Pre Built Sheds

[Johnny Generic]

Would like to purchase a pre built shed 12 x 16'. There are about 4 different places that sell sheds ( no box store ). What should I look for as far as the best quality and construction. Would building one myself with help be cheaper?
Budget about $4500 Help me figure this out. Thanks.

 

[glider]

When I built sheds my sales lot was next to Home Depot and Lowes. We all had models out. I felt my quality was better. This was the sign that I used.

 

[Den69rs96]

You can build one yourself for a lot less. It was also a great reason to get a pneumatic nail gun and a new ladder. I built this shed but scaled it down to 8x12 so I wouldn’t need a permit. I bought the plans online. The author has a book with shed building tips as well. Took a few months, but it was well worth it and I put it exactly where I wanted and added things I wanted.

https://www.google.com/amp/www.popularmechanics.com/home/how-to/amp170/how-to-build-a-storage-shed/

This thread has a pic of my shed. I bought the transom window from the place I bought the plans from and the other two windows from Home Depot.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=230461&page=2&highlight=Shed

 

[MushCreek]

Building a shed is a fun project, and you should be able to build a better shed for less money. Some folks like doing stuff like this, some don't.

 

[flat tire]

I have a 12 x 24 that I paid $3000.
at the time I was working and needed a building asap. to me buying a prebuilt was the only to go. I bought the bare building. I did the wiring and insulation and finished the inside

 

[Jhoff310]

My son and I built a 12x16 shed with 2 windows, roll up door, concrete floor 16" OC shingle roof 2x4 construction, vinyl siding to match the house and garage for about $2200 out of pocket. It was a fun project, took about 2 full weekends due to work schedule after the concrete was cured.

 

[theoldwizard1]

The biggest problem with pre-built shed is the foundation that they are placed on ! At a minimum, the sod should be removed and replace with 4-6" of COMPACTED gravel. Use small pier block to keep the floor off of the ground.

The floor joists and flooring are also weak points, The floor joist and rim joist should all be made with PT wood. 2x6 on 12"-16" centers is MINIMUM. 2x8 would be much better. No one ever build them this way, but the best flooring would be 5/4 PT deck boards. With 2x8 floor joist that should last a very VERY long time.

 

[mmb617]

I would think you could build a very nice shed for half the number you quoted, but a lot depends on what tools you have and your own ability. Personally I'd get a lot of enjoyment out of the building project but not everyone sees it that way.

 

[dolfans]

I am planning on building one when get tax money back. I am planning a 12 x 12. Will keep looking at this thread

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

When evaluating their sheds look at the size, quality and quantity of material.
Stud sizes, rafter spacing, thickness of OSB or plywood, top, bottom plates. Shingles or steel?
Then look at the workmanship, basically at the joints. Straight, square cuts with no gap, number of nails, How many actually hit both pieces with no splitting?

You also might want to consider delivery methods.

 

[yeldogt]

I have bought both of mine -- but the construction is not difficult. Make sure you are allowed to have one that large w/o a permit and foundation. I was limited to 10x12.

I spent a bit more and got all wood -- the only plywood is the marine plywood on the floors. They are both board and batten design -- the one 20+ years old and has held up very nicely.

Mine came unpainted -- I stained the outside and used clear polly to cover the inside.

Mine came from PA -- you should be able to find an all wood when in western PA. It's basically a rough/ smooth 5/4 construction 8-10" boards

 

[Dirtydan69]

Google Amish Built sheds in Pa.

 

[Joe Reed]

See if Tuff Sheds is available in your area. When I got mine they were sold at Home Depot. Now they have their own sales lot....I don't know if they still do the HD sheds or not. They did a great job on the shed and it should last forever. Floor joists and rim joist are galvanized steel. Door has a galvanized steel framework sandwiched between the exterior siding and the OSB on the inside.

I wasn't exactly pre-built in that it wasn't trailered here complete...it was pre-fab and they assembled it here. Took less than 4 hours. For one the size you're going to get I imagine it would be the same process.

