You are thinking of building your own shed or Buy a Shed a new shed to install yourself ? A shed is certainly a great idea for most Australians as it allows you to quickly install a weather-proof area to store your outdoor equipment or anything you don’t need inside your home safely and securely. Your first decision is to decide whether you want to buy a shed or build your own shed. Each option comes with advantages and disadvantages but in almost all cases you will find that doing it properly, it’s quicker, less expensive and less hassle to have one made for you and install yourself.
The Advantages Of Buying A Shed
The biggest advantage of buying a shed is all the hard work (and the expense) is done for you. All you need to do is either select a flat-pack type shed that will fit your purpose or have one custom designed for you. If you are not so ‘handy’ you can have a shed delivered to your door and get help to find an installer to do it for you. It is possible to pay for everything to be done. This works best if you are not a ‘handy person” or don’t have tools on hand or if you have the ‘extra’ money to pay an installer and are time-poor. Installing a shed can take a full day or more to assemble.
The Advantages of Building A Shed
Many people enjoy building things and a shed supplied with easy instructions (and maybe a mate to help hold things) is not a difficult project. Building a shed from the ground up yourself, still requires the building to be certified to Australian Standards. Getting your own ‘creation’ designed and certified can be time-consuming and quite costly.
You may find that buying the materials to make your own home-grown shed will make it less expensive to buy but by the time you get the necessary engineering and approvals that you should have, then it may work out easier and less expensive to just buy a pre-designed and a pre-built shed.
You don’t need many tools for your project and if you purchase a shed kit, everything is already cut and ready to go. Your job is just to assemble it. You will not need much more than a hammer, drill, and a screwdriver and perhaps a riveting tool.
How Building A Shed From Your Own Plans Can Become More Expensive
As stated above, your home shed is classified as Class 10a building. You do need the necessary approvals and it must conform to Australian Building Standards. Getting this all done can be time-consuming and costly. This in itself can make building your own shed more expensive.
You will also need a number of quite expensive tools including circular saws and ideally a table saw. Most people will own hammers and screwdrivers. Buying the correct tools will also need to be added to your budget.
Most home builders will make some mistakes as they go along. You should also allow for replacing pieces that have been wrongly cut or drilled. It will often be much easier and less expensive to just buy your kit or have the design made for you.
Are you Time-Poor? Building Your Own Shed or Buy a Shed
A shed project from the ground up can be very time-consuming. Sure, if you enjoy the whole building project thing, it’s great but make sure you have the necessary time to complete the project. No one wants their back yard to be looking like a building site for months at a time!
Customization of Your Shed
An advantage of building your own shed is to have it designed to fit your personal needs exactly. This can also be achieved by asking for a custom design to your specifications. Obviously the least expensive way is to go the flat-pack way. Most of these will allow a little customization in the way of adding skylights, doors and windows. Be careful when it comes to adding insulation on a flat-pack shed. Many are barely strong enough to carry their own weight and adding insulation to most could make them quite dangerous in bad weather!
In a home design you can add in many things. To have it fully insulated, make sure the structure is strong enough to take the extra weight. You can also build them strong enough to install solar panels on the roof but this would mean a structure that can take an additional 20kg per square metre on the roof. This type of customization is also available through Professional Choice Sheds.
You have over 43 choices and accessories with Professional Choice Sheds® from the obvious – dimensions and colour – to solar ready and mezzanines. Have a look at your shed guide by clicking here for some further ideas!
Installing Your Shed
If you decide to build your own shed or buy a shed think carefully. You might think it may be cheaper to build your own at the outset. It’s important you do your homework or you might have a big over-run on your budget. What may seem a less expensive project at the beginning can have lots of hidden costs. Remember to do it properly to Australian Standards.
Either way, the biggest cost saving will be on you supplying the labour to install. Whatever you decide to do a new shed on your property is a great way to instantly add more storage space. Everyone will appreciate the extra storage around the home….. And in particular if its a big shed, have a look at www.shedhealthtest.com.au.