In our previous house we didn’t have a garage and with the help of some friends I built a pretty awesome shed with lofts on both sides. I can’t seem to find any pictures of the front completed though I know I have them. The picture below is the back side. It’s a 12×20 foot shed.

The house we live in now had a shed of my grandfather’s that had rusted through, so I replaced it with a cheap metal shed on amazon to just get things out of the weather. My plan was to build a new shed last summer, but I ran into several issues. The first was standing water, and the second was time.

My brother helped me solve the water issue by putting in a french drain outside what would be the perimeter of the new shed.

This has worked great for a year, but I have to get my lawnmower and other outdoor tools out of my garage so we can focus on cleaning and unpacking. The plan for the new shed was originally to be a 12×12 structure with a single slope roof. A rolling door on one side for the lawn mower and a man door on the other side near our fire pit.

The goal was to get it done fast and pack it with the items I need out of the garage and then over time add a four foot high roof on the wall pictured above for firewood storage, and a covered porch on the man door side for keeping tables and chairs out in the summer. Bonus idea was to get gutters and feed rain water into a barrel for watering my garden.

Much of this was to get added on over time as the storage was the key point. Here lies my dilemma, materials for my plan, regardless of my own time commitments are pricing out between $5,000 and $6,000. If I turn the rolling garage door into a normal door or double swing doors I would reach closer to $4,500 to $5,500. Depending on some materials plus waste. I called a few local shed companies and one of the Amish builders can do a 10×14 for around $6,000 with tax.

Pretty much 90% of what I wanted for the same price as materials but without using my time, that’s a really good deal with one caveat, I can’t split the price over time.

From a pure money perspective I think it makes sense if they can do the work close to my material price then I can take the weekends I would of spent doing that making more money to pay for it. I hate spending money.


P.S. I went and saw the sheds in person at the Amish Store and got what I was looking for at $5,500 after delivery and tax. I will still need to paint it and put my own gravel down.

~~Miniwing~~
Investor, Parent, Stoic