Home / Custom Storage Sheds in San Diego, CA
Custom Storage Sheds in San Diego, CA
Licensed General Contractor · Bonded & Insured · CSLB #1033958
The number that matters
120 sq ft
Under it, generally no building permit
How it is built
Framed on site
Real stud walls, not a flat-pack box
Held off the dirt
Piers or skids
Pressure-treated at grade, air underneath
Framing classification
C-5 licensed
Lic. #1033958 — family-owned since 2017
Custom storage sheds in San Diego County
One number decides most of your shed
A hundred and twenty square feet. Under that, a detached one-story accessory building generally does not need a building permit — which is exactly why so many sheds end up at 10×12 or 11×11. Over it, you are into plans, plan review, and inspections. That one line moves your timeline, your cost, and sometimes where on the lot the thing can go.
Almost nobody tells you this before you are already attached to a size. We will tell you at the walkthrough. If a permit-exempt shed does what you need, we will build you the biggest, best-built one that stays under the line. If what you actually want is a workshop with power and a window, we will say so and pull the permit properly. Setbacks, height limits, easements and HOA rules apply either way, and electrical or plumbing run out to a shed needs a permit no matter how small the building is.
GC Framing is a licensed California framing and rough carpentry contractor (CA Lic. #1033958, C-5) and holds the general building classification, family-owned in Chula Vista since 2017. We frame houses. A shed is the same carpentry at a size where every cut is visible — so it gets a real foundation, real stud walls, a real roof, and siding and trim specified to match your house instead of approximately resembling it.
What people actually build
Same carpentry, six different jobs
What you plan to put in it changes the framing, the door, the floor, and whether it needs power — so it is the first thing we ask.
Garden & tool storage
The honest original. Mower, wheelbarrow, bags of soil, long-handled tools and the things currently taking up half the garage. Wide doors, a floor you can roll onto, and shelving and hooks framed in from the start.
Workshop & hobby space
A bench, a dust-making machine or two, and somewhere the noise is not in the house. Framed for the outlets and lighting you will actually plug into, insulated, and built to take being worked in rather than just stored in.
A room at the end of the yard
Studio, practice room, quiet office, or somewhere the teenager can be loud. Windows or a skylight for real daylight, insulation, and rough-in for power and a data line. This one is almost always a permitted build — we will explain why before you fall in love with it.
Bikes, boards & gear
Bikes, surfboards, camping bins, kayaks — the stuff that is too valuable to leave out and too awkward to keep inside. A ramp or a low sill, a door that takes a real lock, and hanging storage framed to the sizes you own.
Poolside & pool house
Pump and chemical storage kept out of the sun, towels and floats out of the living room, and somewhere to change. Rough-in for a sink where it makes sense, and finishes chosen for chlorine, splash and full afternoon exposure.
You already bought a kit
Plenty of people order a kit and then discover it needs a level, square, properly drained foundation it did not come with. We will build that, assemble the kit the way the instructions actually intend, and flash and fasten it so it lasts.
How a shed gets built
Five steps, and the first one saves the most money
A simple permit-exempt shed moves quickly. A permitted one is mostly waiting on plan review, not on carpentry — so we start that clock early.
Walk the yard
We look at access, slope, drainage, setbacks, easements, and where the sun and the neighbours are. Then we tell you which sizes keep you under the permit line and what a permit would add if you go bigger.
Design & written quote
Size, door and window placement, roof pitch, siding, trim, color, and what gets roughed in. You get the whole thing in writing — materials named, itemized — before anybody buys lumber.
Permit, if it needs one
Over 120 square feet, or power or plumbing going out to it, and we handle the plans, the submittal, and the inspections. Under the line with no utilities, we skip straight to building.
Foundation & frame
Piers and footings, treated skids, or your existing pad. Then pressure-treated at grade, framed floor, stud walls, rafters or trusses, sheathing, house wrap, and a dry roof — usually in one push.
Finish & hand over
Siding, trim, roofing, doors, windows, hardware, and any insulation or rough-in. Site cleared, scraps hauled, and a walk with you before the final invoice.
In every shed we build
The details that decide whether it lasts
Construction & options
What it is made of, and what can go in it
Two lists worth reading before you compare us to a big-box kit: how the building is actually put together, and how far you can take it.
How it is built
Options we rough in
Anything electrical or plumbed running out to a shed requires a permit regardless of the building’s size — so if any of these are on your list, tell us at the walkthrough, not after the walls are up.
