As long as a container is practical, it continues to live up to its potential. A practical shipping container conversion creates more opportunities from its conversion. That means that its conversion offers the user concrete uses that otherwise didn't exist. The common applications for a practical container are an artist studio or student housing. Several containers can be stacked together to create a housing complex for multiple rooms at a time. There are also businesses that create mobile farming units that can be installed anywhere. There are even transportable classrooms that have been modified to operate in the bush for remote communities with no access to good educational centres.

One of the main reasons to undergo a container conversion is to save money. Compared to a standard building project, the cost to modify, install, and complete a shipping container is fractionally less. It saves on everything from the permits needed to the groundwork on the lot, and even the labour needed to modify the container. One of the great advantages is that almost all the work can be done off-site and then moved into place once the build is complete. Several businesses have adopted this model for their own physical spaces to save the costs on hiring commercial real estate.