What is a pub shed anyway?
I was scanning some online articles recently when a story about pub sheds caught my attention. It turns out that a pub shed is just another variation of the she shed but consists of converting the shed into a bar with seating, a bar, a t.v., and of course a beer tap. After reading the article I became even more interested in what people were doing with sheds to improve their homes.
Seems like adding additional living areas to your home has become quite the rage with the shed being used in a lot of creative ways. They go by different names like she shed, pub shed, party shed, and he shed among other things. The cost of buying the shed and modifying it to your liking can range from around $1,000 to upwards of $20,000 depending on how serious you want to get.
Everyone is getting in on the action and there’s even a new series about sheds called “He Shed, She Shed” that helps those eager to build the ultimate shed. Many of the articles I read discussed how these outdoor living areas would add more value to your home. Because I’m an appraiser, my appraiser sense (similar to spidey sense) kicked in. Anytime people talk about improvements that add value to a home the wheels in my head start turning and I immediately start analyzing whether real value is actually added.
Since it appears so many people are interested in building these outdoor areas I thought that I would share with you how they would be looked at in a appraisal, so lets get started.
Bottom Line
The bottom line is that these improvements are basically just a shed. When an appraiser considers the amount of value that a shed can add to a property several things are taken into consideration.
Any improvements included in an appraisal assignment need to be considered real property, and what that means with a shed is that it should have a permanent foundation. If the shed is sitting on blocks, and can be moved, it is considered personal property. This is the same way that appraisers look at above ground pools.
If you want the shed, or any other type of storage building, to be included in the real estate’s overall value, and therefore included in the appraisal, it will need to be permanently secured to a concrete slab or to a pier and beam foundation. The recent episode of “He Shed, She Shed” that I watched showed one of the sheds the participants had. It was only sitting on concrete pads and could not be considered permanent.
After the shed is installed on a permanent foundation then the appraiser will start looking at the quality of the construction, type and extent of improvements, and the value added by comparing it to other similar properties. This is where it gets tricky because, as in other types of improvements, you will not get a dollar for dollar return on your investment. For example, the person that spends $20,000 on their dream pub shed may not (probably not) get back that much out of their home when they sell or when it is appraised.
There are also some other factors that appraisers must look at when looking at how much value a space contributes, so let’s take a look at those factors.
Can the detached pub shed area be included in the square footage of the home?
If you pass the first test of the pub shed being permanently attached to the real estate, then we need to look at whether the area can be included in the total square footage of the home. Since there can be such a large variation in the quality of construction of one of these sheds we should look at which ones that can even be considered “living area”.
Many of these sheds have extensive features added but the unit itself may not even have an interior finish similar to the main residence including a source of heating and cooling. The sheds that have no interior finish or heating and cooling will just be classified as a shed with no consideration given to the personal property features they have.
If the shed does have a nice interior finish and heating and cooling then there are still some factors that need to be considered. Since the shed is detached from the main home it cannot be included in the overall gross living area of the home. ANSI standards limit the area that can be included in the overall square footage to those parts that are attached to the main residence.
It’s important to consider how buyers might consider the additional area as well. In my 25+ years of experience most of the people I have talked to do not consider a detached area as part of the main residence, but that will vary by area.
Conclusion
So generally speaking there are some basic things we can take away from our discussion. In order for a pub shed, she shed, party shed, or any other shed to be considered as part of the total value of a property it must be permanently attached to it.
In addition to a permanent foundation, the improvements in the shed must be built in, and it must have an acceptable form of heating and cooling that meets code and meets the expectations of buyers in the subject’s market.
Even with these requirements the amount of value the improvements will contribute will depend on what buyers are willing to pay. An appraiser’s job is to analyze other sales with similar improvements to determine what buyers paid for these additional features so the more this craze catches on the more sales appraisers will have to study and determine the amount the buyers paid for the feature.
At best, these sheds on steroids can be thought of as an extension of the porch living area and rarely would be included in the total gross living area of the home. Do you agree with this?
Question
Are you considering the addition of a she shed or pub shed? If so you may want to think about some of the things I’ve discussed. If you’ve built one, and sold your home, I’d be interested in knowing if you got your money back from the investment. Please leave a message and let’s keep the conversation going.
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Hello,
I recently bought a home that has an existing shed, approx 15×13, on a concrete slab with a shingled roof. I tore down the interior wall separating a shelf room from an open space, repurposed the wood to make the bar itself, pouring the bar top with apoxie, copper accents. I am adding recessed dimmable lighting, wood sheeting on ceiling and wall, laminate flooring, rear lower shelf and floating shelf, TV. If I add legit heating and cooling do you think this would add value to my home?
P.S. after all said and done it should cost me about $1000 or less
That’s not too bad for the added enjoyment you will receive.
I think it would but the exact amount will depend on how local buyers react to it. Since they are becoming more popular it could be good selling feature when you go to sell.
Yeah those are getting popular and go by a variety of names. There is also this high end unique or standard extra living building. Forget what it’s called but it’s a variety of the tiny home, except is like a shed or MIL detached sort of unit. Geesh, making my lawn chair in front of the old tube tv and kegorater in the garage look weak. But that’s what I grew up on, and still love. If the pub shack comes with am radio, I’m in. For value considerations, I prefer to be less technical and root the value in comparative market thresholds and reasonable actual cash value. A mega shed, a sun room, an pub shack or whatever, custom thick pour w/ fiber add, it’s all just one variation of an exterior feature vs another. I like the concept of offsetting and equalized comparability, despite character differences. The conceptual tie in which fits mis matching comparisons together nicely is that although unique feature may limit the size of the potential interested buyer pool, it may accentuate that for a limited set of buyers, and as long as the feature reasonably standard and not unusually a-typical, it should be able to fetch dollar for dollar at least. As long as they’re not over improved, as Mentor used to say; You’ve got some wiggle room with that.
Thanks Tom, I had to click on the link just to find out what a pub shed is and I was not familiar with the terms he shed and she shed either. Appraisers are learning all the time.
Yeah, that happened to me too Gary. I have not seen any in my area but will now have a little more info. if they catch on in my area.
Sounds like a fun shed to have. I agree with the cost too as it’s almost impossible to build a decent shed under $1000. Sometimes people are taken aback at the price, but I just tell them to go to Lowes and Home Depot to see what the Tuff Sheds in the parking lots are selling for. Now imagine tricking out that parking lot shed with a tap, windows, interior design, etc…
I agree Ryan, it would be a fun shed to have, especially with your beer buddies. Just be careful in how much you invest in it!