Container Offices Built, Fitted and Delivered in India

What a container office is, and what it is not

A container office is a steel office module. We build it on a welded mild steel frame, clad it, insulate it, wire it and finish it inside our works. It arrives as a finished room on a truck. Then you lift it onto a prepared base and connect the power.

That is not the same thing as a shipping container with a door cut into it. Most modules on this page are fabricated from new steel to a container form factor. They borrow the proportions, the corner castings and the handling method. But they do not start life carrying freight.

The difference matters commercially. A fabricated module gives you a clean shell, a known steel history and openings framed where you want them. A converted freight shell gives you the genuine article, with the provenance some clients ask for. Both are honest choices, and we build both.

Six approved layouts, and why width beats length

Every size on this page has an approved general arrangement drawing behind it. Those drawings fix the workstation count, the opening schedule and the partition line before anyone quotes. They are what turns a floor area into an office you can actually staff.

Read across them and one pattern dominates. Internal width, not overall length, sets how many people the module holds.

Counts are taken from the approved general arrangement for each size. Doors are 3 ft by 7 ft, windows 4 ft by 3 ft, walls 100 mm finished, workstations approximately 4 ft by 2 ft 5 in.

Why this is a table. Seven variables across six sizes is a comparison a buyer scans, not a passage they read. Written as sentences it would force the reader to hold thirty numbers in memory.

Two rows in that table surprise most buyers. The 20x8 has sixty per cent more floor than the 10x10 and seats one person fewer. Eight feet of internal width cannot take facing desks with a working aisle between them. And the 40x8, at 320 square feet, holds seven workstations where the shorter 30x10 holds twelve, because it loses width and gains a partition.

So a longer module is not automatically a bigger office. If headcount is what you are buying, go wider before you go longer. If the site boundary is what stops you, the narrow sizes exist for that. The drawing tells you honestly what you give up.

Width also changes daylight. At ten feet we can glaze the end walls; at eight feet both ends stay blank and every window sits on the long faces. That is why the 20x10 is described as cross-ventilated and the 20x8 is not.

How the rate moves with floor area

Our rate is calculated from the 20x10 ft module at 200 square feet. Below that size the rate per square foot rises, because the fixed content of a module does not shrink with the floor. A door, a distribution board, a frame and a coating system cost roughly the same at 100 square feet as at 200. Above 200 square feet the rate falls, for the same reason in reverse.

Published firm rates for the standard specification, ex-GST unless the final column says otherwise. The signed quotation governs.

Put the two tables side by side and the real cost question appears. The cheapest module is rarely the cheapest office. So work out your occupancy from the first table, then read the rate from the second. A buyer who needs five desks and orders a 20x8 to save money usually orders a second unit within the year, and pays freight twice.

Which container office product actually fits your project

This page sells the standard fabricated office. Four other decisions can pull you off it, and it is cheaper to find that out now than after a quotation.

When the shell has to be a real freight container

Some clients need the freight shell itself. Port and logistics work, client specifications that name ISO dimensions, and projects where the unit may later move as cargo all point that way. That is a conversion, not a fabrication, and it carries its own specification and its own price.

When site duty is the deciding factor

If the module will be lifted, dragged and relocated several times across a project, the build changes. Base rails, lifting points and the coating system all take more punishment. Our site office container is specified for that life, and it is the right answer for a contractor moving offices between phases.

When the value line is enough

Not every office needs the full platform. Some units sit in one compound, house one or two people and never move again. For that job the container office cabin does the work at a lower rate. It is a built cabin. It has no ISO container history, and we never present it as if it did.

When a specialist system replaces the office entirely

Battery storage enclosures, containerised data centre shells, customer-facing marketing offices, multi-storey stacks, flat-pack kits and fold-out expandable units are separate products with separate scopes. If your requirement names one of those, this standard office is the wrong starting point. Ask us and we will point you at the right specification.

How the module is built

Steel structure and the load path

The base is a 150x75x5 mm mild steel C-channel perimeter. It carries the floor, the walls, the transport loads and the reactions at every support point. Inside it we run 100x50x4 mm channels and 80x40x3 mm tubular members as stiffeners, spaced to suit the floor boards and the partitions above them.

