Tim M.who asked that his last name not be used, did his homework before investing $500,000 in a 600-square-foot basement buried 10 feet deep on his property in Virginia. His biggest challenge was researching the companies that build these shelters, of which there are only a few.
In the end, he chose Atlas Survival Shelters, owned by Ron Hubbard. His company looks after the bunkers of the elite and ultra rich. Kim Kardashian Hubbard interviewed him on a family reality show about building one in his home, and Hubbard also designed a 2,000-square-foot shelter for Mark Zuckerberg under his $270 million Hawaiian estate by 2023 that the Meta owner calls “the storm room.”
But Tim had something clear in mind about his investment.
It is designed for emergencies
Tim wanted something more modest than Hubbard’s celebrity versions, instead he wanted a design that would fit him, his wife, their daughter, her husband, and their children in the event of a disaster.
The basement he chose was built off-site, like the Atlas process. Some companies build on site using concrete, and start to finish takes months. Atlas manufactures all of its components off-site at its factory in Sulfur Springs, TX, an hour east of Dallas.
The modular construction looks like shipping containers—but unlike shipping containers, they are made of heavy metal. The pieces are then assembled and welded together on site, a process that usually takes more than a week.
Tim’s shelter was shipped from Atlas’ Texas construction site to his home in Virginia. Three trucks were carried in the cabins to the site, where the construction site had been dug.
Inside the basement
Four gas-tight doors separate the two units inside the basement. Two doors lead to the commissary containing the battery and generator rooms, and two doors lead to the living area.
The entire basement is battery operated. After about three to five days of use when the battery levels drop to 15%, the silent 22-kilowatt diesel generator kicks in. Tim’s generator has a 100-gallon tank, connected to an additional 1,000-gallon tank. The system is designed to circulate the diesel, circulate the fuel and keep it from degrading over time.
If the generator runs about four to six hours a day, burning a liter an hour, then the setup can be powered for about 166 to 250 days—5.5 to 8 months—depending on how much energy is used per day.
The entire system is designed to be self-contained. It has no electricity or air, ready to protect its occupants from bullets, nuclear fallout, or airborne disaster.
“This room is their insurance plan, their plan B,” Hubbard said. “If they were in that room, their problems [of survival] they are 99% better.
The C-shaped, white kitchen in Tim’s house looks like any in a starter townhouse—perhaps a mid-unit—since there are of course no windows. The kitchen and bathroom rely on a reverse-osmosis water system and a 600-gallon water tank.
The living room wall holds the Lunor 150-VA air filtration system, designed to clean and circulate fresh air.
Are bunkers new additions?
Tim’s living room is just that—for emergencies only.
Right now, Hubbard is seeing an increase in orders from people looking for these safe rooms to add to their living spaces.
“Most of the time,” he says, “they have a quiet place to live—a wine room, a game room, an office. These don’t feel like your grandparents’ 1950s prison cells.”
For most people, spending half a million is out of the question. Given the growing interest in shelters, Hubbard has begun offering smaller units starting at $20,000, priced as an option for families making $60,000 or more a year. Even a basement can be turned into a basement if you add an “air system and an electric door.”
Although he has built shelters for “five of the 10 wealthiest people in the country,” Hubbard believes shelters are “for everybody.”
Still, there’s a lot you can use for something that, ideally, you don’t use. It’s probably the only home accessory that brings people peace of mind just by being there—even if they’ve never set foot on the ground.
