Sticker price is the least useful number in this whole decision. What matters is what the building costs you over the time you own it, and that is mostly decided by whether you have to buy it twice.
The purchase
Our C+ Utility 6×8 starts at $1,900 and a Cardinal Utility 8×8 starts at $2,762, with price moving by size, siding, roof, doors, windows and options up to 16×60. Get a real number on the exact building you want in the 3D Shed Builder rather than working from a starting price.
The pad
Budget for it, because people forget it and then cut corners on it, which is the single most expensive mistake in this entire process. A level gravel pad about a foot larger than the building on all sides is a modest one-time cost. Concrete is the ultimate base and considerably more. Skipping the pad entirely saves you money in year one and costs you the building in year eight.
Maintenance
Realistically, about twenty minutes a year plus a can of trim paint every several years. Knock down wasp nests in spring, clear leaves off the roof in fall, keep limbs trimmed, check the level every couple of years, and store seed and feed in sealed bins so you are not running a rodent buffet.
The replacement cost is where cheap buildings get you
This is the whole argument. A budget building with thin panel siding and standard OSB flooring, set on dirt, commonly starts failing at the base of the walls and at the floor inside of a decade. When it does, you pay for a second building, a second pad, a second delivery, and the disposal of the first one. Divide that by the years you got and the cheap building was never cheap.
Ours use LP SmartSide siding with a 50 year warranty and AdvanTech flooring with a lifetime warranty, and both are specifically the parts that fail first on cheap buildings. On top of that every Cardinal building carries our own 10 year guarantee covering acts of nature such as storm damage and settling plus our craftsmanship, repaired or replaced. And we handle warranty claims for you rather than handing you a manufacturer phone number, which is worth real money in aggravation alone.
What is not a cost
Interest, if you handle it right. Rent-to-own has no credit check, runs 24 to 60 months, starts at $75.44 a month, and takes your first two months as the deposit. There is no early payoff fee, so a longer term costs you nothing extra to exit early. If your credit is decent, our lending partners offer 12 months at 0% APR, which for a lot of buyers is the cheapest money in the deal. Details on the financing page.
And what you get back
Ten years of not renting a storage unit, ten years of parking in your garage, and a building that is still worth something at the end. Compare that to a monthly storage fee that never ends and leaves you owning nothing.
The short version
Buy the right size once, put it on a proper pad, keep water away from it, and the ten year cost is the purchase price and a can of paint. Everything expensive about owning a building comes from the two shortcuts people take at the start.
Get Started on Your Piedmont Building
You do not have to drive to a lot to get moving. Use our 3D Shed Builder to pick your size, siding, colors, doors, windows and add-ons and see the building take shape on screen. When it looks right, send it to us and we will confirm pricing and a delivery date for Piedmont.
Prefer to talk it through? Call our main office at 618-518-5578. We will walk you through building styles, custom options and rent-to-own and financing, and answer anything on our FAQ page. You can also see what we serve nearby on our location page.
