The most common regret with any shed is “I wish I’d gone bigger”. The cheapest time to add space is before the building is designed. Size the shed for what you’ll own in five years, not just what you own today.
Step 1: List what goes inside #
Write down everything that will live in the shed, and everything that will happen in it, then measure it. Don’t guess. A machine with a turning circle, an arm that swings out or a working area needs that space allowed for, not just its parked size.
- Vehicles: length and width with mirrors out, plus the height of anything on the roof.
- Boats and caravans: overall length including the drawbar and outboard, and the height on the trailer. Boats with tall cabins, rocket launchers (rod holders) or whip aerials can be much taller than they look, so think about how they’ll get in and out.
- Machinery: tractors, mowers and implements, including attachments that stay on.
- Storage: pallets, shelving, hay, feed, tools.
- Workspace: a bench, a hoist, machines that need room around them.
If you want certainty, we’re happy to come to your site, take measurements and draw it up for you. It’s better to get it right now than end up with a building that’s too small or doesn’t work.
Step 2: Add working room #
Stuff in a shed needs space around it. Allow room to open vehicle doors fully, to walk around everything, and to work at a bench without backing into the ute. For tractors and loaders, allow turning room inside, not just parking room. This is where clear span earns its keep: with no internal posts, the whole floor is usable.
Step 3: Think in bays #
Farm and lifestyle sheds are often described in bays: a 3-bay shed has three openings or sections between frames. Because Steelspan sheds are custom-designed, bay widths are set by what you want to do: how many doors you want down the side, or pallet racking that has to fit between columns. We can design bays from about 3 m up to 8 m. Wider bays cost more, so we talk price and layout together. You might decide a shed with smaller bays works fine and saves money.
Step 4: Get the height right #
Height is as important as floor area, especially the clearance through the doors. We’ve seen a large feed pad building, not one of ours, where nobody had allowed for the full height of the tractor cab. On the first day the tractor arrived, it couldn’t fit into the finished building. Check the tallest thing you’ll store, add clearance for the door mechanism, and read our post on shed heights before you settle on a stud height.
Common sizes and what they suit #
| Size | Floor area | Often used for |
| 6 m × 5 m | 30 m² | Small workshop or storage. The largest size eligible for the 30 m² consent exemption, if the other conditions are met. |
| 10 m × 10 m | 100 m² | Popular lifestyle size: a couple of vehicles plus a workshop or storage area, depending on door layout. |
| 3 bays | Depends on bay width and depth | Farm and lifestyle sheds with separate areas for vehicles, machinery and storage. |
| 4 bays and up | Depends on bay width and depth | Larger implement sheds, hay storage, contractors. |
Step 5: Check the rules #
Size affects consent. Detached single-storey sheds up to 30 m² and rural pole sheds and hay barns up to 110 m² can be exempt, if every condition is met. Your district plan also limits how much of your section buildings can cover and how close they can sit to boundaries. See our consent post for the details.
Step 6: Plan for later #
“I wish I’d gone bigger” is something we’ve heard from dozens of clients. Not everyone can afford the size they want straight away, so if you might want more room later, tell us at the design stage.
We can put a clear-span frame in the end wall you plan to extend from, so the new section joins the old with no posts in between. It costs a little more now, and we’ll walk you through it. Building in two stages will always cost more overall than building once: prices rise over time, and setup, travel and transport happen twice. But when cash flow means building half now, planning for the second half saves money later.
Orientation matters too. One client recently wanted 300 m² and planned the ridge one way, intending to add more buildings later joined by internal gutters. We turned the ridge 90 degrees so the gable end faced the future extension, and put a clear-span frame in that end. They can now extend by another 50% with no internal posts and no internal gutters. Talking it through early can save you real money later.
Talk to Steelspan #
Send us your list of what’s going inside and we’ll suggest a size that fits now and later. Use our Easy Shed Quote or call 0800 787 726.
