Handy Home Products assembly
The kit is not the shed. It is about two thirds of the shed.
A Princeton 10x10 costs around $699. One owner totted up what he actually spent by the time it was standing and painted: over $1,100. Nothing had gone wrong. That is just what it costs.
What is not in the box
A Handy Home kit is pre-cut timber, hardware, doors and instructions. What it is not is a complete shed. An owner listed what he had to go and buy separately: roof shingles, tar paper, drip edge, paint, and nails. Another spelled it out as a warning to future buyers: know going in that this kit does not include roof shingles, floor sheathing, foundation blocks, or foundation support beams.
This is not Handy Home being dishonest. It is how timber shed kits work, and it is why they are cheaper and better than the resin and steel ones. It is also why people are blindsided at the till, and why the shed that was going to cost $699 costs $1,100.
And then there is the real work, which is not the shed at all.
Where the time actually goes
Owner-reported. Look at the split between the walls and the foundation.
| Model | Time | People |
|---|---|---|
| Assembling the four wallsThe part everybody imagines when they buy it. | half a day | 1 |
| Building a level foundation + erecting itSame owner. Including shingles. Not including paint. | 12 hours | 2 |
| Princeton 10x10, whole projectOne couple did it in a weekend and were happy. | a long weekend | 2 |
| Larger kitsThe manufacturers’ own range, and it is honest. | 1 to 5 days | 1 to 2 |
| Handy Home’s own pro crewOn a Fairfax 10x12. They are good, though see below. | 1 day | 2 |
One owner said it outright: the hardest part of the entire project was getting the shed on level ground. Every other problem on this page is downstream of that one.
What goes wrong, specifically
If you skip the floor kit, the walls will sit on the wall panels and ruin them
This is the nastiest trap here. Buyers who decline the optional floor to save money often do not realise what happens next: with no floor, the shed stands on the panels themselves, and the panels are not meant to carry that. One owner had to add extra timber underneath purely to keep the walls off the ground. If you are not buying the floor, you are building a deck. Decide which.
Build the foundation to the instructions, not to the name
An owner built his base frame at exactly 10 by 10 feet for a 10x10 shed, and found the walls did not sit right, and had to extend them with additional trim. Read the actual dimensions in the manual and square the foundation to those. This is the third shed brand on this site whose advertised size is not its real size, each in a different direction, and it catches people every time.
Add the floor joists that are not in the kit
Repeated advice from owners who have lived with theirs: buy extra joists. One put it bluntly, that you should add the additional floor joists that are not included or you will regret it down the road. Another disliked the joints in the supplied floor system enough to buy 2x4x10s and do it properly.
You want a framing gun, and a truck
An owner who was otherwise very happy said he could not see doing this project without a framing gun, and to rent one if you have to. The kit also arrives as roughly four feet by eight feet by two feet of solid lumber, and he had to rent a truck just to get it home.
Even the professionals get the foundation wrong
Handy Home sell a pro-assembled option, and it is generally well reviewed. But one customer, who had laid his own concrete pads, reported that the crew never bothered to move or centre them under the support runners, so the runners ended up sitting on the edge of the pads, and the shed was out of level across its width by an inch and a half. Ask about the foundation. Ask whoever builds it.
Budget for the whole shed, not the kit
Write the real shopping list before you buy: shingles, tar paper, drip edge, nails, floor sheathing, foundation blocks, foundation beams, extra joists, and paint. Then decide whether the price still works. Usually it does, and a timber shed is a better building than anything in resin. But decide with the real number.
Then the foundation. Gravel pad, concrete slab, or a pressure-treated timber frame, level and square to the manual’s dimensions. This is the part that takes a day and it is the part that decides everything.
Paint or stain the trim and siding BEFORE assembly if you can. It is much cleaner, and much easier, than painting around a finished shed.
And check your permit rules. A timber shed is a real structure, and your county may have an opinion.
This one is genuinely construction
The other sheds on this site are assembly. You bolt, you snap, you screw. This is framing, sheathing, roofing and shingling, on a foundation you built, with a nail gun.
That is why the finished thing is so much better. It is also why the wood quality gets praised in review after review, and why people say the walls felt flimsy until they were all up and then were solid enough for two grown men to stand on the roof.
And it is why the gap between somebody who has shingled a roof before and somebody who has not is the widest gap on this entire directory.
What an installer does
- Prices the whole job, including everything the kit does not contain, before you commit.
- Builds a level, square foundation to the manual’s real dimensions, which is the hardest part and most of the time.
- Frames and raises the walls, with a nail gun rather than a hammer and a weekend.
- Sheathes and shingles the roof properly, including tar paper and drip edge.
- Hangs the doors so they still close in a year.
- Collects the kit, which is four feet by eight feet of solid lumber and will not fit in your car.
Get it built by someone who has built one before.
Tell us your ZIP and what you bought. Installers near you will quote you directly, and you deal with them, not with us.
Questions people ask
What is not included in a Handy Home shed kit?
Typically the roof shingles, tar paper, drip edge, nails, paint, and depending on the model the floor sheathing, foundation blocks and foundation support beams. One owner’s $699 Princeton cost him over $1,100 by the time it was standing and painted.
Do I need the floor kit?
You need a floor of some kind. Buyers who skip it discover the shed then stands on the wall panels themselves, which will ruin them. If you are not buying the floor, you are building a deck instead, and you should plan for that.
How long does a Handy Home shed take to build?
One owner assembled the four walls in half a day, and then he and a friend spent a further twelve hours building a level foundation and putting it up, shingles included. A weekend is realistic for a Princeton with two people, if the foundation is already done.
What is the hardest part?
The foundation, and it is not close. An owner said the hardest part of the entire project was getting the shed on level ground, and everything else, from wall alignment to whether the doors close, follows from it.
Do I need special tools?
A framing gun, realistically. An owner who liked the kit said he could not see doing the project without one and advised renting if necessary. You will also need a truck: the kit is roughly 4ft by 8ft by 2ft of solid timber.
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