The floor frame uses 100x50x3 mm primary members with 80x40x3 mm secondaries. Corner posts are 60x60x3 mm, with 50x50x3 mm intermediates completing the wall frame. The top perimeter is 80x40x3 mm. Roof rafters are 60x40x2.5 mm, with 50x50x2.5 mm purlins across them.

Those numbers matter for one practical reason. Every door, window and service cut-out has to be framed, and the load carried around the opening. An opening is never simply removed from a wall. Move a window after fabrication and the framing has to move with it. So the opening schedule on the general arrangement is worth reading before you order.

Envelope, insulation and finish

Exterior walls are 1.25 to 1.6 mm corrugated MS sheet. The roof is 1.6 mm corrugated sheet, laid to a positive fall with sealed laps and controlled rainwater discharge. Wall insulation is 75 mm mineral wool. Roof insulation is 100 mm glass wool or mineral wool.

Nominal thickness alone does not describe performance. Density, combustibility, vapour control and thermal bridging all move the result, and they are selected against your climate and your project fire strategy. We will not quote a U-value or a fire rating for an assembly we have not tested.

Inside, walls are 12 mm plywood with 0.8 to 1.0 mm laminate. The ceiling is 12.5 mm gypsum or a laminated panel. The floor base is 19 mm marine-grade plywood or 18 mm Bison panel. On top of it we lay 5 to 6 mm SPC or 3 to 4 mm LVT. Externally the module takes a red-oxide primer coat and two anti-rust enamel coats.

Electrical and services

Wiring is concealed PVC-insulated copper. Typical starting sizes are 1.5 sq.mm for lighting, 2.5 sq.mm for sockets and 4 sq.mm for air-conditioning and higher loads. Those are starting values only. Final conductor sizes follow your approved load schedule.

Each module carries a distribution board with MCB and RCCB protection, protective earthing, and segregated lighting, socket and air-conditioning circuits. We provide LED lighting, data points, a UPS provision, 6A and 16A sockets, fan points and a dedicated air-conditioning circuit. Plumbing is excluded unless your approved scope says otherwise.

Standard, optional and excluded: where our scope stops

Most disputes on modular orders start at the boundary, not the build. So we set it out plainly. Standard scope covers the structure, the envelope, the insulation and the internal finish. It also covers the doors and windows on the approved schedule, plus the electrical package described above.

Optional items include air-conditioning, better flooring, security grilles, insect mesh, extra partitions and branding. Custom items include odd-sized openings, heavy-duty coatings for harsh exposure, and any frame change for a special load.

Excluded unless your order states otherwise:

• Loose furniture and office equipment
• Transport, unloading, craneage and installation
• Foundations, plinths and site levelling
• Site utilities up to the module connection point
• Statutory approvals and project certification

None of that is a hidden cost. It is a scope line. Tell us which items you want inside the order and we will price them; leave them out and the quotation will say so in writing.

Getting the site ready before the module arrives

A container office needs a level, firm, load-bearing base. Concrete plinths, precast blocks or steel bearers all work. What matters is that the support points sit under the frame where the drawing says, and that the surface is level across the full footprint.

Water is the second thing to plan. The roof discharges rainwater at defined points, so the ground around the module has to take it away. On monsoon-season sites, raise the module enough that the step-up stays usable when the compound turns to mud.

Then check your incoming supply. We deliver the module wired to its board, ready for a single connection. The cable from your site distribution to that point is yours to provide. So is the isolator at it, unless the quotation says we are doing it.

Transport, craneage and site access

Every module in this range travels as one finished unit on a flatbed or low-loader. The 40 ft sizes need the road, the gate and the turning circle that a 40 ft trailer needs. That constraint catches more buyers than any other, and it is worth checking before you choose a size.

Lifting is by crane or telehandler, from the approved lifting points only. We issue the shipped weight, the centre of gravity and the support points before dispatch. Lift from anywhere else and you distort the frame.

Transport, unloading, craneage and installation are quoted separately unless your order says so. Freight in India varies by route, vehicle and season. We would rather price it against your actual site than bury an average in the module rate.

