Office Container vs. Wooden Office Pod: Pros & Cons

A huge number of employees are remote, and with the rising statistics proving the benefits of working from home, the number is bound to increase in the future as well. This also, in turn, increases the focus put on the best type of work-from-home setup that will be cheap, efficient and will achieve the needful. An office container is one of the modern home office ideas, but an office pod is something you have heard about for a while.

Although both a wooden pod and portable office container work on the same roots where you get a mobile office set up, there are some pros and cons of each type and reasons to incline towards one more than the other. In this article, we will perform a due comparison between a prefab office container and a backyard shed office or a work-from-home pod.

Office Container vs Wooden Office Pod

The need for areas in homes where one may conduct their business alongside ordinary living has increased as more and more people decide to take their careers into their own hands. Finding a balance between work and family life is the biggest challenge while working remotely.

Thus the need for a proper home office setup pops up where one can dedicate a part of their home solely to work needs and hence feel productive and isolated from daily life happening around them. Below are two popular office setup ideas for remote workers – the mobile office container and a wooden pod with the pros and cons of each type.

About Office Container

The length of a full office container might be either 20 feet or 40 feet. They are typically 9'6" tall and are big cubes. These offices have industrial flooring, sheet-rocked walls, and ceilings. They have built-in desks, central air conditioning units, lights, and power outlets. Additionally, container offices come with several windows and man doors. The length of the container determines how many doors and windows there will be.

Speedy Construction

A small office container is a swift solution to get a work-from-home setup because these setups take no more than 3 months to arrive at your destination, and as soon as they land, you can begin working.

Cost Effective

Office containers are a cost-effective solution because you won't be able to find a durable material office at the same cost as shipping containers. Since these containers are already built in multiple sizes, you also get the option to enjoy customized measurements that suit your needs perfectly.

Mobile

If we land back to our first reason to opt for an office container, it is mobility. You can use a container to work at different locations and even have your office up and running when you are traveling. These containers are easier to move with space enough even to host your work and life together.

Toughness

A shipping container manufacturer considers toughness and durability. This is so that they can endure various oceanic elements for extended periods, which is their primary function. In terms of toughness and durability, they frequently go above and beyond the minimum standards for new homes.

Versatile

Because shipping containers come in different sizes, you will have a greater choice to build a house that is as small or as big as you like. If you need extra room, you may merge several containers.

Structural Issues

The walls of office containers are durable and very tough as they are the ones that meet the loads and tons of equipment, but the roofs are not designed with the same intention. This is okay for normal weather conditions, but for temperatures when there is extreme snow or hail storms, this could be hazardous.

Insulation

The material used, metal or steel, are excellent conductors of temperature, so you can expect temperatures to match the surroundings without any effort. This also poses a problem for insulation because the narrow design doesn't allow many possibilities of proper insulation when working. However, a thin insulation layer can work so, making it suitable only for slightly hard winters and summers but not the extreme ones.

Quality

It wasn't until a few years ago that containers were taken as to be a place where you could set up your home office. So the main purpose of containers would be for logistics. Hence, many businesses offer shipping containers that have been used before or are older for affordable costs. However, damaged and worn-out old shipping containers are typically unsafe for use in residential construction. Therefore, you must be cautious when selecting the correct shipping container.

About Wooden Pod

Wooden office pods are office rooms made up of wood instead of steel or any other material. They may or may not come equipped with all the facilities hence providing you the option to choose from both. You can get a fixed wooden pod or even a portable wooden pod based on your needs.

Energy Efficient

Wood is naturally known to form a barrier between the heat and cold; hence you will find wooden houses in many cold places. As compared to steel infrastructure, wood has higher energy efficiency, which not only minimizes the heating cost but also keeps the interior heated for a longer time.

Environmental Friendly

Building wooden homes is quick and simple, which can help you save a lot of money. The availability of premium wood is the sole issue. However, some industrialized nations have recognized timber homes as the most cost-effective and environmentally beneficial options available.

Earthquake Resistant

This is one of the biggest benefits of using wooden pods for your office because wooden structures are known to have a higher survival rate when a natural calamity such as an earthquake might hit.

Versatility

Compared to other materials, wood is easier to model, cut, and resize on-site. They offer greater workability and allow for a more personalized design. Additionally, although perhaps not as effectively as container homes, wood buildings can be modified, transported, and disassembled successfully.

Expensive

Natural wood is no walk in the park and is very expensive. And imagine having to build an entire structure of wood with walls, roof, base, and everything made up of wood; the cost would be soaring high. Hence many people would pass up the wooden office pod options because of that reason. However, you can also get some manufacturers offering a discount in the form of an employee purchase program.

Issues with Durability

Because of problems with durability, synthetic materials and metals are frequently selected instead of wood. This is because timber structures cannot sustain both enormous loads and extreme weather conditions, such as torrential rain or snowfall.

Limited Life

No matter how top-notch your maintenance with wood might be, it is still a natural material which is prone to natural deterioration. This includes fungus, moisture, mildew attacks as well as termites weakening and eating up the foundation of your wooden office.