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Small Scale Engineering offers you the following services:

Engineering, fitting & turning on once-off and short run pieces
All types of welding including bespoke, metal furniture manufacture
Prototype manufacture
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The Latest From the Container House Project

- A Visitor’s Perspective
  5th December 2018Guest PostsToday we have another guest post for you. I recently enjoyed a visit from a friend I have known for many years and don’t get to see very often. She kindly and voluntarily wrote up a guest post for this blog and although I’m sure she’s exaggerating somewhat below, we know you’ll enjoy her visitor’s perspective of our project. Sadly, I can’t share with you any links for Lara’s other work. Although Lara has written some very interesting pieces over the years, she’s not sharing anything online at the moment. So, without further ado, please enjoy Lara’s perspective on our project: In which I Visit the Container House Well, I’ve seen it! I have visited the Container-House-in-progress. In fact, I camped there for two nights. Top that if you can! Ashley and I have been friends since the days of Mrs Salmon’s Latin lessons (in between translating anecdotes about the twins Loquax and Anti-Loquax, she regaled me with stories about her attempts to bath her cat), and although we’ve lived at opposite ends of the world for nearly twenty years now, we’ve kept in contact and I went to visit her recently. I have always been astonished at Ashley’s resourcefulness and ability to learn new skills. When she needed a party dress, she hauled out the sewing machine and made herself a gorgeous ballgown, with whalebone corset and all. When her friend needed new plumbing installed, Ashley tootled over there and spent a Saturday afternoon fitting pipes. (Editor’s note – that was Kevin. I just passed tools around). When a client of hers needed a cover for his aeroplane, Ashley procured some canvas and whipped up a plane cover. When an acquaintance mentioned his desire to have his company logo marked on his car, Ashley sat down at a vinyl cutter and learned to cut logos out of vinyl. Then, of course, she met Kevin, who can make anything. Tell him you want a gate on wheels; he’ll make you a gate on wheels. Tell him you want a bicycle; he’ll make you a bicycle. Tell him your living room is too dark; he’ll fit lights all over the place for you. Tell him you’re hungry; he’ll whip up a bean chili. Together they are unstoppable. And now they’re making a house. Here are some of the interesting things I saw: Tank and Max, for whom a piece of rope is the last word in exciting toys. The containers. For now they are just metal shells, but soon enough they will be a home. The ditch. I was hoping to see tadpoles but they’ve turned into frogs and hopped away now. Taffy the cat occasionally wanders in with one. Pipes. They are going to be buried in a ditch and have slits cut along them, so water that drains into the ditch gets channeled into the pipes to be carried away. Did you know you could do that with pipes? Holes – massive ones – dug by Tank. He’s relentless. He’s a digging machine. One of these days he’s going to emerge off the coast of Honolulu and won’t have a clue how he ended up there. (Foot shown for scale.) Taffy the cat. She’s a shy kitty but very sweet and has a purr like a pneumatic drill. Maybe she is a pneumatic drill. Maybe she’s the one who’s been digging those holes. The goats. I have seen the goats; I have stared them in the square-pupilled eye and fed them potato peels and my happiness is truly complete. ...
- Finance for Shipping Container Homes
  28th November 2018Plans & PaperworkAre you looking to build your own shipping container house? If you are, there are some financial implications you might not be aware of that we have just discovered the hard way. Finance for shipping container homes is hard to come by in South Africa. I’ve recently realized that we’ve been working on the shipping container house project for almost a year! It doesn’t look like much yet but we’ve actually accomplished quite a bit. Our Accomplishments Found an awesome plot Applied for a mortgage bond and purchased the plot Finalized ideas and had plans drawn up Updated insurance policies Moved house Submitted plans Had many meetings with suppliers and sub-contractors Paid deposits Started ordering materials Found solutions to new problems that cropped up Eight Months of Delays When we began the project, we knew that costs were going to go up so we did all we could to speed up the process so that we could start building as soon as possible. However, life had other plans and we encountered quite a few delays. This is to be expected, but unfortunately, expenses also increased at a rate higher than we expected. Kevin estimates that steel has increased by approximately 20-30% in the last year. An unexpected increase in the VAT rate earlier this year has also affected the price of everything. In short, the money we had set aside for the project is no longer going to cover what it would have originally. Finance for Shipping Container Homes We always knew we would have to find some additional financial help for completing the shipping container house project. We were, from the beginning, expecting to have to extend our home loan in order to cover expenses, but by how much we weren’t sure. A few weeks ago we sent in all the paperwork for our loan extension. We had to send in the usual several months bank statements and lots of completed forms. Then the bank asked for more bank statements and more paperwork. We then had to take some time off work so that someone could be at home for the bank’s assessor to visit the property. After all that, we were refused the funds. Why? Although we passed all their affordability tests, banks in South Africa do not offer financing for shipping container homes. This we did not know. Their reasoning? “A shipping container structure does not improve the value of the property.” I can only hope that for everyone else out there, that with the growing popularity of this building method, the banks will soon come to realize that they are missing out on much business and that they will review their policies. In the meantime, we are making alternative arrangements in order to finance our project. We are looking at this as part of our adventure, and will still end up with the beautiful home we envision. If you are planning your own shipping container project, or any other building project, and will need assistance with finance, we advise that you check with your bank as to their current policies and make sure to get their response in writing. Meanwhile, we are excitedly moving forward to the next phase of our project!...

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A Visitor’s Perspective

7:30 am 05 Dec 2018

Finance for Shipping Container Homes

7:30 am 28 Nov 2018

Country Life Versus City Life

7:30 am 21 Nov 2018

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