Newberry Springs Development: Off-Grid Living and Container Home Innovation on Route 66

SPEAKER_01 0:06

Hello everybody, this is Howard Fox back here in Newberry Springs. It's a beautiful Sunday, soon to be afternoon, and I have the pleasure of introducing you uh to Steve Hamilton from Ultimate Container Homes.com. Let me just say a running joke in any podcast is I'm always looking for my next place to live. And my interview with Steve right now, we're gonna learn a lot about him and his background, what he's doing. But this man, single-handedly, in a matter of 15 minutes, has given this vision of mine to live anywhere, do anything, uh, and always looking for my next home. It's given me some great ideas, and I'm excited to introduce you to the Steve Hamilton. Steve, welcome. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Fantastic. Now, first off, before we go into this magic about making people's homeownership a reality, tell us a little bit about your background.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

Well, my background, I'm originally from Chicago. All right. I moved to California about 10 years ago, 11 years ago now, and uh in 2019, my wife passed away, and uh I ended up moving to the high desert. And we were originally in in uh Palm Springs, basically. Okay. And uh so I ended up moving up here, and uh I uh do drive a race car for a living. That's my real job. Okay, but uh then I also have my full-time business of uh we build container homes, container shops, uh container bars, container lodge, you name it, we can build it with containers for anything.

SPEAKER_01 1:41

Okay. Now, for our listeners and for me, because I need to be educated here, when we talk about a container, uh what kind of container are we talking about?

SPEAKER_00 1:51

We're talking about shipping containers that come from China. All shipping containers are built in China and they're brought here with goods, typically with up to 60,000 pounds of materials inside on a big big freight truck ship, and they're brought here to the U.S. And now the trend is building homes, building different things out of these used containers, because there's millions of them in the U.S. that are just sitting and not being used.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

When you were first mentioning Chicago, and I have to talk a little bit more about that with you, but also millions of containers. What brought to mind immediately is you drive down the Eisenhower from, say, Oak Park, you're going into the city, and there's there was this massive container farm. I mean stacks uh stacks of warehouses with stacks. Oh my god. And I thought, what are those things that were there?

SPEAKER_00 2:41

They're just sitting there most of the time. Oh, yeah. So where in Chicago were you from? I was born in Chicago on the Northside. I was in the Northside the majority of my life and been in the south suburbs uh for the last five years I was there and then came to California.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

So you you made it well west, I love that.

SPEAKER_00 2:58

I did. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

Yeah, I moved from uh Chicago to Las Vegas for an opportunity, and then I I seem to be staying here because I discovered the outdoor space. But uh the weather, the weather's really nice. Oh, I don't miss the cold. I do not miss the cold. I I agree, I agree. I'll go back for a visit, but I'm coming back here. So when you decided to not step away from the racing because that is your full-time job, but how did you begin to discover this idea of container homes?

SPEAKER_00 3:31

Well, I was introduced to it by a few people within racing, and they started talking about container homes. One was building one actually, and he had dealt with another container home manufacturing company, and I kind of looked into it a little bit, and I actually spoke with that uh container manufacturer who now we build some of his containers for him. Okay. So yeah, it just kind of evolved into a business for me. I I looked at it and saw some opportunities to make a difference and make a business. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

This idea of making a difference and making a business is I think is is crucial to our conversation. But uh, one quick question. Containers are are are the sh there's only so many sizes of a container because they often fit on the ship and come over here. But what size containers are we talking about?

SPEAKER_00 4:23

Well, your your most common size is a 40-foot container. They actually have two height sizes to them. There's one that's eight foot six inches, and there's another one that's nine foot six inches. The nine foot six inch is called a high cube, and that's the preferred one for building container homes now because it has that little extra height and gives you a little bit more roomy feel inside it. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:46

Now, when you build a container home, uh I know there's a front door. What's different about a container home that I'm gonna live in? Versus can visit the container that just came over from China.

SPEAKER_00 4:58

Oh, okay. Well, what's gonna happen to it? The container that comes over from China is obviously just a big steel box.

SPEAKER_01 5:04

Right.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

By the time we're done building it, it has doors, windows, fully insulated beyond that of a normal home, stick-built home. Uh and it and it has all the modern technology, modern things in it, uh that new modern homes are built with, and they're very efficient. We use very efficient AC units, we use mini splits for heat and and AC, and it's just much more efficient than your typical home. However, the trade-off is it's smaller size. The typical 40-foot container is 320 square feet, which is fairly small. It's like living in a motorhome in a way. Um, but you can build a home with a container home with one container, two containers, ten containers. Obviously, it's it's all depending on your budget. So you can have as much space as you want, but there's trade-offs obviously at that.

