We needed a shed. So we hired a contractor to build one, since I knew nothing about building sheds. The contractor we hired built us a  deck the previous year which was beautifully designed, well constructed and completed on time. So naturally, we choose him to do our shed.

This is as far as he got before he disappeared:

Actually, I had to put up this make-shift roof before the inside got ruined so all he left us with was four walls and a floor.

We waited and waited on the promise that "I'll get to it next week...", which we heard countless times. So, after about six months of empty promises I decided he wasn't going to finish the job and I tried hiring another guy to finish it. Not so easy. As soon as I mentioned a half-finished shed they ran. I guess they didn't want to assume responsibility for someone else's mess to fix.

Staring at this half-finished shed everyday infuriated us and something had to be done. I had no choice but to do it myself. I've done some big renovation projects before but nothing like this. So now what?

The roof was my biggest challenge. I can get my head around most things but a roof? Luckily, I stumbled upon a website which made life easy. I typed in the shed dimensions, the pitch of the roof I wanted and lo-and-behold, it calculated all the lengths, angles, cuts, material and even gave a preview of what my roof would look like. I took a leap of faith (that their calculations were correct) and went ahead. Well, what do you know, it worked. I made a few mistakes, fixed them and kept learning.

I then completed the roof, siding, door, wiring and this is what I finished with:

The lessons I learned: 1. If you want something done right, do it yourself; 2. No task is too big if you plan properly and have patience; 3. Be wary of contractors.

I also learned what the all numbers on a rafter square mean:

Thanks for reading this and by the way, I am for hire.