How we compare shed builders

Compare Sheds lists shed builders based on public evidence of what they build, how they build it and the licence they hold. This page explains how listings are found, checked and ordered, and what we deliberately leave out.

What we cover

Companies that design, supply or build steel-framed sheds and buildings: commercial and industrial sheds, rural and farm sheds, machinery and hay sheds, workshops and large acreage sheds. General commercial builders are only included where they build steel portal-frame buildings.

1. Building the longlist

For each location we search for shed companies across the main city and its surrounding areas, including suburb and regional searches, manufacturer dealer locators and business listings. We record every distinct business we find.

Brisbane: 45 businesses longlisted, 8 listed. Last reviewed October 2026.

Gold Coast: 39 businesses longlisted, 7 listed. Last reviewed October 2026.

Sunshine Coast: 49 businesses longlisted, 7 listed. Last reviewed October 2026.

Toowoomba: 44 businesses longlisted, 8 listed. Last reviewed October 2026.

Townsville: 31 businesses longlisted, 8 listed. Last reviewed October 2026.

Mackay: 41 businesses longlisted, 9 listed. Last reviewed October 2026.

Rockhampton: 47 businesses longlisted, 8 listed. Last reviewed October 2026.

Bundaberg: 42 businesses longlisted, 9 listed. Last reviewed October 2026.

2. What we remove

• Garden shed and kit-only retailers
• Online kit sellers with no local operator
• National head-office or network enquiry pages that aren't a genuine local business
• Businesses with no local address or named people
• Interstate companies where the local presence is a minor branch
• Websites we can't check, and businesses we can't verify

Locally owned dealers and franchisees of national shed brands are included when they have a local address or named people and operate as a local business. We show the network as a fact, for example "Ranbuild accredited dealer".

3. What we check

For each shortlisted company we read its own website and, where available, official registers. We record:

• Build model: kit or supply only, supply and build, or design and construct
• Licence: the licence number and class the company publishes, which you should confirm on the state register before signing
• Shed types: commercial, industrial, rural, large and custom, and other work it states it does
• Evidence of completed work: named projects, spans and sizes
• Years operating, service area, network affiliation and named people
• Accreditations: such as ShedSafe, checked against the ShedSafe seller register

Every listing keeps a list of the sources each fact came from, which you can see under "More about" on each card. We don't write opinions about businesses, and we don't publish claims we can't source.

4. Ordering

Listings appear in an editorial order. There is no score and no hidden formula. We group builders so that the range of project types is easy to scan, generally putting operators with the strongest evidence of large or commercial work first, and give each one a "best for" line so you can see quickly who suits your project.

5. Google ratings

Where shown, ratings and review counts come from Google and refresh automatically every fortnight. They're labelled as Google ratings. They don't decide who is listed or the order: plenty of capable commercial builders have few reviews because they work for a small number of large clients.

6. Keeping it current

Each location page shows when it was last reviewed. We recheck listings regularly and remove businesses that close, stop doing shed work or no longer meet our criteria. If something on a listing is wrong, tell us and we'll check it.

Paid placements

No builder can pay to be listed, to be moved up or to change what we write. If we sell sponsored placements, they'll be labelled as sponsored and kept separate from the editorial list. Our advertising disclosure has the detail.