Foundation & siting
Sheds fail from the bottom up
Almost every dead shed in this county died the same way: wood sitting on dirt, water with nowhere to go, and nobody looking underneath for six years.
Piers & footings
Concrete piers on footings, the floor framed above them, and open air underneath. The most forgiving option on a yard that slopes, and the easiest to inspect in ten years’ time.
Treated skids
Pressure-treated runners on a prepared, drained base. Quick, economical, and the right answer for a straightforward storage shed on reasonably flat ground.
Your existing slab
Already have a pad where the old shed was? If it is sound, level and drains away from the building, we will build on it — with treated plate and a capillary break between concrete and wood.
Water goes away from it
Where the roof sheds, where the ground slopes, and where the sprinklers actually spray. A shed downhill of a lawn line is a shed that stays wet, and staying wet is what rots a sill plate.
Termites are our other business
We partner with GC Termite Control. So the detail nobody else on your quote list is thinking about — treated wood at grade, no wood-to-soil contact, air and access underneath — is the detail we are unusually careful about.
Setbacks before sizes
Property lines, easements, side-yard clearance, height limits, and HOA rules narrow the options before square footage does. We check them at the walkthrough so the design starts from what is actually allowed.
Materials & finishes
Specified in the quote, so you know what you bought
Framing lumber and pressure-treated at grade, plywood or OSB sheathing, house wrap, and a roof in composition shingle or metal. Siding to match the house — stucco, T1-11, lap, board and batten, or fiber cement. Simpson connectors and hardware, exterior-rated fasteners, and metal flashing at every edge and opening. Then finished in the same contractor-grade paints and stains we use on house exteriors, so the shed weathers like the house instead of ahead of it.
Why site-built beats a box
A kit has to fit on a pallet, so it is sized for shipping rather than for your yard, your door widths, or your roof pitch. Building it on site means the dimensions come from what has to go inside, the roof matches your house, and the framing can carry shelves, a bench, or a bike rack. It also means anything found in the ground on day one — drainage, a sprinkler line, a rotted old pad — gets solved rather than built over.
Common questions
What people ask before they call
Do I need a permit?
As a rule of thumb, a detached one-story accessory building of 120 square feet or less does not need a building permit — which is why sheds cluster around 10×12. Over that, it does. Setbacks, height limits and HOA rules apply either way, and any power or plumbing run out needs a permit regardless of size.
How long does it take?
The carpentry is the short part. A permit-exempt storage shed is a quick, continuous build once materials land. A permitted one is mostly waiting on plan review, so we start that clock as early as possible and give you a real calendar, not an optimistic one.
What will it cost?
Too many variables to post a number honestly — size, foundation, siding, roofing, windows, whether it needs power, and what the yard is like to work in. The walkthrough and the written itemized quote are free, and the quote is broken out so you can see what each choice costs.
I bought a kit. Will you build it?
Yes. We will build it a level, drained foundation, assemble it the way the instructions intend, and flash and fasten it properly. The foundation is usually what the kit did not include and what decides how long it lasts.
Can it have power and a sink?
Yes. We frame, block, and rough in for outlets, lighting, data and a sink, and insulate and window it. A licensed electrician does the electrical; plumbing is under our own C-36. Both need a permit, whatever the shed’s size.
Can you match my house?
That is most of the reason to build on site. Roof pitch, siding profile, trim, door style, window placement and color are all yours to choose — and because we also side and paint, the match is specified rather than approximated.
Where we work
The whole county, plus the mountain
Based in Chula Vista and building sheds across San Diego County — South Bay, the city, East County, and North County coastal and inland — plus cabins and yards up in Big Bear, where snow load and freeze change how a shed gets built. Not sure you are in range? Call and ask; the answer is usually yes.
South Bay
Chula Vista · Bonita · National City · Imperial Beach · San Ysidro · Otay Mesa
City of San Diego
San Diego · Clairemont · Mira Mesa · Miramar
East County
La Mesa · Lemon Grove · El Cajon · Santee · Alpine · Poway
North County
Del Mar · Rancho Santa Fe · Encinitas · Cardiff by the Sea · Carlsbad · Oceanside · Vista · San Marcos · Escondido
Get a free quote
Tell us what has to fit inside
Not the size — the contents. A mower and a wheelbarrow, four bikes and a surfboard, a workbench and a table saw. Work backwards from that and the shed comes out the right size the first time. We walk the yard, check the setbacks, and put the design, the materials, and the price in writing at no cost.
Already have a size in mind, or a kit sitting in boxes in the garage? Say so in the form and we will tell you straight away whether it works where you want it.