The capital's leading container provider has delivered more than 400 of the traditionally brutal-looking transport structures to residential sites in the last year, with speed and portability credited for the boom.

Canberra Containers director Nige Pearman said general and renovation-related storage was the reason for about 85 per cent of his sales, with the remaining customers interested in using the container for a form of building.

"In my opinion people view containers as a quick, portable and cheap building alternative, and they are a strong and ready structure," he said.

"We can deliver 90 per cent of core containers almost immediately."

The most popular is the "20-foot", nearly 6.1 metres long and 2.4 metres wide.

Kambah resident Sue Pittman opposes the trend, noticing another five blocks along her morning walk route which had added a container in the front yard during winter.

"I don't think they add an attractive dimension to houses," she said.

"When people move, or there is a deceased estate, what do buyers do? If they start to look tacky, as a lot of them do, whose responsibility is it?"

The ACT government, which initiated and controls the Westside container village, said there was generally no approval required for using a shipping container on residential land on a temporary basis for transporting or loading goods, even if it was forward of the building line.

Temporary, under relevant regulations, was up to a maximum of 12 months unless extended in writing, the Environment and Planning Directorate spokesman said.

However, he said the containers would generally need building approval if used as an office or extra residential room.

"For a long term or permanent placement, locating the container forward of the building line requires development approval prior to its placement," he said.

"The application would need to meet the requirements of the Planning and Development Act 2007 and Territory Plan, including demonstrating consistency with desired character and amenity, and is unlikely to be supported in most residential areas."

Asked about complaints, a Transport Canberra and City Services spokesman said city rangers had investigated 13 cases relating to shipping containers located on public unleased land in the past three years.

Rangers had placed removal notices on containers and owners had generally followed the direction, he said.

Sanjay Kumar has made a living from a $5000 shipping container at the Westside pop-up village since September, and said a $70,000 fit out for the home of his Indian eatery Daana had proven the metal containers' versatility.

"We managed to get quite a lot out of it, considering we had a very extensive menu out there," he said.

"We were living there for 16-18 hours a day.

"It's very nice and bright."

The certified premises was fire-rated and had gyprock insulation plus split system airconditioning, running hot water, splashback and full LED lighting.

Mr Kumar now has the container for sale ahead of opening an expanded Danaa at a traditional premises in an old Italian restaurant in Curtin next month.