As useful as shed kits can be to get a shed up and running easily and quickly, there are plenty of downsides to this particular approach. Here’s some information on some of the negatives concerning shed kits.
Limited Customization
One of the downsides of using a kit to create a structure for storage is that you have some serious limitations when it comes to being able to customize it. For example, it’s limited in terms of how much you can expand the dimensions. There’s not much you can do here to change it from its original configuration. If you go through the kit and it doesn’t look the way you want, there’s not much that you can do about it.
Time and Effort Requirements Are High
While the plan is all mapped out for you, everything else is not when it comes to the kit. You still need to find all of the required tools. You still need to build everything by hand, and you still need an enormous amount of time to put everything together. If you are doing it with hand tools especially, putting everything together by yourself is going to take a lot more time than you might expect. There’s a significant cost here in spending resources even if you save on money, and it’s worth noting that. In some cases, it can take a week or longer.
Short Lifespan
If you just buy a shed outright, you can get as much as 20 or 30 years out of the construction. When it comes to the kits, the likelihood is that you’re only going to get more like 5 years, or as long as 10 if you’re optimistic and if it’s built well and everything else goes your way. This is quite a large difference in how much you’re going to get out of everything. It’s worth considering that you may just need to do everything all over again in a few years and whether it’s worth it.
Leaks
Another big risk when it comes to getting a kit is that the build won’t fit together perfectly and you’ll get leaks when there’s precipitation outside like rain or snow. The problem can be that there will be leaks in the siding or just right through the roof. Half the point of having a shed in the first place is to protect what’s inside from the weather, so it’s going to be a major issue if the roof is leaking water onto whatever you have in your shed.
In addition to these downsides, you also have the general problem that the kit is likely going to be made of cheaper stuff than what you’d get if you purchase something outright. The lower price from the kit is often there because the kit’s manufacturer is getting the cheapest materials possible from the market. Anything can break when you have parts that are cheap enough, and it will be a disaster if the wrong thing breaks after you put the entire shed together.
Overall, it just comes down to what you want your shed to be able to do and how much you’re willing to pay for it.
