The office that goes where the work is
Office trailers were designed for flat, paved, serviced lots. Most of BC's work isn't on one. A container office starts life as a steel box built to be craned, stacked and shipped — so it rides our tilt-deck up a forest service road, sits level on blocking at the end of it, and locks up tight with the plans and laptops inside.
In our Kamloops yard we cut the door and windows, frame and insulate the walls on steel studs, and rough in the panel, lights and outlets. That's the package. Add a mini-split, finished walls and a desk and it's a year-round office at a gravel pit, a mill gate or a band-office parking lot.
When the project wraps, nothing goes back to a rental company. The office rides to your next site, or into your yard as the permanent office you kept meaning to build.
- Steel personnel door and barred sliding windows
- Steel-stud framing with insulation matched to the climate
- 100A panel, lights and outlets roughed in for your electrician
- Lifts and moves like any container — no teardown between sites
Built for a Kamloops July and a Prince George January
Six things that separate a working office from an insulated box — each one a line on our published price list.
Openings placed for the site
A 36" steel personnel door with a commercial lockset and sliding windows with screens and security bars. You choose which wall each one lands on — door toward the site, windows toward the yard — before we cut.
Framing that belongs in a steel box
Steel-stud framing is our standard for every insulated office; it doesn't rot, swell or feed mould when condensation shows up. Wood framing is available where cost matters more than moisture.
Insulation to suit the winter
Rigid foam board is the default and handles most Interior sites. For an office occupied all winter in the North, closed-cell spray foam gives the highest R-value and a full air seal. Rock wool is the pick beside noisy equipment.
Warm floor, no frost heave
Closed-cell foam sprayed to the underside of the floor keeps cold out of the plywood and helps on frost-heave sites where the ground moves every spring. Simple to add in the yard, awkward to add on site.
Power, ready for hookup
A 100A panel, four LED lights, four 15A receptacles and an exterior weatherproof outlet, roughed in. Your electrician makes the final connection — to a temporary construction service, a generator or a permanent drop.
Heat and cooling pre-wire
A dedicated circuit and wall penetration for a mini-split or rooftop unit, so nobody is cutting steel on site when the installer shows up. The unit itself is quoted per design.
Popular builds & starting prices
Real starting totals: an inspected container plus the modifications listed. Add or remove anything.
20' Insulated Site Office
from $12,350 CAD
+ tax & delivery
A lockable, insulated, wired office that arrives on a truck and leaves when the project does.
- Inspected used 20' container
- 36" steel personnel door
- 2× sliding windows with security bars
- Steel stud framing + rigid foam insulation
- 100A panel, LED lights, 4 outlets, exterior outlet
Quoted per design: Finished wall panels & flooring · Heat / mini-split · Desk & shelving
Prices in CAD, plus tax and delivery. Every build is quoted line by line before any steel gets cut.
Finished wall panels and flooring, heat or a mini-split, and desks and shelving are quoted per design on top of the package — as is a 40' high-cube version with a partition for a second room.
Add or swap any modification
The same menu the yard quotes from — build up from the package above or start from a bare container.
Doors & windows
- Steel personnel door (36")
- $950each
- Sliding window
- $650each
Framing
- Steel stud framingOur standard
- $2,200per container
- Wood framing
- $1,800per container
Insulation
- Rigid foam boardOur standard
- $1,400per container
- Closed-cell spray foam
- $4,800per container
- Rock wool (mineral wool)
- $1,600per container
- Fiberglass battsOn request
- $900per container
- Undercarriage insulation
- $1,100per container
Electrical & HVAC
- Basic electrical package
- $4,000per container
- HVAC pre-wire
- $450each
Prices in CAD, plus tax and delivery. Every build is quoted line by line before any steel gets cut. Prices reviewed 2026-08-30. Full menu with details
Who runs their day out of a container office
Jobsites, yards and remote sites where a trailer was never the right tool.
General contractors and trades
Superintendent's office, plan table, lunchroom and lockup in one unit. Buy it once and move it from the subdivision to the school site to the highway job.
Yard and gate offices
A permanent office beside the shop or at the gate of a gravel pit, log yard or equipment lot — set on a slab or blocking without pouring a foundation.
Mines, mills and forestry
A dispatch or first-aid office at the end of a forest service road, or a scale-house office at the mill. Steel walls, barred windows and a real lock matter more out there than in town.
First Nations and community projects
Band-led housing builds, water projects and community works need an office that arrives on the date quoted and stays put through winter. We deliver to communities most coastal dealers won't quote.