 

[ford fanatic]

I just got my second custom Amish built shed last summer because a tree fell on the first one.

Being that is was my second custom built shed there was a wish list of things that I should have ordered on the first shed...

I picked out a style and then upgraded a lot of things...ceiling height, higher roof pitch, custom ordered thicker siding to color match the house and garage, oversized swing out side doors, garage door on one end, 16" OC studs, gable and ridge vents, larger windows with custom shutters, and a cupola with a rooster weather vane. I then built a workbench, shelves, lighting/electric and water.

I also went larger over the first from 12'x20' to a 12'x24'. I would have gone two feet wider but that put shipping into a whole new category.

All that said, I use to build house years ago but just don't have the time for that kind of project, sure I could have built it cheaper myself, but insurance also gave me double what I paid for the first shed.

 

[flat tire]

mine came from Esh's in Bedford pa


A cottage can be a simple, single-story structure in a backyard used to store garden tools, or strategically located on the farmstead for equipment storage. Here at Esh’s Storage Barns, we understand the need for utility storage is a diverse one. While all of our sheds are made of wood, not all are woodsheds. If you need a small shed to store a couple of trashcans, or something large enough for farm tractors and implements.

View our current inventory

Standard Features:
7’ side walls
Gable Roof with 5/12 pitch
16” centers on walls and floor
LP Smart Siding and Flooring with a 5/50 year warranty www.lpcorp.com
Ridge Vent
2 Large windows
Double Doors (Half of the building width up to 12’)
7/16 OSB sheathing on roof. Benefits of OSB vs. Plywood
Architectural shingles with 30 year warranty (First 15 years-100% labor and material, last 15 years-100% material)
PT 4x4 skids

Available Options:
Metal Roof Upgrade $150
Single Wood Door $100
Double Wood Door $150
Fiberglass Door-Solid $220 Glass-$260
Add 9x7 Garage Door $350 Glass-$450
Large Window $75
Small Window $60
Octagon or Transom Window $60
Insulated Window $125
Vinyl Shutters $45 Set
Vinyl Flower Boxes $25 Ea.
Upgrade to 3/4” Pressure Treated Floor ($1.00 per sq. ft.)
Insulated Floor ($1.00 per sq. ft.)
Cupola $125
Weather Vane $65
Some Sizes Available in 2 Story

 

[Voi]

I picked out a style and then upgraded a lot of things...ceiling height, higher roof pitch...

How much higher were you able to go without having shipping affected? I know this will be determined by regional restrictions and height of available trailer for shipping and delivery but I'm curious.

 

[ford fanatic]

How much higher were you able to go without having shipping affected? I know this will be determined by regional restrictions and height of available trailer for shipping and delivery but I'm curious.

Mine shipped on a low boy trailer. Honestly when I was picking it out height wasn't an issue with shipping, the width was. I'd say overall my height is about 10'-11' feet too the peak. I would also guess that wherever you buy they would have limits in place as to how high you can go based on shipping. There were higher peak/pitch options available than what I got also, but maybe the ceiling height would need to be lower to bring down overall height for shipping? I don't know.

 

[readhead]

I recently switched to selling Tuff Shed after selling Weather King for the last five years. There are pros and cons to both prebuilt and prefab construction. Prebuilt is great for quick delivery. I would keep thirty buildings on the lot and could usually deliver within a week. When the company started offering painted buildings instead of a single color of stain I still sold buildings off the lot but most people wanted to order the color they wanted and no matter what I had in stock it wasn't what they liked. That was okay and just adjusted the way we sold product. Most of the time size isn't a factor for taking a building down the road.

Prefab construction offers a lot of flexibility. I referred a lot of sales to a competitor because we couldn't deliver into a backyard or some other restricted space or there might be fences that the customer is unwilling to remove and replace. Prefab has also provided a lot more options for styles of buildings.

