YardMaster International Reviews 248

We purchased the Castleton 108AEYZ Anthracite shed and have had a terrible time from start to finish with this company and this product.

It started with the delivery being sent on a grand trip around the Republic of Ireland, before it eventually arrived with us 2 weeks late. We were out of the country by this point, so had to risk the shed just being left on our drive. No apology offered for this mess-up.

Construction was unbelievably time-consuming. We're experienced DIY-ers, but it took 3 adults an entire day just to assemble the roof, then the best part of another day to assemble the frame and side panels. It took 4 adults to lift the roof into place, then another morning to finish attaching it to the sides.

There are a number of serious design flaws:
- The screw fixings are very lightweight and offer very little 'bite' into the steel, they all spin and lots of them just threaded
- Washers don't form a good seal, so it leaks like a sieve
- Not secure in the slightest. The doors and handles are so flimsy you could prise them open with a wooden spoon, but to be honest you would probably just unscrew one of the side panels instead (all the fixings are on the outside), curl it back and walk straight in
- Door handles are secured with tiny bolts (no washers), that almost pull back through the pre-drilled holes
- Impossible to bolt down at the corners once finished, because the bracket is so close to the corners and there is not room to hammer in the rawl plug
- Side bars are very flimsy, especially where they are jointed (we bought additional lengths of timber and screwed through to these to try to strengthen the sides)

As for the instructions - wow. I'm an architect, so I'm pretty used to construction diagrams, but these were poor. Lots of guesswork required, some steps completely missing or printed so small they were unreadable. We finished the job with hundreds of surplus fixings. One bag we never even opened, and we still have no idea what they were actually for (in spite of 3 people each reading the instructions and trying to work this out).

And as for the product description. Anthracite? Well, parts of it are. What Yardmaster don't mention (or show on any of their visuals) is that the top of the roof and the doors are shiny galvanised steel, so the whole thing now reflects back at us like a mirror when we look down on it from our house.

In short, AVOID, AVOID, AVOID!

Just finished my 8ft shed it was built in stages as had a toddler. It's true the holes don't line up but if you handscrew in at angle till it beds issue solved.

For the price cant fault. It the instructions are off putting at first but study then enough and it clicks not a DIY'ER me and wife put it up in 5 hrs with no issue really besides forgetting to place the very last brace above door quick 10 mins to remove doors and place and it was done. Will see how it holds

yardmaster 10x8 foot metal shed
dreadfull product have now spent 3 days putting up shed and still not finished none the holes match instruction our pointless as they make no bloody sense what so ether if this shed when its done stands the test of time I will be very surprised so from my point of view avoid this yardmaster metal shed at all cost I have put up other metal shed in past and they went up easy with no problems but this one trust me I am no diy novice but even I have got to the point at where im ready to put this product in the skip

Dreadful product and awful customer service. Website shows image of flooring panel, which you can purchase at much extra expense. BUT they do not supply the panel displayed, only the metal frame for it. Customer rep told me to read the small print and had quite clearly dodged this issue before. Avoid this bunch. Seems there business model is a one time rip off rather than repeat business.

Wow, scathing reviews.

Me and the wife just put up a 13x10 Yardmaster shed.

I agree that the instructions aren't very clear at times, but if you look on ahead you can usually figure it out. It's all pictorial. Frustratingly the codes for each section aren't exactly the same as in the packing list, with items being point something e.g 273.16, but the .16 isn't on the packing list.

As said before, the panels are staggeringly thin, flimsy, at 0.3mm thick, but once constructed they are solid enough.

The self tapping screws have such a broad thread that they just spin and don't pull tight, which brings me to my main issue.

The nylon washers are solid, not soft, so have no give at all to allow them to seal. If the screws pulled tight instead of spinning, then the washers may seal, but as it is, they don't. So but some rubber or soft nylon washers for the roof. If you don't, it will leak. I'm now going to have to replace them all, meaning the roof has to come back off.

As said before, a lot of the little holes don't line up, but the screws will self tap into the incredibly thin metal.

We built it in a day. I think the prep work making sure the base was flat and level really helps.

Make sure each section is square, and then the panels should go on fine.

As I've said, once built, it's solid, despite screws I can turn by hand.

