Workshop &
Garage Sheds
Taller walls, heavier framing, double-wide door openings and ramp options. Workshop sheds and garage-style buildings for serious use in NC, SC and VA. Sizes from 10x20 to 16x48.
Taller Walls, Heavier Framing
Workshop builds get taller side walls (8' standard, 9' optional), wider double doors and reinforced flooring so you can roll in mowers, ATVs and equipment without ducking or fighting the ramp.
Add electrical pre-wire, workbench packages and extra windows at the Design Center.
From Hobby Shop To Full Garage
Same LP SmartSide siding and lumber framing as the rest of the line, with heavier subfloor specs to handle the weight of cars, woodworking equipment or a serious build of inventory.
Premium Series workshops add upgraded doors, windows and trim packages for a finished, residential-grade look.
Workshop & Garage Sheds Built In Laurinburg, NC
Every building leaves our Laurinburg, NC plant. LP SmartSide engineered wood siding, 50-year limited manufacturer warranty, on every build. Real lumber framing. Two quality tiers: Select Series and Premium Series.
LP SmartSide On Every Build
LP SmartSide engineered wood is our standard build material, 50-year limited warranty from LP Building Products, holds up to Carolina weather. Vinyl siding is also available for builds that need to match HOA-required siding.
Select Series
Quality construction at competitive pricing. Standard window and door packages, 30-year architectural shingles, multiple color options. See Select specs →
Premium Series
Full upgrade path, better windows, steeper roof pitch options, custom architectural details and finish packages. See Premium specs →
Rent-To-Own Available
No credit check RTO on most builds. Payments from $99/month. See RTO details →
Common Sizes &
What Fits
Most customers know roughly what they need. Here's a quick reference to match your project to the right footprint.
| Size | Sq Ft | Good For |
|---|---|---|
| 8x10 | 80 sq ft | Tools, lawn equipment, basic storage |
| 10x12 | 120 sq ft | Lawn, bikes, seasonal items, small workshop |
| 10x16 | 160 sq ft | Mowers, ATVs, full lawn setup + storage |
| 12x20 | 240 sq ft | Full workshop, vehicle storage, she shed |
| 12x24 | 288 sq ft | One-car garage equivalent, serious shop |
| 14x32+ | 448+ sq ft | Two-car garage, large workshop, tiny home prep |
What Makes A Workshop Different From A Shed
A storage shed holds your stuff. A workshop is where you stand for six hours and build something, and those are two different buildings even when they look alike from the driveway. Three things separate a real shop from a shed with a workbench shoved in it: how tall the walls are, how much weight the floor takes, and how wide the doors open. Get those wrong and you've got an expensive box you keep banging your head and your knuckles in.
People try to save money by speccing a plain utility shed and adding a bench later. Sometimes that's the right move. But a utility box has six-foot sidewalls and a floor built for tote bins, and the day you roll a project car onto it or stand a sheet of plywood against the wall, the shortcuts show. The workshop build exists because those shortcuts cost more to fix after the fact than to order right the first time.
The Floor Is The Whole Difference
This is the part you can't see and the part that matters most. A workshop floor gets heavier joists set closer together, 12 inches on center instead of 16, and a thicker decking over the top, so it carries concentrated loads without bouncing or denting. A table saw full of cast iron, a loaded tool chest, the front axle of a truck: those are point loads that'll telegraph through a standard shed floor and won't through this one. The building still ships on pressure-treated 4x4 skids, so a level gravel pad works for most shops. Once you're parking vehicles or setting a lift, though, pour a four-inch concrete pad and set the building on it. Concrete doesn't flex, doesn't rot, and gives you something to bolt a vise or a machine base into.
Height, Doors, And Getting It Wired
Eight-Foot Walls Change Everything
Workshop builds start with 8-foot sidewalls, with 9 feet on the table as an upgrade. That single number decides what you can do inside. At eight feet you can stand a full sheet of plywood on end, hang upper cabinets over a bench and still walk under them, mount a wall-bracket fan or a mini-split head, and fit a roll-up garage door that a vehicle clears. The six-foot eave on an economy shed kills all of that. The roof starts cutting in right where you wanted shelving. If you also want overhead storage for lumber and long stock, a gambrel barn gives you a loft on top of the floor space, which is a combination a lot of woodworkers end up wanting.
Doors And Access
Standard double doors open six feet wide, fine for a mower or a workbench delivery. Most shop owners go bigger: 8, 9, and 10-foot roll-up garage doors are all on the menu, and which one you pick comes down to the widest thing you'll ever push through it. Add a separate man door on another wall so you're not cranking the big door every time you grab a wrench. Think about the approach, too. A gravel ramp gets a mower in; a car wants a concrete apron flush with the floor so you're not high-centering on the threshold. Door placement gets locked in early because it dictates where the bench wall and the machines land.