What we check before the module leaves the works

Pre-dispatch inspection covers dimensions, member and sheet identification, welds, coating, roof drainage, weather sealing, doors, windows and electrical continuity. We test the electrical installation for continuity, insulation resistance, polarity and RCD operation.

Punch-list items close before dispatch, not after arrival. Damaged coating is repaired at the works, where it can be done properly. That is the whole argument for factory-built offices, and it only holds if the factory finishes the job.

What to send us so we can quote well

A vague enquiry gets a vague number. Five inputs let us quote properly, and they take about ten minutes to gather.

• Delivery location and site access width
• Occupancy: how many people, and what they do
• Equipment load, including air-conditioning, UPS or servers
• Whether the module will be relocated, and how often
• Your required handover date

Send those and your quotation comes back with the inclusions and the exclusions written out. You will not get a rate per square foot that moves at order stage.

Questions buyers ask before ordering

What does a container office cost in India?

Our published rate is Rs 1,450 per square foot at the 200 sq.ft. reference size. A premium applies below that area, and a reduction above it. A 20x10 ft module is Rs 2,90,000 before GST. Those are workbook rates for the standard specification. Your signed quotation sets the final figure.

How many people fit in each size?

The approved general arrangements give four seats at 10x10, three at 20x8, five at 20x10, twelve at 30x10, ten at 40x8 and fifteen at 40x10. Those counts assume the standard workstation size and the standard aisle. Change the furniture and the numbers change with it.

Is this an ISO-certified shipping container?

No. The modules on this page are fabricated to a container form factor. We do not claim ISO 668 compliance, CSC plate approval or stackability for them without project-specific evidence. If you need a genuine converted freight shell, that is a different product and we build it.

Can it be moved again later?

Yes, from the approved lifting points, on a suitable vehicle. Repeated relocation is harder on the base and the coating than a single delivery. So tell us at enquiry stage if the module will move several times. We specify it differently.

What is the warranty?

The warranty period and its exclusions are confirmed in your final quotation. Relocation damage, misuse, site utilities and unapproved alterations sit outside it. Every container office we build carries the same pre-dispatch checks listed above, whichever size you order.

One module or several: configuring a larger office

Four hundred square feet is our largest single module. Above that, you stop buying an office and start planning a layout. There are two honest ways forward, and they behave differently on site.

The first is to place modules end to end. Two 40x10 units give you 800 square feet with a shared entrance deck between them. Still, each unit arrives finished and each lifts on its own. The joint between them needs a weather detail and a level base across both footprints.

The second is to go upward. A stacked build brings in foundations, external stairs, landings, guardrails and structural calculations for the project. That is a different product with its own design scope. So we quote it apart, not as a bigger office.

In practice, most sites reach four modules before a permanent building starts to make better sense. We will say so if your requirement crosses that line. Selling you a sixth container office when a shed would serve you better helps nobody.

How long the module lasts, and what it needs

Life span rests far more on upkeep and exposure than on the build. Coastal air, industrial fumes and standing water all shorten it. Reseal and touch up a module in a dry inland yard and it lasts well. Leave the same unit in a wet corner of a coastal site and it will not.

Three habits do most of the work. Keep the roof drainage clear so water leaves the module instead of sitting on it. Touch up coating damage as soon as it appears, before rust gets under the paint. Reseal around openings after any relocation, because transport moves joints that looked sound.

We do not publish a life-span figure in years. Any number we printed would rest on your site, your upkeep and your exposure, and we cannot check those from here. What we can tell you is the coating system, the steel sections and the sealing detail, which is what actually determines the answer.

New build or refurbished shell: what changes

Buyers often ask if a second-hand shell costs less. It usually does. It also brings trade-offs worth naming first.

A used shell carries a past you did not see. Floor condition, previous cargo, repair welds and existing corrosion all vary between units, so the specification cannot be identical from one order to the next. That is fine on a short-life site office. But it is awkward on a five-year one.

A new module gives you a known steel history. Openings sit where you want them, and the finish matches across every unit in a large order. Where a project needs ten offices that match, that consistency is usually worth more than the saving on a refurbished shell.