere," Mr. Naperotic said.
ADDASPACE builds the modular units off-site at a facility in Bristol and transports them to the homeowner's property, installing with a crane-truck.
Many towns require accessory dwelling permits be obtained for any structure larger than 80 square feet. Communities also have unique zoning restrictions and codes. Mr. Naperotic said ADDASPACE will offer assistance to customers as they navigate each municipality's requirements.
ADDASPACE's founders believe the need for additional living/working space is likely to grow in the future. Mr. Naperotic cited a recent study that revealed 75 percent of corporations polled are confident the "work from home" approach is here to stay.
"The way people work has changed forever," he said. "What Covid has done, is that it's been a major disrupter and forced change overnight. The new norm is the house is now being utilized for something above and beyond."
The ADDASPACE units range in price from $30,000 to $80,000, depending on a number of variables.
Modular units offer more space at home
It all begins with an idea.
What if adding more space to your house didn’t involve a lot of time, money and construction disruption? ADDASPACE LLC, launched over the summer, provides homeowners with a cost-effective option. The Bristol-based company will design and install prefabricated modular units on residential properties as an accessory dwelling to an existing home. They can be used…
ACCESSORY UNIT: ADDASPACE co-founders Anders Hansen, right, and Andrew Naperotic stand inside of a module that is currently being customized in Bristol. / COURTESY ADDASPACE LLC
Bristol startup reimagines the in-law unit with shipping containers.
It all begins with an idea.
By Bram Berkowitz
December 01, 2020, 08:00am EST
The coronavirus pandemic has forced people to spend more time inside their homes than ever before. Once just a place to sleep, eat and relax, the home must now be used for school, work, exercise, entertainment and more.
Needless to say, the new trend has made the common home, which was once empty for a good chunk of the day, much more chaotic, as parents, siblings and children are forced to co-exist while completing their daily tasks.
A Bristol native thinks he has a solution with his new company, ADDASPACE, which can construct and install an eco-friendly accessory dwelling right in your backyard.
“We wanted to create a separation from the home without it being physically too far away from the home,” ADDASPACE co-founder Andrew Naperotic told Rhode Island Inno. “The way I like to say it is, it’s separated, but integrated with the home. Separated so it creates the privacy that’s needed… but you don’t need to drive anywhere.”
Naperotic, who runs a technology management consulting company, said the idea for ADDASPACE started over a cup of coffee in March, right as the pandemic was sending people into their homes to prevent the spread of the virus.
“The disruption it was causing was emotional, it was physical, and it created a lack of productivity,” he said.
Naperotic and his team put the business together in just eight months. Now, they are ready to start building homes. ADDASPACE is currently offering two different units: 160 square feet and 320 square feet.
Each unit can incorporate a bathroom and a kitchenette. While the initial concept included spare bedrooms and office spaces, Naperotic says the company can be very flexible and offer a wide array of options. The possibilities include “man caves” or “she sheds,” yoga studios, gyms, garage bars, seating rooms and pool cabanas.
Naperotic said ADDASPACE can build these units faster and more affordably than standard contractors can. The normal process for turning a garage into a separate room, for example, can cost north of $100,000 and take as long as nine months, according to Naperotic. By contrast, ADDASPACE can construct each unit in as little as four to six weeks at a price ranging from $29,000 to $70,000. The startup’s highly repeatable process removes expenses and time that would normally be needed to complete the project.
ADDASPACE, which works out of a facility in Bristol, builds the structures out of shipping containers and pre-fabricates and insulates the units before delivering them to the customer. Then, instead of laying out concrete foundation to firmly secure the unit, ADDASPACE essentially hammers the unit into the ground using structural metal pylons that can support a far larger structure than the current size of the units. Naperotic said that once bolted down, the units are hurricane-proof.
As Naperotic pointed out, that process is not only environmentally friendly but also allows the dwellings to be removed should a person move and want to take the unit with them or sell it as its own individual asset. Naperotic added that the goal is to make these units turnkey, so once they are delivered to the customer, they are more or less ready to go.
The new units do bring up zoning issues, which vary from town to town. For instance, in Bristol, the units can be built without prior sign-off from the local zoning board, but in East Providence, the units require approval, Naperotic said.
ADDASPACE is now in the process of starting dialogues with various municipalities. Naperotic’s ultimate goal for communities where there is sufficient demand is to seek a blanket zoning amendment for the ADDASPACE units.
Currently, the team is building the first ADDASPACE unit in Bristol. The goal is to start ramping up production and complete 50 to 100 units in New England within the next six to 12 months.
Next year, Naperotic hopes to roll out more features on the startup’s website so people can customize and look at different options they can incorporate into their designs.
While the idea for ADDASPACE may have stemmed from the pandemic, Naperotic believes the trend of incorporating additional functionality into the modern home is not going away.
“It’s not just about the pandemic,” he said. “It’s the fact that this will be an ever-changing existence, now and moving forward. It’s becoming communal, so home-working and home-educating is here to stay, whether it’s 100 percent of the time or part of the week.”
Curious about what ADDASPACE units could look like? Check out some renderings below.