The shed was made almost entirely from discarded material left around the farmyard and from left over house building materials, the only costs were for roof felt and strong roof timbers to support the clay tiles we found. It is used for my son and I to manufacture wooden items from trees cut down in the tree surgery and forestry business and for him to have somewhere dry to learn woodworking skills. It also has a raised platform where he can sleep in the summer, if he wants!
We wanted to see if we could use up the materials around the yard rather than skip them or burn them. In particular we had dozens of old doors and roof tiles so we built a framework of doors, put joists on top, clad everything in homemade shingles of poplar and leylandii (hand cut from trees we have felled) as I wanted to find a use for the large quantities of leylandii we fell at work, rather than waste it.
The windows are all left over or dumped double glazing, the insulation all left behind from extensions to the main house, the decking from felled trees at work and the machinery and hand tools that decorate it were all found around the house and in the well! I wanted my son to learn various building and carpentry skills and to apply them on a fun project that had a final purpose. The total cost was about £230 which went on the roof felt and battens. We even managed to reuse old nails which we straightened out!