PRESS & NEWS

“I wanted to build something,” Jennifer Buck says. So she’s building a two-story, 2,000-square-foot home in Sharon, Connecticut — from a kit. “I’m going to be 48 years old. Before I get any older, I’m doing it,” she adds. Though Buck admits to one important weakness: “I’m awful at measuring.” You would think that’d be a deal breaker, she mentions with a laugh. Apparently not.

Since 1970, Shelter-Kit® has offered pre-cut custom post and beam barns and sheds for assembly by people like me—who have no prior building experience. (The company says women make up a large portion of its customers.) Versatile in appearance and function, the kit buildings can be used as storage, workshops, barns, pool houses, garages, garden sheds and hobby spaces. My dream is to build one as an office.

Recently, I heard about a New Hampshire company called Shelter-Kit® that sells DIY houses for “people who can’t even read blueprints.” Seeing myself in that description, I investigated. The company claimed that two amateurs could build its smallest model in just four days, without power tools.

Building [a cabin] yourself requires at least six months, a garage full of tools and serious skills… Or there’s Shelter-Kit®, which sells spartan, sturdy, pre-cut cabins that can be assembled in as little as a week by two people with no special skills or equipment.

Shelter-Kit® produces kit buildings for “assembly by owners” with no prior building experience. Perfect for folks like myself whose only construction until recently had been assembling IKEA shelves.

It’s the ultimate erector set for adults. Shelter-Kit® has designed affordable, build-it-yourself homes, barns, cabins and garages that combine sweat equity, simple instructions and quality materials. And the kits don’t require cranes or power tools to assemble.

Lizzie Pickard and Daniel Cogan built their house from a $45,000 kit— and bought themselves the freedom to customize every detail.

Tired of having to accept the cookie-cutter homes that developers push your way? Want to get your hands dirty and perhaps raise your own roof? A kit home could be for you.

Let me introduce you to Shelter-Kit®, a New Hampshire-based firm that’s had a formidable presence in the kit home building industry. They’ve teamed up with TimberLogic LLC, a Certified Green Professional company, to give inherently greener kit homes even more eco-appeal.

Shelter-Kit’s do-it-yourself approach allows owners to build their own structure with the use of straightforward, step-by-step directions. No prior carpentry skills are needed. Quality hand-selected materials arrive at the site ready for assembly. Shelter-Kit® barns are available in widths ranging from 16 to 36 feet and lengths of 16 to 64 feet and can be customized to meet additional needs.

New England Cable News Reporter Lauren Collins visited our office and factory to learn more about our unique kits. Shelter-Kit® owner Dave Kimball talked with Lauren about our house, cabin, barn and garage kits, and explained why they are a great solution for amateur builders who want to assemble their own building. Lauren also visited a Shelter-Kit® Barn House, and talked with the owner about his experience building his own home.

You could say Shelter-Kit® and other do-it-yourself home building businesses are great-grandchildren of the Sears Home kits that hit the market more than 100 years ago… Shelter-Kit® makes four basic building styles, but allows for customization, according to Dave Kimball, owner of the NH-based company.

You’ve heard of Ikea before, where not-so-handy folks can and do successfully build do-it-yourself furniture? Shelter-Kit® takes the DIY concept to the next level. The N.H.-based kit-home company creates barns, garages and even homes, all of which are engineered to exacting quality and precision specifications so that anyone (including you) can build their own structure.

Shelter-Kit® is a Tilton, N.H., company that precuts and drills lumber and hardware for post and beam building kits up to 36 ft. wide for do-it-yourselfers. “Everything is designed so that two people can handle all the material,” says David Kimball of Shelter-Kit. Shelter-Kit’s goal is to produce kit buildings for assembly by owners with no prior building experience. ​*Since this article first printed, Shelter-Kit® offices have relocated to Warner, New Hampshire.

Do-it-yourself kit-home manufacturer, Shelter-Kit, Inc., has launched a Green Home Kit that will allow customers the ability to be a part of a certified home project from the National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) National Green Building Certification Program (NGBP). The Tilton, NH, based kit-home company creates homes, barns and garages that anyone can build their own home. ​*Since this article first printed, Shelter-Kit® offices have relocated to Warner, New Hampshire.

You’ve heard of Ikea before, I’m sure… where not-so-handy folks can and do successfully build DIY-furniture. Well, Shelter-Kit® takes this DIY concept to the next level. The Tilton, NH based kit-home company creates barns, garages and even homes, all of which are engineered to exacting quality and precision specifications so that anyone (including you) can in fact, build their own structure. ​*Since this article first printed, Shelter-Kit® offices have relocated to Warner, New Hampshire.