Use a membrane under your concrete base, and leave it long enough to bring it over the base frame, so you can trap it between that and the side panels, that way the base is totally sealed from water, so you won't get condensation.

Just make sure you replace those roof washers.

We recently purchased a 9.6x9.6 yardmaster metal shed and whilst electing it found multiple parts damaged when we contacted yardmaster customer service after many emails their link didn't work eventually spoke to a customer services person called caroline her attitude was DISGUSTING I ASKED FOR PANELS TO REPLACE THE DAMAGED PARTS ONLY TO BE SENT A SMALL TUB OF PAINT I WOULD THINK TWICE BEFORE YOU BUY FROM THIS COMPANY

A bean tin is more structurally sound than one of these dystopian sweat boxes. If they forced these diy kits on Guantanamo Bay inmates, they would have found Osama Bin Laden a week later.

Not only is it torturous to build, it's honestly like it's been designed and engineered by a team of Liz Truss and Salvador Dali, hungover after a night at the rodeo. Its like an avant-garde after throught following a plan to make as much money from a pile of stamped sheet steel as possible. It's probably not even real steel.

For you sadists our there that do plan on buying one, I would suggest growing another set of arms of asking Magneto if he is free for a few days. Probably best to have the Samaritans on speaker phone too.

Shed (4x6 metal ) took ages to get delivered and then on opening the box was dismayed to see how many bits there were. I only got as far as the first 2 pages on construction as so many bits could be put on the wrong way. Poor design and no thought for the poor person having to construct it.I’d rather have paid more for delivery and get pre-assembled bits, than waste my life with tiny components. They should give more information about the construction time. It should have had better labelled components. Eg top , bottom. Plus the labels it did have were not waterproof and as it was left in the rain, had washed off. Some components were identical but labelled differently. So when things didn’t fit, it was impossible to figure out why. It used small screws instead of bolts, these were very fiddly and didn’t grip well. Overall, the sort of DIY that makes you wish you hadn’t bothered.

If I could have rated zero I would have. I have never dealt with such an incompetent business. I ordered a shed which I was told would arrive between 3 - 14 July. They can’t give an accurate date and assume people should just be home. Anyway, it arrived July 19, thankfully someone was home. But, it gets worse. Wrong shed. Paid over £600 and received one that costs £250. Don’t know how many times I’ve messaged these people since ordering beginning of June. Now waiting on a refund and them collecting the shed. Do not go near this company if you value professionalism.

i bought the 10x17 the parts are so flimsy and the insructions are so hard to read i started builing it and couldnt understand the instructions so i employed 2 professional flatpack guys and it took them 2 days to build costing almost the same as the shed its self

I bought a Yardmaster Toplight Pent 85SP18 8ftx5ft metal shed. It was delivered in 7 days. I built the base on breeze blocks and my two sons built the rest over two days because of the weather,total time was about 6 hours, ( only build on a calm day ) only 4 or 5 holes didn't line up so we drilled new ones. It's watertight after heavy rain and I'm happy with the shed, I think it's a good buy.

I received a rapid response to my email requesting some spare parts for my 4ft x 5ft galvanized shed. The spare parts were sent to me the same day! And they were sent free of charge!

The shed is about 15 years old, and has been re-located on my property once. Despite being in an exposed location, it remains watertight. The galvanising is still sound. I'm very pleased with the product and the product support.

I agree with another review that the instructions can be a little challenging. However, if you take your time and double check everything then they will work. The completed item is really good for the money.

What was outstanding for me was their customer service. I bought my shed over a year ago and just got round to putting it up. When I was nearly finished I ran out of some small black washers. I phoned the UK office who located me on their system and sent out some more the same day and they arrived within 24 hours. Fantastic.

Construction of this tin shed began on May 27th and is still ongoing due to the extreme poor quality of this purchase.
Despite hiring a highly experienced construction tradesman to assemble the shed even he's at his wits end with it.
He had great difficulty assembling it due to poor quality material, poor instructions and despite using a waterproof sealant the water is still pouring in.
The cost of hiring this trades person has already cost more than the shed as he ontinues to work on it.
Phoned the company 2 weeks ago and was told to use a waterproof sealant and that would sort it out.
I am totally disgusted with this purchase and quite frankly it should be taken of the market and I would strongly advice against purchasing this product. I am now questioning who is responsible for checking quality control of this metal shed as it most certainly does not meet the requirements needed to make this a suitable safe and secure shed.
Between the cost of the shed and still paying out to the construction worker I would have been cheaper building a block shed.
An absolute disgrace and a total waste of money!!

