OREGON CITY, Ore. — You’ve probably been spending a lot of time at your own home. Rachel Trice with the Home Builders Association of Metro Portland wants you to come out and visit theirs.
“We have 36 homes all over town, even have one up in Camas. So we're super excited to be able to offer the public something where they can physically go in and visit open houses. It's all free,” said Trice.
This weekend (October 17-18) and next (October 24-25), there will be self-guided tours of new construction sites across the area. You can download their Portland New Home Tour app to find out locations and price points. This year’s tour will feature something new.
“We have some 45 containers from kind of a leftover area that we have projects that we'll be doing,” said Carl Coffman of Relevant Building Company, participating in the tour for the first time. Relevant builds sustainable homes that are also livable, despite the size. On display on the lot is an 800-square-foot home with two bedrooms and one bathroom.
“This is a T-house,” Coffman said. “We have two 20-foot containers T’d into a 40-foot container.”
Relevant got started in 2017. They re-use old shipping containers, with affordability in mind. “Our goal is to be as cheap as a wood-built house, be smaller, be more fire-resistant and just be durable, in all respects,” Coffman said.
From the insulation and drywall, welding and other customizations all happen at their yard in Oregon City off I-205.
The new home tour will offer a variety of housing types and prices. Even if you’re not looking to buy, a the very least it will get you out of the house this weekend.
“If you're in the in the market for a new home or you just want to come check it out and get out of the house, we'd love to have you too,” Trice said.
You can find out more info about the Metro Portland New Home Tour here.