MANATEE COUNTY — In a private meeting with Manatee County’s Attainable Housing Taskforce on Monday, retired general contractor Glen Gibellina made a pitch for converting steel shipping containers into small but highly durable, moderately priced homes.

Gibellina, the founder of Uncontained360, is already constructing models with the assistance of students at Bayshore High School. He would like to get interested youths on a path to having internships with local builders, getting their contractor licenses after they graduate and being part of a widespread initiative to mass produce container homes.

Gibellina said he recently spoke with Sheriff Rick Wells about using inmates who take a welding class at the jail in the construction process and helping them secure jobs based on their new skill upon their release.

Task force members got a first-hand look at one of Gibellina’s 160-square-foot models. Gibellina priced the studio home (20 feet long by 8 feet wide and 8 feet high) at $35,000.

The key to keeping the prices low will involve buying appliances and other materials in bulk. Gibellina wants to create “a no-frills model” that could cost less.

Michael Gallen, the Chamber’s vice president of public policy and small business, said the committee members were “impressed by the efficiencies” of the compact home, which takes advantage of every square inch of interior space.

Gallen said the group is still in information-gathering mode, studying local land development codes and meeting with housing advocates such as Gibellina. It could have recommendations for county and city officials to consider later this year.

The steel container home that Gibellina brought to the Chamber’s parking lot includes LED exterior lighting, argon-filled sliding glass doors with double panes, foam roof insulation, a fiberglass shower, a compact refrigerator, a stainless steel sink, a microwave oven and IKEA cabinets, vanity and drop-down desk.

Eugene Faughman of Mayfair Construction, a new acquaintance of Gibellina, attended the discussion. Faughman said he built a shipping container model, which is now in a recreational vehicle storage lot in Lakewood Ranch. He wants to sell it for $90,000. He has four lots in east Bradenton where he intends to install the container homes.

“It’s a Cadillac of containers,” Gibellina said of Faughman’s model, which features granite countertops, a tinted skylight and a cedar exterior.

Costs can be lowered considerably if affordability is the objective, Gibellina emphasized. “Modular building is the way to go.”

The charity Trinity Without Borders wants to be the initial recipient of Gibellina’s container homes. Manatee County recently donated two lots in Palmetto that it had listed as surplus properties to the organization.

Gibellina is disappointed that the County Commission last week postponed taking action on an ordinance to allow “accessory dwelling units” on lots with existing single-family homes.

An accessory unit is an attached or detached home, such as a garage apartment or so-called “granny flat,” that is smaller than the primary residence on the property.

During a public hearing on Thursday, Whitfield Estates and Bayshore Gardens residents told commissioners they oppose the concept for their neighborhoods.

Gibellina contends that container homes would be ideal as backyard rentals.

Opponents said that, instead of becoming affordable housing, the accessory units could be vacation rentals.

He said the county can prevent that unintended consequence by requiring the leases to be for more than six months and the owner of the main house to have a homestead exemption.

If the owner resides on the premises, he or she is unlikely to want the rental unit to become “a party house” for vacationers, Gibellina said.