An IT professional quit his job and spent 2 years building a luxury hotel out of 4 shipping containers in downtown Singapore — take a look at how he did it

Seah Liang Chiang spent a decade working in IT. But after watching the Netflix show 'Tiny House Nation,' Seah decided to make a career change. He set his sights on becoming a hotelier — specifically, on building tiny hotels out of shipping containers.

Seah Liang Chiang building his shipping container hotel.

Courtesy of Seah Liang Chiang

Seah and his wife Lorraine launched a hotel chain called Shipping Container Hotel, and in 2020, they opened their first hotel in an industrial enclave in central Singapore. They went on to open another hotel in Singapore's famous hell-themed park. In both hotels, the living space is made out of a single shipping container.

But Seah was still dreaming of something bigger: He wanted to build a luxury hotel out of four two-story shipping containers.

"I wanted to dispel the notion that recycling shipping containers is a cheap experience," Seah told Insider. 

This month, Seah launched his third hotel location, called the Garden Pod, at the Gardens by the Bay, a 101-hectare park with views of the iconic Marina Bay Sands. The hotel took around two years to build.