Still awaiting further board action, a possible new business for Boyd made itself known at the regular November village board meeting as Sierra Thell and Mary Sullivan (Sierra’s grandma) presented on Painted Creek Containers, to be potentially located at 214 North Clark Street.
“What we’d like to do is start a business,” Sullivan told the village board for summary. “We’d like to start it in Boyd.” The business would also stay in Boyd to expand, it was made known.
As for a business description, Painted Creek Containers seeks to take shipping containers and convert these into homes, incorporating climate appropriate construction materials like welded steel window frames and foam insulation. Eric Klisiewicz (Sierra’s fiancé) would do the construction work, with production volume expected to drive down cost over time.
A prototype now located on a farm outside Stanley is almost finished, with the initial request by Thell and Sullivan to keep one or two containers on a residential property in town during construction.
The containers would be inside a shed, and not visible until completion or rollout to customers.
Thell and Sullivan gave a presentation on how the idea had come to fruition.
“This has kind of developed,” Sullivan said. Initially seeking containers in Missouri for personal use, “it occurred to me that this might be a way for us to make a family legacy,” she said.
Buying their first container in March to work on construction, the idea of starting a business came up.
Researching container businesses elsewhere, Painted Creek Containers worked to put together a business plan.
“We want to just talk about it a bit and get your feedback,” Sullivan said. “We could probably build two to three containers at a time…the thing that makes me so excited is that they’re affordable.”
Thell gave a presentation on the logic of container homes and Painted Creek Containers.
“What we’re really asking here is to keep one container, maybe two, at a time,” Thell began. “The length that they’re going to sit varies when it’s sold. But generally our goal is to have people contract us to build their custom homes, or hunting sheds, or whatever it might be.”
Describing the containers as wind and watertight, clean and with paint intact, Thell went on.
“It’s not going to look like a rusted out shipping container,” she said of the finished product. “It’s going to look like a home.” Using foam insulation to prevent rust and opting for welded steel window frames in place of wood due to climate, the homes would be moveable while also being pleasant to the eye.
“What we see the relationship with us and the village being is hopefully bringing in a lot of business, revenue, bringing people to the area, opening up jobs,” Thell said.
Also included are taxes the business would pay into the village, a timeline from two to five years being given for getting the new business up to steam.
“We just wanted to bring this to your attention and see where it could go,” Thell said.
After the presentation board members asked questions and gave their impressions.
“I’m definitely not opposed to it,” Village President Bob Geist said of the proposed new business when the presentation was over.
Involved in a potential approval from the village board are a review of local ordinances as they relate to the matter and a possible zoning change of the affected property to commercial.
The business has a website at https://paintedcreekcontainers.com.