Permits for an occupied container office
A site office is a space people work in, so most municipalities and regional districts treat it differently from a storage container. Expect a building permit for a permanent yard office, and in many jurisdictions for a jobsite office too. Some building departments treat a temporary office on an active, permitted construction site differently from a permanent one — ask yours before the container ships, not after.
Electrical is separate. We rough in the panel, wiring and fixtures; a licensed electrician in your jurisdiction makes the final connection and handles the electrical permit and inspection. If your inspector wants to see something specific, tell us up front and we build to it.
Where a permit calls for engineered (stamped) drawings — common for a permanent office or for joined or stacked units — we coordinate them as part of the project. Call (778) 694-4050 with the address and we'll tell you what we've seen in your area.
General guidance, not legal advice — rules differ by municipality and regional district. Read our BC container permit guide.
Recent container offices builds
20' insulated site office — Kamloops
Used 20' container converted into a wind-tight, insulated office: steel man door, two sliding windows with security bars, and a full electrical rough-in.
Offices: common questions
How much does a container site office cost in BC?
The 20' Insulated Site Office package has a published starting price covering the inspected used container, steel door, two barred windows, steel-stud framing, rigid foam insulation and the basic electrical package. Finished walls, flooring, heat and furniture are quoted per design on top, and delivery is priced by distance and site access. Every line and a committed delivery date are in the quote before we cut.
Is buying a container office cheaper than renting a trailer?
Over more than one project, the math usually favours buying. A rented trailer is a monthly invoice for as long as the job runs, and at the end you hand it back. A container office is paid for once, rides to the next project on a tilt-deck, and is still yours to keep, resell or use as storage. Lease-to-own is available if you'd rather spread the cost.
Will a container office stay warm in a Northern BC winter?
Yes, with the right insulation and a heat source. Rigid foam board on steel-stud framing is our default and works for most Interior sites. For Prince George, the Peace or anywhere the office is occupied all winter, we recommend closed-cell spray foam for the air seal, foam under the floor, and the HVAC pre-wire so a mini-split or electric heater goes in cleanly.
How do I get power to a container office?
The basic electrical package gives you a 100A panel, LED lights, four receptacles and an exterior outlet, roughed in. Your electrician connects the panel to whatever the site has — a temporary construction service, a generator, or a permanent utility drop at a yard. Tell us where the feed comes from and we locate the panel and wall penetration to suit.
Do I need a permit for a container site office?
Usually some kind of permit, because it's an occupied space. Rules differ by municipality and regional district: a permanent yard office generally needs a building permit, while a temporary jobsite office is sometimes handled under the project it sits on. Your electrician pulls the electrical permit. Tell us the address and intended use and we build to support the approval you need.
Can I move the office to another project later?
That's the point of it. Your electrician disconnects the feed, you lock the door, and we set it on the next site by tilt-deck — framing, insulation and wiring ride along with no teardown. Each move is quoted like a delivery, by distance and access. An office that has outlived its jobs still has value as a yard office, secure storage, or for resale.
More questions? See the full FAQ or call (778) 694-4050.
Container site offices for Interior and Northern BC
Valleyview Containers builds container site offices in Kamloops and delivers them across British Columbia — the Thompson-Nicola, the Okanagan and Shuswap, the Cariboo, the Northern Interior and Robson Valley, the Bulkley Valley and Skeena, the Kootenays and the Peace Country. Most container modification shops in BC sit on the coast. We're in the middle of the province, which puts Prince George, Williams Lake, Fort St. John and Terrace a lot closer to our yard than to theirs. The same trucks that take storage containers up forest service roads take offices, so an end-of-road mine, mill or band-office project is a normal booking.
A container office replaces the rented trailer with something you own. Each one starts as an inspected, wind-and-watertight used or one-trip container, then gets a steel personnel door, barred sliding windows, steel-stud framing, insulation matched to the climate and a 100A electrical rough-in — every item from our published container modification price list. Add closed-cell spray foam and underfloor insulation for year-round use in the North, HVAC pre-wire for a mini-split, and finished walls, flooring and a desk for a move-in-ready unit. Custom RAL paint and logo decals through our container branding service put your name on the site.
Contractors move one office from project to project. Gravel pits, log yards and equipment lots keep one as a permanent yard office. First Nations communities and remote resource sites use them as dispatch, first-aid and project offices where a trailer wouldn't survive the road in. Pair a site office with a container workshop or tool crib, or scale up to workforce camp housing when the crew needs to sleep on site too. Fleet pricing applies when you need one for every job, and lease-to-own is there if you'd rather pay monthly. Call (778) 694-4050 with your site and we'll quote it line by line.
See all custom container solutions, the full modification price list, our project gallery, or browse containers for sale.
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