Power, Light, And Surviving August
Electrical rough-in is the option that turns a shed into a shop. We run the wiring at the plant, the outlets, switches, lighting, and a sub-panel feed, and you bring in a licensed electrician to make the meter connection. A full package usually adds somewhere around $400 to $900. Spec it heavier than you think you need: a welder, an air compressor, or a dust collector pulls 240 volts, and retrofitting circuits into finished walls is miserable. Lay the outlets, door sizes, and window placement out in the Design Center while it's still a drawing. Then there's the Carolina reality: a closed-up building with a dark roof hits oven temperatures by mid-afternoon in July. Insulation and a small mini-split turn it into a room you'll actually use in August instead of one you abandon until October.
Shed Shop Or Garage Addition?
Before you commit, weigh the freestanding workshop against the obvious alternative, a stick-built garage addition bolted onto the house. The addition wins on exactly one thing: it's attached, so you get to it in your socks. The shed wins on most of the rest.
Cost isn't close. A framed-and-finished addition with a poured foundation, a tie-in to the existing structure, matching roofing, and a string of inspections runs into serious money and months of contractors in the driveway. A workshop shed is a fraction of that, sets on a gravel pad or a simple slab, and shows up finished. Most custom builds land in the 4-to-8-week range rather than a season of construction.
Permitting is the other gap. An addition pulls a full building permit, a foundation inspection, a framing inspection, and the rest, and it changes your home's footprint and sometimes the tax assessment. A shop that clears the size threshold skips most of that, and even a permitted one is a simpler approval. It never touches the house either, with no cutting into an existing wall, no roofline puzzle, no risk to what's already standing. Move someday and a freestanding building is an asset you can sell or leave behind.
Where people get it wrong is assuming a shed can't feel finished. It can. Insulate the walls, line them with OSB or drywall, hang LED shop lights, run enough circuits, and you've got a space that holds temperature and reads like a genuine shop instead of a tin can in the backyard.
Who Uses Them, How Big, & The Red Tape
What People Actually Build In Them
Woodworkers are the biggest group, and a bench, a table saw, a planer, and wall storage fit a surprisingly modest footprint. Mechanics and restorers use them for a project car and a creeper's worth of room around it. Welders and metal fabricators like that it's a separate structure away from the house. Plenty go to the trades: an HVAC tech or electrician around Charlotte parking a van's worth of gear and a parts inventory, off the books of a commercial-rent invoice. The Upstate and Piedmont have deep maker and manufacturing roots, and we put a lot of these in backyards around Spartanburg, Greensboro, and Winston-Salem for side businesses that outgrew the garage.
Sizing A Shop That Works
The trick to sizing a shop is leaving room to move. A good rule is a three-foot clear lane around whatever you're working on, plus the swing of any door or the infeed and outfeed of a saw. A 12x20 covers a one-person hobby or trade shop with a bench wall and a couple of machines, and the 12x20 size page walks through a sample layout. Two people working at once, or a shop that also stores materials, wants a 12x24 or a 14x28. Past that you're into garage territory, and the conversation shifts to permits and how the thing gets to your lot.
Permits, Zoning, And Running A Business Out Of It
Workshops cross the 200-square-foot line that keeps small sheds permit-free, so plan on a building permit for most shop sizes, and confirm the specifics with your county. Electrical pulls its own permit on top. Running an actual business out of the building is a separate question: some jurisdictions have home-occupation or zoning rules about customers, signage, and employees on a residential lot, so check before you hang a shingle. When a build is too big to truck in finished, or your only yard access is a narrow gate, that's what build-on-site solves. We frame it in place. Either way, a level, draining pad set by our delivery and setup crew is where a long-lasting shop starts.
What It Costs
A workshop runs more than a plain storage shed because there's more building in it: taller walls, a stouter floor, bigger doors, wiring. The Premium Series takes the finish up to a residential-grade look with upgraded doors, windows, and trim, while the Select Series keeps a working shop within reach. Because the ticket is higher, this is where financing tends to make sense, spreading a real shop across manageable payments instead of one big check. Sketch the size, door, and electrical you want, then get a quote. A few minutes on the phone sorts out what the build actually runs.
Find What's In Stock Near You
Browse the live inventory feed or get a quote on a custom build. Most orders deliver in 2–4 weeks.
Workshop & Garage Sheds FAQ
Yes. Electrical rough-in is a standard option, outlets, switches, lighting and a sub-panel feed. We rough the wiring at the plant; you hire a licensed electrician to do the meter connection on your end. Most builds add $400–$900 for a full electrical package.
Standard double doors open 6 ft wide. We offer 8 ft, 9 ft and 10 ft roll-up garage doors as upgrades. If you're rolling in a riding mower, ATV or small project trailer, spec the door width before finalizing your layout.
No, but it's recommended for heavier use. Workshop sheds ship with pressure-treated 4×4 skid runners and can sit on a level gravel pad or concrete piers. For long-term heavy machinery (table saws, lifts), a 4-inch poured pad is worth it.
For one-person trades (carpentry, repair, hobby fab), 12×20 covers it. For a 2-person shop with materials storage, go 12×24 or 14×28. Anything bigger and we'll discuss permits and on-site assembly options.