cottagekits.com

This is a nice kit for building your own shed. You should have some general carpentry skills, however, as well as some roofing knowledge. Makes a great father and son project.

Quality shed, great customer service. Instructions were good but not great. But overall anyone could build this.

We purchased the 6x8 colonial gable chicken coop, and it took almost four weeks to ship. It arrived in great condition on a huge pallet, and we unloaded the pieces from the delivery truck because the pallet was too long for the lift gate. Two of the eye hooks had broken off in transit; I would have preferred them be shipped in the hardware box instead. We discovered after starting assembly that the two nest box outside pieces were missing; Little Cottage Co sent them to us and they arrived within the same week. One thing to note is that each side is very heavy, since they're framed/mostly assembled. You'll need at least two people to move each side. The heaviest parts were the floor and the side containing the human-sized door. Overall the coop is a great purchase! It went together fairly easily. The screws had a little trouble drilling through the primer on the outside, so you might consider pre-drilling a few holes to make it a bit easier. There were two problems with the coop. The first issue was the directions; the directions sent were 'combined' for the small colonial gable and also the small gambrel barn, with the picturs only showing the gambrel barn. We were able to figure out the process as we built it, but it would have been nice if the directions included how to add the nest boxes to the coop, since the nest box comes as an addition to the side of the floor. The instructions show the nest box already attached to the floor, instead of being a separate piece like what arrived. Also, the roof is very different from the instructions, but not hard to figure out. The second issue is a very minor quibble on my part, I'll admit. The provided roost bar is a 2x3 board, and is intended to be mounted 2"-side up. For our birds especially (Orpingtons and Wyandottes), I prefer a 2x4 mounted 4"-side up. A minor difference, sure, but the larger surface area is better for their foot health. Finally, be prepared for painting to take a while. The outside of the coop is textured and has ridges, which makes it harder for a roller to cover everything evenly. Expect a lot of brushwork. Overall, we're very impressed with the coop. We intend to insulate it later this year, and I think that will not be too hard to accomplish. I'd give it 4. 5 stars!

The nails were cheap, easily bent, the roofing nails were too short, should include the longer ones. I bought my own and worked better. Directions were pretty clear, it'd be nice to have the 8x8 sheds have their own directions as some steps didn't apply to the smaller shed. I didn't like how in the directions it wanted you to nail on the siding before standing up the walls, would have preferred to frame it then siding, but all the cuts were good, it went together square and level. Built it in 2 days (with roofing) ~6 hrs of work per day. I would purchase another one again.

Everything pretty much went together well. I added extra 2×4's in all corners and at every splice for added strength. Also, being a one man band- I constructed and put up all walls first- then the siding- worked out well.