SPEAKER_01 5:57

Okay. Now, here in uh Newberry Springs, what was the moment you discovered Newberry Springs and you wanted to establish routes here?

SPEAKER_00 6:08

I was looking for a nice piece of land in a quiet area versus living even in suburban or mid-sized town California, somewhere I could have some land and eventually create a nice manufacturing facility building container homes. I looked all over. I've looked at several different towns, and honestly, I didn't want to live in Newberry at first, but I didn't know anything about it to to give it credit. Okay. But it was further out. I didn't want it. I I kept looking in other areas, but every area I looked at, it didn't happen. Every deal just wasn't just right, but then I found the perfect deal in Newberry. Okay. Which I'm glad I did. I think it was a a God designed thing. He wanted me to be here because now with the things we're looking at and doing, um, I'm probably at the right place for the right time and for the people. Excellent.

SPEAKER_01 7:11

And since I have been here for now on my third day, the the people are just amazing. Absolutely. Everybody you come into contact with the to to get a uh a container from from the moment it comes through your gate to the moment it it it exits the gate going off to a customer site. What time frame are we talking about?

SPEAKER_00 7:32

The average is sixty to ninety days, depending on the complexity and the additions or add-ons. Sometimes it could be 120, but typically it's 60 to 90 days.

SPEAKER_01 7:43

Okay. Now, I have been on segments of Route 66 uh for throughout my life, different parts of it, especially coming from Chicago. And one of the things that that that I'm struck with is there's a lot of places around around Route 66, even here in Newbury Springs, even as you go west along to to the other uh cities along little towns along the way, there's a lot of open land, there's a lot of open land that needs to be taken care of. Yes. And Newbury Springs also needs some businesses. Yes. And w I I I and I'm actually thinking to somebody my age, I'm in my 60s, I need a place to live. I'm always looking for my next place to live. That's a running joke, by the way, in my podcast. Is it would seem to me that community like uh uh Newbury Springs on this fantastic historical through through throughway, Route 66, there's opportunities here for the these uh container homes to establish not only new communities but new businesses.

SPEAKER_00 8:50

This is where I get excited because uh exactly as you said, there's opportunities to build full towns quickly. Here's here's the key. You don't have to put a big foundation, you don't have to do a lot of different structural things. It's a structurally sound box that's been engineered for at least 50 years, and we're modifying them, we're putting uh structural support in them, and whatever the design is, they can be built on another site, brought, set, maybe up and running within a day or two. And the best part of that is we can take an open you can drive down Route 66 where there's no water, no uh electricity, nothing, and we can build a community fully on solar, and septic systems can be done incinerating toilets, which means you do not need a septic system. The only thing you do need is water, but you can use tanks for that. There's other options for that. But no other time has there been where you can take specifically built pieces and put them in just a wide open area with no resources and build a town out of it. We can actually build an entire town. We can actually build an entire industrial area, an entire retail area with container homes and container businesses.

SPEAKER_01 10:13

I love that. And I'm I'm thinking too back to the fact you and I both have Chicago roots.

SPEAKER_00 10:19

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

And when I moved into Chicago, the South Loop, uh at Roosevelt, Michigan Avenue, you literally did not want to go down there. I was told when I we had a contractor down there, don't get out of the cab.

SPEAKER_00 10:31

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 10:32

And at some point, the mayor Daly, the son, can't remember his Richard Daly Jr. Richard Daly Jr., yes. Richard Daly Jr. He had this vision. I want, I can't have this anymore. I need to establish. And so the very first condos, the condo conversions, the lock conversions took place. And now when I left Chicago back in 2020 from spending a lot of time there, it's phenomenal. There's restaurants, there's bars, there's clubs, maybe there's not a lot of retail, but it's okay. And I'm thinking here along Route 66 in Newbury Springs, what you're doing here is crafting, creating this community. It's you've got businesses, you also have places for the 50-somethings to have a home. Yeah. It's reasonable.

SPEAKER_00 11:23

Yeah, we've we've had discussions about building a retirement community for 55 plus.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 11:29

And we've had conversations about building nice uh elderly care type facilities, too, in a nice setting, in a nice set. So much can be done. It's unlimited.