Now some info about Tuff Shed. I switched to TS because the quality of construction is far superior and their hardware and components are much better quality. In some cases that means more money but you get what you pay for. The sheds sold at Home Depot are a line specific to HD. They are the same quality but a limited offering. I sell the full line and have more styles and accessories available. Some HD's sell another line that may be right next to the TF sheds but are quite a bit less expensive and lower quality so pay attention.

There is no doubt that a handy person can build a shed for less money. But for most people they just want a shed quick and easy. You can have a shed on Tuesday or spend several weekends building one. It is very common for me to have a contractors wife come in and order a shed because her husband has been promising to build one for the last five years. A lot of sales are for office or retail space. I'm selling a couple of buildings to a nonprofit for gear storage for an at risk outdoor youth program. So a lot of times there isn't a "builder" in the picture.

 

[Empty Pockets]

I recently retired a few debts, a new shed is on the horizon. While I like working with timber products, Time constraints may require my buying a prebuilt shed.

We have several shed retailers in the area

 

[driftpin]

Not an inexpensive unit, but very well built. 18 ga. steel frame, vapor barrier, 3/4" PT sheathing, covered by Hardi-Board. Steel roof. Rated for withstanding 175 mph winds, a coastal requirement in Florida (HVHZ: high velocity hurricane zone). Guaranteed for 30 years. Mine was spec'ed w/no floor, as it was bolted to the slab I had poured for it.
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=368713&highlight=Needed+storage

 

[Git]

For those of you thinking of building one yourself - Family Handyman has some great looking shed projects. Complete with plans and a material list. You could probably just submit the list to your local lumberyard and see if they would work up an estimate for you. And if you can locate the magazine it was published in, it will have pics and additional info on how they built it

https://www.familyhandyman.com/outdoors/sheds?page=1&display=49

 

[D45]

Pre-builts are so over priced and typically under constructed

I built my 10x12 gambrel for $1500

 

[Bretny]

When I was shed shopping all my local big box stores had sheds in the parking lot with 1 or both doors blown off. That and the fact that they where alreaty showing to be prety weathered pushed me to get a rough cut shed. In the end I paid less and got a far stronger structure. The only ply/OSB in it is the pressure treated plywood floor.

In 2019 I paid $3100 for a 10x14, 8ft walls, 6x6 skids and delivered from 60mi away. Currently its setup as a cabin until I build our real cabin.

 

[thammel]

Check out twin locust barns in PA. I bought my 12x16 from them. They customized it to perfectly match my house siding (used the exact same stuff) and roof shingles. Google them. I'm quite happy with it! I was working full time when I bought it. I might have built it if I'd been retired then. Your budget is right on.

 

[readhead]

This is a four year old thread but still has some good information.
A point I need to clarify is that at the time I had just started selling Tuff Shed. I quickly realized that it was a mistake and dropped them after ten months of misery.
A lot of people on this forum can build a shed for less money but the majority of the population can’t.

 

[JackOfDiamonds]

I bought a Tuff Shed 8x10 with loft.

There is a calculator at Menards that will generate all the materials you need to build a shed. I think just the materials were going to run me $3500 or something. So I opted to buy a Tuff shed for about $4500. They came and set it up in like 1 hour. I think the build quality is just fine. I've seen some sheds build really flimsy but the Tough shed has plenty of joists and basically I wouldn't build one any better. I checked a couple other shed outfits and Tuff Shed seemed competitive.

I did build a foundation out of 4x4s and filled it with road-mix gravel. I have a thread about it. And I opted for the wood Tuff Shed foundation instead of steel. I don't need to worry about rot where I am and the wood floor joists seem much sturdier than the steel ones.

 

[readhead]

Wise choice on the wood joists. I would also suggest to anyone buying TS that you take the skid option if you ever think you might want to move it or sell it.
I would get calls quite often to move a shed and my first question is “is it a TS”? If so the answer is no. The steel joists fold up when you try to load it on a trailer.