Yardmaster 10x8 ft
If you think IKEA was a 70’s Swedish pop group, you will struggle with assembly. About the only thing going for these sheds is that they are cheap and look OK. The pictographic instructions are accurate but difficult to decipher- a few words of English would make a big difference. The panels are thin - 0.4 to 0.6mm thick depending on location. Although there are plenty of screws and washers, there is an exact number of bolts and nuts - so be careful not to lose any. It is much more difficult to assemble than you can imagine. From inventory check to tightening the final screw was 15 hours. I assembled all of it single-handedly and had a mate help lift the roof on. I wouldn’t say it is poor quality- it is built to a price - a wooden shed is much more expensive. I bought it as a temporary storage solution- so I will be taking it apart later. The security is non-existent- the door handles are plastic and you can remove an entire wall panel with a screwdriver in 3 minutes. When it rains, the roof leaks - from the panel overlaps - which is a design fault- there is only a one ridge overlap - should be at least two. Maybe if I re-use it I will seal the overlaps with foam tape or silicone. Would I buy one again? No… Fool me twice, shame on me.

The only good thing about this shed is that it looks nice..Ordered an 8ftx7ft shed for bit more space.. Didn't know that was the overhang roof size and not inside storage size so beware what size you want..
The instructions as i agree with other people are really confusing. Came flat packed and there are so many pieces that i am sure this could be reduced to make it simpler to assemble. Took us a day to assemble the roof which I was dreading putting it on panels next day. So after again taking a long time to assemble panels onto the base which had to be adjusted to fit..Lifting the roof on was easier than I expected but with some brute force and a crowbar to sort a corner out we eventually got it all screwed together. Very flimsy and I suppose time will tell how long it will last.. Not had rain yet to check for leaks????
Hindsight is a wonderful thing and if I had read the bad reviews about this company then I wouldn't have ordered it..

If I could give no star I would rude customer service... no organisation late with delivery had to call various of times and then sent the wrong item to boot I have now managed to return the item but will never purchase ever from them again

Fantastic Service! I've had my shed about 15 years. We dismantled it when we moved house, and found that we'd lost a few parts when we came to reassemble. Phoned their help desk, who sent me replacement parts FREE.

These reviews on here about holes not lining up are rubbish, they've clearly not followed the instructions. You mustn't fully tighten the screws until all panels are in place, so you can manipulate them, then go round and tighten them all at the end.

Great Shed, would definitely buy another if I needed more space, and recommend to everyone.

Yardmaster 10ftx13ft shed

Not worth 1 star

Terrible customer service

Poor quality product, takes hours to assemble and then it cannot stand up to any adverse weather conditions

Do NOT waste your money, because if anything goes wrong, you won't get it back.

Now that my 10x6 shiplap shed is up I’m quite happy with it, it looks good and feels quite solid once built. Would I trust really valuable tools, bikes etc? No. But it’s a fairly cheap option for a shed. As many others have said, the build is extremely frustrating. Beforehand I watched numerous YouTube videos and familiarised myself with the instructions but it took me a good deal longer than planned. Much of the time spent is trying to decipher the instructions which are awful (and contradict Yardmaster’s videos). Some tips when building:
* get 2 people if possible, this is a must when lifting the roof on but would really help as the material is so thin
* if you have room lay all related parts out and organised according to section
* complete the entire roof build then lift on, don’t build the roof frame then try and fit panels etc from a ladder (as per written instructions)
* don’t tighten any screw until the whole section is complete, even then be prepared to have to loosen screws. The holes will line up but can take some effort
* I intend to replace wall panel screws with nuts/bolts as some screws don’t bite properly and pop out easily (not very secure)
* frustratingly some parts have more holes than are needed so don’t spend ages trying to figure out the instructions, just try and line up 2 parts by eye
* gloves are recommended but the screws and washers are tiny so prepare for multiple cut fingers
* roof screws will probably need replaced with something more substantial as don’t always bite too well either, also silicone to prevent water ingress