Home / How we build
A shed home is a simple building made complicated by the site it sits on. So we deal with the site first, price it, and only then talk about kitchens.
We walk the block with you. Slope across the platform, access for a concrete truck, soil class, wind region, bushfire attack level, where power and water actually terminate, and what the planning overlay allows. You get a written summary with real numbers. It's yours to keep and to take to another builder if you'd rather.
Pick a shell, then move things. Because the portal frame carries the roof, no internal wall is structural — reconfiguring the inside is a drafting exercise, not an engineering one. Every change is priced as we draw it, so the budget moves in front of you rather than behind you.
Structural certification to your site's wind and soil classification, then we lodge everything: development application, building permit, bushfire report, on-site wastewater where required. Timeframes are council-dependent and we'll tell you which council is slow.
A standard residential building contract with a fixed price, seven progress stages and a line-by-line inclusions schedule. You'll have the full document at least a week before we ask for a signature.
Cut and fill, service trenching, footings, slab. Then the portal frame, which is the part that surprises people — a shell that took eight weeks to approve goes up in about nine days.
Roof and wall cladding, sarking, insulation, glazing. Then services rough-in, linings, waterproofing, joinery, tiling and finishes. This is the longest stretch and the one weather affects least, because you're already under a roof.
Final inspection, occupancy certificate, defect list closed before keys change hands, and a documentation pack with warranties, as-built drawings, engineering certification and appliance manuals.
Site costs
Every builder's advertised price assumes a flat, serviced, rectangular block. Almost no acreage block is any of those things. Here is what actually moves, and roughly by how much.
Past about a metre of fall you need cut and fill, and past three you're into retaining or a stepped slab. Steep sites also cost more to get plant onto.
A concrete truck needs a stable surface and somewhere to turn around. Long driveways, creek crossings and soft ground all add.
An aerated treatment system, irrigation field, rainwater tanks, pump and first-flush. Sizing is set by bedroom count and your council's rules.
A short underground run from an existing pillar is cheap. New poles across a paddock are not. Off-grid solar and battery lands at the top of the range but removes the connection cost entirely.
BAL-29 is standard in our builds, so anything at or below it adds nothing. BAL-40 and Flame Zone change glazing, seals, screens, decking and roof penetrations — it's a specification change, not a surcharge.
Class A and S sites are straightforward. Reactive clay (M, H1, H2) and controlled fill (P) need a stiffer raft or piers. The geotech report settles it in a week.
They exist so you can sanity-check a budget before you get emotionally attached to a floor plan. Your block will land somewhere in — or outside — every one of them, and the free site assessment is what replaces the guess with a figure.
Why the form works
A simple gable sheds water, spans wide without internal support, and takes wind from any direction without fuss. Everything we build is a refinement of a shape that was already solved — insulated, sealed, glazed and lined to a standard a hay shed never had to meet.
It also means the building sits comfortably next to whatever else is already on the property.
Questions
Budget twelve to eighteen months from first site visit to keys. Roughly a third of that is approvals, and that third is the part neither of us controls. The build itself is typically 22 weeks on a serviced block and 26 to 34 on a difficult rural one.
Often yes, in a caravan or an existing dwelling, subject to council. It has to be outside the construction zone and it does slow us down slightly, so we'd rather discuss it early than negotiate it later.
Under a fixed-price contract it doesn't, unless you request a variation or we hit a genuinely latent site condition — rock at footing depth is the classic. Those are the only two mechanisms, and both are documented before any work proceeds.
We commission it through an accredited practitioner as part of Stage 3 and build to whatever it returns. We'll give you an indicative BAL early, from the vegetation and slope, so the budget isn't a shock.
Yes, and for some people it's the right call. The shell plus a compliant wet area gets you occupiable, and the rest follows when the budget does. It costs more in total than doing it once, so we'll be straight with you about the premium.
Next step
The site assessment is free, takes about an hour on site, and comes back to you in writing within the week.