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It becomes a matter of analyzing use. It requires consideration of the safety and weather-resistence of the building. It also can require examination of municipal laws that can put limits on size and placement.

"We make every buyer check out laws on sheds," says Matt Konieczki, general manager of the construction site of Tuff Shed Storage Buildings & Garages in the Pittsburgh's Windgap area. "If you discover you have to get a concrete base for your shed, that can add $1,000 to the bill and really ruin your budget."

Nonetheless, sheds are available in a range from those that resemble large, vinyl outdoor closets to hefty, steel structures that are homes for boats and planes.

• Konieczki says is easy to get a shed for $999, but just as simple to spend $40,000 for a large, custom-designed building.

• Jane Beacom from 380 Discount Warehouse in Murrysville sells wooden, Amish sheds built in Centre County and delivers them pre-built to their new homes.

• Terry Savoie has seen his Redi-Bilt Sheds grow from a locally focused Minneapolis firm to one that has clients from California to Georgia because of spots on home-decorating cable television shows.

Sheds can have bases of concrete or wood, or no floor all. They can have windows with flower boxes or solid walls. They can resemble mini-barns or be simple A-frame boxes.

Features in the projects range from custom placement of windows and doors, inclusion of shelves and ventilation systems, overhanging roofs and siding-like walls.

The variety creates a big test for the buyer, says Ed Markiewicz of Buckeye Barns with shops in Latrobe and North Versailles.

"A customer needs to know what he needs," he says. "A cheap building is not really going to save you money."

Making sure of a shed's home

Another aspect of shed variety is work required by the owner.

Chris Kunkle, assistant manager of the garden department in Home Depot store in Hempfield says smaller vinyl sheds are popular as waterproof areas for tall tools and garden equipment. They sell for $398 and up and are simple, lean-it-against-the-house buildings.

Savoie, on the other hand, markets kits he says most buyers can put up in a day, having done a little prep work to make sure the site is ready.

But Home Depot manager Felix Fusco says the most popular units at his store are the buildings by Tuff Shed, which can start at 8-feet-by-8-feet and about $900 and go anywhere from there.

But, he says, their most popular feature is that they are delivered and installed with no effort required from the buyer.

"They are all part of the Please-Do-It-For-Me Society," Fusco says with a laugh.

He also says the construction of the wood and steel-frame buildings is so tough they provide a dependable shed.

Konieczki chuckles at the "Do-It-For-Me" quote, but points out the construction is really a matter of ensuring that warranties will be observed.

He says size naturally determines the time it takes to put up a shed, but 95 percent of them are done by a two-person crew in one day. Some minor site work will be done by the crew, but Tuff Shed and other firms expect the location to be ready.

Tuff Shed is a 27-year-old company headquartered in Colorado with 57 sales and construction facilities across the United States. Every sales site is linked to a construction venue, some at the same location.

The sales site in this area is on McKnight Road in Ross.

Either through its own sites or Home Depot, a nationwide dealer, Tuff Shed requires each buyer to get a signed statement from the municipality involved, saying the building is in compliance with any restrictions.

Konieczki and Fusco say issues most often involve size, location of lot and connection to the home or another building.

With other sheds, consumers generally are warned there may be restrictions to investigate, but "it's pretty much on them" to do that, Fusco says.

Konieczki says a 10-foot-by-12-foot is a popular size, but it is possible to design a building that could basically be a barn.

Fusco says his Home Depot does well with the bigger sheds

"As we get into new house developments, we keep getting into selling more sheds, and most of them are big because they have the space," he says.

Opening the door to more costs

Most often, though, sheds tend to be of a prefabricated, standardized size.

The units at 380 Discount Warehouse have all-wood floors, sit on pressure-treated 4-inch-by-4-inch studs and are delivered fully constructed.

In three styles, prices range from $1,200 to $2,400.

Markiewicz's Buckeye Barns also are made of wood, with the average price being about $2,400. He adds, though, it is possible go up to $5,000.

Those units are prefabricated in Ohio, he says, and are put together by company crews at the intended site.

Both he and Beacom say security in the doors is an important feature for any customer. If locks can't be securely mounted in or on the doors, the units can't be trusted, they say.

Redi-Bilt's Savoie admits he sells kits to many customers who see them only online or in photos, but insists seeing a constructed shed is one of the most important aspects of the decision.

"The best thing to do is to walk inside any shed you're considering," he says, "Otherwise, the price you see is not the price you'll pay."

Such matters are at the root of product examinations by Home Depot, says Kevin Houlihan, a national-level merchandising manager. He says the firm each year examines non-installed sheds below $2,000 on terms of value, design, quality, strength and material.

Right now, he adds, the polyvinyl sheds are the top sellers and the fastest growing market.

At the other end are galvanized units put up by Crown Steel Buildings in McKees Rocks.

Marketing representative Ron Babu says that firm deals mostly in commercial buildings such as air hangars, but also will put up a steel garage or carport.

"We can go any size, so you could have this at home or on a farm," Babu says of the buildings that tend to average between $4,000 and $5,000.

From delivering already-built sheds to putting them up on the spot, shed sellers seem to see a home for all the options and the units that bear them.

"Just when I think we will have sold all the sheds we can, it seems like there's someone else who still needs one," Konieczki says.

Don't store, organize

Sheds can be the storage place for mistakes.

Standolyn Robertson, president of the National Association of Professional Organizers, says the worst job a shed can do is "to store postponed decisions."

The head of the New Jersey-based organizing group agrees with a colleague in Mt. Lebanon about the proper use for sheds.

"If you are using a shed to store material that belongs outside, like mowers or garden equipment, they are great," says professional organizer Leslie McKee. "But if it is just a way of having more storage space, maybe you have to get to the root of the problem before you get a shed."

McKee, founder of McKee Organizing Services, says a shed can be a great organizing tool when it is used correctly.

But, she and Robertson, who heads a Massachusetts firm called Things in Place, agree that sheds should not provide a storage area for items that deserve to be disposed of.

"One of the great organizing principles is to store things where they are used," she says. "That is true for outside sheds, too. If they are storing things you use inside, then you are just accumulating, not managing,"

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