SPEAKER_01 11:45

Since you have been here in New Bury Springs, and you're this is extremely forward thinking which with what you're doing. I mean, it's been done, but sometimes the old ways they get entranced sometimes. But you're actively involved in in the community as part of the chamber economic development. What's it like to come in, have these discussions, collaborate, reach consensus, perhaps maybe some dicey conversations here and there. But what's it like to for someone like yourself, your background, to really work at a community level to kind of have this kind of impact?

SPEAKER_00 12:26

So it's interesting you say that. So I'm a very straightforward, to the point person, and as you said, I'm from Chicago. I don't sugarcoat. I don't tiptoe. I say it like it is, and I say how I feel, with all good intentions. So, yes, there's been some resistance to growth, there's been some resistance to uh looking towards the future to benefit the existing very uh struggling economy in this town. And we have the opportunity to do a lot of new things. So yeah, there's there's some resistance, but not much. But bottom line, it's gonna move forward, it's gonna happen. It's that simple. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 13:17

If you could uh have a crystal ball in front of you let's say three to five years, what's a what's gonna be different about this community?

SPEAKER_00 13:26

I envision and and and the people who are supportive and have come to me and asked to be uh a part of this and grow this. Um we look at a few nice communities of container homes, ADU type homes, different things in a couple communities with new fresh blood, younger families coming in, but with them coming in, we have to give them other things. That being said, we look at building an area directly on Route 66 with lots of business opportunities. A uh, like I said earlier, uh a coffee shop, um some basic shops at, you know, like Newberry's known for her pistachios, right? There should be a pistachio slash nut slash candy type shop, especially directly real close to the highway exit, which will take tour bring tourism in too, bring more people in that way. We talked about doing a container art gallery type thing too, murals, a mural show that people would drive through. So I see there being retail area, communities, and outreach stuff to help the community too.

SPEAKER_01 14:43

Okay. And chatting with the the chamber and Carla from a chamber, I know there's visions of we can have a business, we can bring people off of the highway, but how can and I'm thinking we can also I'm saying we, that's that's scary right now. I'm saying we're part of us now. I'm part of you guys now. I love it. I think that an opportunity also exists to bring people into the community, but stay for a couple days. It's not just get off, fill your gas, have some pistachios, ice cream, etc. Get back on the highway, but stay here, have maybe different kinds of go hiking, go rock climbing, go for a bike ride, go visit a pistachio farm, do some glamping. Yes. And so I I would I even think like a hotel space.

SPEAKER_00 15:30

Correct. Some hotel space. That's in discussions too of again, hotel rooms are pretty easy to build for us. Yeah. There could be an area of just hotel rooms. There could be another area, a couple areas spread out throughout the town that we have. Uh Airbnbs that are designated or focused for like off-road, because off-road's a big thing out here. There's a lot of off-road enthusiasts that come out this way just to do that. Well, there might be some Airbnbs that are designed for off-road people, designed for renting different pieces. So there's so many unique pieces that could fit in for what the community has been and stands for.

SPEAKER_01 16:10

I love it. And I I would love to be back here in three to five years and see what's changed with all this. I I I would be remiss if I didn't ask one more question regarding your other career, the racing. Tell us just a little bit more about that.

SPEAKER_00 16:25

So when I was in my early 20s, I was, I'll do it real quickly. I was I was a mechanic, uh, a dealership mechanic, and my friend that worked right next to me at the dealership had been kind of in racing when he was younger. Now, this is in the 80s. And uh he took me to a racetrack once. And uh I had like a little, I had an old Buick Scarlett, which is like a Chevelle. Rusted out, not hot rod anything. The next weekend they had a Buick only race and they have handicap racing. I went to that without him, just went on my own. I won the whole thing. Oh wow. Not even knowing what I was doing, I just won it. So yeah, that became my addiction for the rest of my life. So I worked my way up. I got into a little bit faster cars, a little bit faster cars. Then I had the opportunity to uh drive top fuel cars, so I drove top fuel cars for a few years. And uh now I'm kinda in one class or two classes below top fuel. I still race technically professionally, and I have sponsors, and I love it. I mean, it's still part of me. I'm 60, but it's it's who I am. And uh what I will say about racing is racing is a big, huge community. It's a big huge networking piece, too. That has helped me with business, it will continue to help me with business, will continue to help with this container home uh business, and it will help bring this town further up on the map.

SPEAKER_01 17:55

Question though that really Steve wanted to chat about, and one of the qu he gets asked all the time I want to be off-grid. Can I do it with a container home?

