Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I bought the 11'x21' shed a few months ago from one of the big warehouse stores while on sale so got quite a deal, but hope to share my experience for future buyers. It is a great shed and a great value for the size. It would cost every bit of $5K to build a shed of this size conventionally. I built a wood deck/foundation to erect the shed on in lieu of trying to level the area in my back yard (our slope falls about 2.5' over the 21' length of the shed). I thought this was a better/more economical option than attempting to grade and retain earth. With the exception of about 90 min. of help on one day and 10 min. on a second day, I built the entire shed by myself, so it is do-able. There were many challenging parts that I will elaborate on, but with the 90 min. of help it took a total of about 20 hrs. of my time and the deck foundation took another 21 hrs. prior to the shed (of course that was stretched over a two months worth of weekends). I do recommend trying to recruit help, but if you're capable of the manual labor and a little handy, you can pull it off. I don't consider myself a professional by any stretch, but I do have a little experience with tools/etc., so I don't recommend a complete novice try this; especially if you're not good at reading/following directions. I'll start with the few nit-picky CONS: 1) Directions are not very good. I did notice Lifetime updated their directions online and are probably providing the better directions now, but mine had zero narrative to go along with the pictographs. Most steps were pretty easy to figure out but some were quite difficult to decipher from the directions. I don't know how anybody could build this with the approach of having a direction reader and an assembler. You have to see the pictures to figure out how to assemble. They do label the hardware packages to correspond witht he steps in the directions which is very helpful. 2) As stated, with pictographs only you don't get any warnings of what not to do that could easily be done wrong by misinterpreting the directions. So I ended up having to redo a few things, but nothing major. 3) Some of the steel framing pieces are a bit difficult to line up and bolt, but eventually I did get everything together as intended. 4)Door & window hardware seams cheap. It all went in like it is supposed to, but it is all plastic and just not the best. But certainly not a deal-breaker by any means. Windows open and close as do the doors. 5) Bi-fold door slide bolts are pretty bad. They do not slide easily at all and I've accepted to use my pliers. These have to be "unlocked" in order to open the two-panel bi-fold door that opens up the whole front end to full width. 6) I have not seen any water in it yet, but really want to be inside during a rain to see how well the steel channels act as the drainage system. 7) Advertised dimensions of 11' x 21' are for the roof line. The floor/walls are more like 10'4" x 20'. I read this before I bought it so it didn't bother me. PROS: 1) Amazing engineering. I was convinced the walls & framing were going to fall down before I finished, but with some minimal temp. support, after I got the roof panels going it tightened up very sturdily. I weigh about 195-lbs. and I can literally hang from a single truss once the shed is complete. DON'T TRY THIS UNTIL 100% DONE… and I wouldn't make it a regular practice. 2) For the size of this shed, excellent value! I got the big one to store my 15' john boat and it fits perfectly with about 18" to spare. 3) It looks very nice. Does not look cheap at all, especially considering it is all plastic. 4) Light is great. The 21' comes with two sunlights that go in the roof and six pair of wall windows. You can put them anywhere in the walls/roof except at the corners. With our orientation to the sun, I put four windows and two sunlights on one side and two windows/no sunlights on the opposite side. It is very well lit as long as the sun is out. 5)Once you perform a step one or two times, the repetition makes it rather easy to get going at a good pace. Everything is sectionalized and the same steps over and over. LESSONS LEARNED…In order of sequence 1) The floor is simple. If you can't figure out the floor, just call a professional because you will never finish. 2) Walls go quite easily as well. Panels are about 20-24" wide. It would have been nice to have another body on the exterior side to resist the screws put in from the inside, but it works without the second person. 3) Steel trusses/frames are next. Two vertical legs and a truss all bolt together to create a frame. Frames screw to inside of wall panels. It would have been nice to have a clearer path from my point of assembly to the shed, or better yet would have been to assemble the frames right in between the wall panels and just lift them up. Again, moving the frames into place is easier with two, but I managed alone. I left all the bolts loose so the various pieces could swing and move thinking this would make it easier to get in place. It worked pretty well. 4) Roof Panels were pretty simple as well. DO NOT FORGET THE STEEL SUPPORT RODS. Each roof panel gets three (or two for the sunlight panels) small steel support rods. I could not figure out what these were for… The instructions lead me to believe I had to start the roof panels at the front end of the shed AFTER the front wall/doors were up. This is not the case. The roof panels do not overlap and you could start anywhere you want. The roof ridge pieces DO overlap so must go in order from the front, but not the main roof panels. We'll get back to those… Some of the roof/wall panel joints were challenging to align and again a second person would have been a big help. 5) Front Wall/doors. This was one of the most challenging steps. You have to assemble the whole wall panel (three door panels total) on the ground then lift into place as a single piece. Being three door panels it does move easily and weighs a good 150-lbs if not more. I got the panel up off the ground and did not think I was going to be able to get it in by myself, but eventually was able to get a couple screws in and complete it. This is one step I highly recommend finding help. 6) Roof Ridge Pieces. Pretty simple. You have to start at the front end and work to the rear. The last piece is impossible to attach by yourself as you have to have to have someone on the outside holding it down while it is screwed from the inside. There is no way one person can do both. 7)Windows. Again, once you do one they're all the same and are pretty easy, just a lot of small parts that take some time. There is a protective film on both sides of the windows and sunlights. I missed this on the first piece and had to cut it out after I had it installed. 8) I opened all boxes and culled through all parts and separated into like piles before starting assembly. I never did figure out if the pieces are boxed in order of sequence but it would be easier if they are. 9) Other than the front end panel, no pieces are very heavy. I'd say the heaviest piece is the assembled steel frame that's probably about 40 lbs. 10) Definitely get a good screw gun. There many hundreds of screws and it is well worth buying one just for this if you don't have one. Go to Lifetime's website and read the instruction/assembly manual before you purchase if you are considering this shed. It will tell you a lot.