SPEAKER_00 18:04

So I I'm gonna flip it on you. Okay, I'm gonna ask you the question. Okay. So, how would you like to be able to buy a piece of land in Newberry or somewhere like Newberry and have a home on it within a week or two if you plan it right, and have it livable within two hours of it being delivered to you?

SPEAKER_01 18:23

All right. So I never answer a question straight off yes, no. When I met Carla and I and I reached out and said, hey, I'd love to do a podcast series up in here in Newberry. The very next thing I did after that, which leads into what I always say, I'm always looking for my next home. I went looking at property on Zillow, but I was curious what properties are available. I think that is wonderful is find a piece of property that makes your heart sing, and I would love to do that.

SPEAKER_00 18:52

Well, what we have um is basically a container home that you can order, 40-foot container home, 320 square feet, that is delivered on your land, drop down on your land, we go in the back, we open the back doors, we turn on the solar, we flip the circuit breakers for your power. Then the only other thing is if you do not have a water source on property, you just have a water truck come in and you fill up the internal water tanks. Now, if you set it all up the right way, you can be living in it within two hours of it being delivered. This is fully self-sufficient, solar system, incinerating toilet, so you do not need a septic system, and you don't have to empty a septic, you don't have to build a septic. It literally turns everything to ash, and you empty the ashes out once every week to two weeks. That's it. And you have a water source. Then on top of that, your shower water, your sink water is put in a recirculating tank that is filtered, and then there's a pump on it that goes to a spigot outside that you can put on a hose or let's say a soaking hose, and you can build shrubbery around your house with your own water, recycled water. So this is truly a self-sustainable container home for under$100,000 that can be delivered anywhere in the country.

SPEAKER_01 20:12

I love that. And there's a number of folks that I have met here in this weekend. We were out in a pistachio grove. I was up on a on a hill with where the owner has visions of a glamping uh site, and I'm thinking, what you just added is it's all possible. Is not only can you have a place to live, you can grow your some fruits and vegetables. Yes, sit outside with a good cup of coffee. I'm all about the coffee, by the way. Yes. And just enjoy the scenery, and you're living in a home very reasonably. And for the folks like me who maybe there's a little pension, maybe there's a 401k, definitely so well, hopefully Social Security. But I have a home at, like you just said, less than$100,000.

SPEAKER_00 20:56

It's it's it's reachable. Technology's here, everything is here now that it can be done. Now we just need to do it. We build them now. We have customers. We're we're I live off grid, quite honestly. I live on solar, I live the same way I just described this container home. So it's doable. So the guy that builds it for you lives it.

SPEAKER_01 21:18

I love it. I love it. Steve, if our listeners would like to learn more about Ultimate Container Homes, where's the best place to go?

SPEAKER_00 21:26

The easiest thing is to go to ultimate containerhomes.com. That's our website. We are also on TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram. But you'll see the most on uh our website and then of course our contact information is there. By all means, send us a message, call us. Uh a lot of times I myself directly answer the phone. So yeah, anytime.

SPEAKER_01 21:50

Excellent. Well, thank you so much for spending time with us today. It's been a pleasure to meet you and get to know more about you and your work. And I'm excited to to kind of be a part of the conversations going forward with you because it's it's exciting creating things. As a business coach myself, I love helping people create the vision you've projected is phenomenal. And we wish you nothing but the best. So thank you again. Thank you. All right folks, we've just been chatting with Steve Hamilton from ultimate containerhomes.com, a new, relatively new resident here in Newbury Springs. Heck of a background, a career, uh professional racer and entrepreneur. And this the this the whole subject of container homes is just amazing. And there's there's so much possibility and especially a community like Newbury Springs where we need residents coming in. We need businesses and we need opportunities for people to come in and have activities, experiences. And these container homes most certainly are going to be I am positive are going to be one one an anchor, a very significant anchor, and excited for the work that Steve's doing and how Newbury Springs is going to benefit from it. Now we're going to provide backlinks to Steve's website ultimate containerhomes.com. We also have backlinks to Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. And just reach out to Steve and if you're interested in this subject he's the man andor he has somebody else who's going to be helping you along as well. As for us you can find this episode on our website outdooradventureseries.com. You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, and our YouTube page and of course wherever you listen to your podcast, especially if you're driving down Route 66, we got a lot of episodes for you, especially this series we have been producing this weekend with Dewberry Springs. So thank you to them Chamber of Commerce Carla Claus for escorting me around town and again we hope you enjoyed this episode and we look forward to having you join us again on the Outdoor Adventure Series podcast. Take care now