Frequent Asked Questions

What structural material frames can I use with Shedmate?

Shedmate is very flexible about the materials you can use. The items below apply to all plans except Shedmate Lite and engineering services, in which only the frames with a underline apply.

Structural Elements

• Columns and Rafters: Cold Formed profiles, SHS, RHS, UB, UC, Web Trusses.
• Purlins and Girts: TH, Zeds (Z), C-Section frames, SHS and RHS.
• Bracing: Straps, ROD, EA, Structural Cable.
• Footings: Round Concrete Footings (Piers) and square footings. 
• Other: Fly Bracings, Apex and Knee Bracing, Mullions, Fascia, Concrete Mesh and Resistance Definition, Purlin and Girt bridgings (Zeds), etc.

What openings and accessories can I add to a Shed using Shedmate?

On walls

• Doors (PA, Roller Doors, Sectional Doors, Sliding Panel Doors and Glass Doors)
• Windows.
• Bay Openings.
• Skylight, Downpipes, Internal Walls.

On roof

• Skylights, Roof Vents (Spin Away/Whirlybird).

On Shed

• Concrete Slab, Concrete Aprons, Awnings, Mezzanines, Multiple Insulation and Cladding types.

Could Shedmate send me a material list to give to our steel supplier? Once we have all the pricing we need, can we insert it into the program?

Yes, you can. The instant quoting system lets you input your custom pricing details and calculations in Shedmate, including Labour costs, concreting and administrative fees (using formulas or fixed-rate prices). The quoting B.O.M can be tailored to your company rules and exported. You can buy materials from anyone, but if you use our engineering, you must comply with our standard bracket connection details. Please be aware that while shedmate helps you with procurement documentation, your business is responsible for the ordering, as we do not provide material supply. 

Who is Shedmates most prominent Roll Forming partner?

We are an independent software company, and you can use any Roll-Forming partner in the market. Shedmate automatically produces Frame Fabrication details, but your business decides who to go with for the ordering process.

Can we purchase through Shedmate and use your price file?

Shedmate does not sell you Shed Kits or materials. We offer you a software as a service to empower you to design, quote, engineer and order materials from anyone in the market. Under the Shedmate Lite Plan, you can become an independent seller of Shed Kits. Shedmate provides you with Engineering Certification services (fees apply per project) and bracket designs that you can buy from any manufacturer. It is important that you have experience ordering Sheds, as we do not do this for you.

Can I use my Engineering historical database with Shedmate to produce quotations?

Yes, absolutely (If you are a Standard or Enterprise Customer). In Shedmate, you can import your engineering library via Excel if you have one. The system is in Beta now, and I will look in the library for the most appropriate engineering report. The user can confirm the replacement of all frames to suit your preliminary engineering. Although it is becoming less and less usual due to site-specific requirements from councils and private certifiers, Shedmate allows you to do it if you are a Shedmate Standard user. However, remember we don't have any liability regarding your engineering usage. If you are a Shedmate Lite user, you must use our engineering and pay per project as you sell sheds.

How does the system work regarding wind design and engineering compliance for cold formed sheds?

Shedmate (Pay As You Go) has an advanced engineering analysis system that can be used to check site-specific wind forces and the impact of the structural loads on every structural frame of your project. Once you are ready to order your engineering report, an engineer from our team will review the analysis and ensure everything complies with the standards. At the end, you will receive all the documentation you need, including:

•  Standard Connection Details.
•  Certificate of Compliance for your State.
•  Engineering report with a summary of calculations.
•  Signed Architectural Plans.
•  Wind Report.
•  Engineering Drawings.

We do not offer engineering certification for Structural Steel Sheds with UB, UC, and Web Trusses. You can use our Lookup Engineering tool to include your own preliminary engineering range and sizes for quoting of Structural Steel purposes, but you are required to sort our engineering for your Shed.

What are the design limits for span, height and bay sizing?

Shedmate designer can work independently from our engineering system to provide less restrictions for quotation and documentation. Limitations are listed below

There are other quoting systems in the market that generally tie you to their own manufacturers. Shedmate is an independent business, our goal is to provide you with the tools to grow your company as you want. By having BIM as our backbone, we can go a lot further than most competitors due to our flexibility to make adjustments. This made it possible to design our ordering system, automatically product construction documentation, include a Bill of Materials in real time, and export files to native CAD/BIM systems. With our easy to use solutions, anyone can create construction plans, engineer and quote a steel shed project in minutes, from any device ready for fabrication and integration with CAD/BIM professional design software. Have you received a better offer from a competitor? Talk to us and we will provide you with a better deal!

SOFTWARE PRICING AND ONBOARDING

How does the pricing work?

Shedmate offers its licensing through a monthly subscription (no locked-in contracts) with four main plans to choose from:

1.  Lead Generator - $299/mo.
2.  Shedmate Lite (Lead Generator, Site Plan, Quoting and PAYG Engineering - This plan required you to use our bracket design and construction method and buy engineering from us) - $599/mo. + Engineering Certificates per project.
3.  Shedmate Standard - $2499/mo.
4.  Enterprise - (TBC - Only valid for existing users)

Shedmate also offers a 21-day peace of mind guarantee. If you try Shedmate and decide it is not the right system for your business, we will give you your money back, no questions asked.

How many people can use Shedmate?

All our plans come with a standard package of 3 users. New users can be purchased at $250/mo/user. For companies with more than ten users, it is more cost-effective to subscribe to an Enterprise plan. (Talk to Sales)

How does the onboarding process work?

Once you sign up for Shedmate, our team will prepare your company environment based on your company rules. This generally takes 2-3 days. We will then set up samples of our pricing databases and quoting templates you can modify. The login details will be e-mail to company contacts, and then you can start using Shedmate from any computer, tablet or phone with Google Chrome. We ask every company to review the Setting up Shedmate section on our Resource Centre to ensure you have a good onboarding process.

In this section, you will get everything you need to

•  Define Company Rules
•  Configure Shed Presets (Templates to speed up the game)
•  Modify Templates for Quotes, Contracts, etc
•  Setup Costing Database & Pricing Calculations

Can I setup my pricing rules myself? Can your team do it?

Yes, you can setup your pricing yourself by following our Setting up handout instructions or by watching our video tutorials. We recommend that someone from your company is involved in doing this process but if your company needs assistance, our pricing experts are available for a service fee (generally $100/hr.), billed fortnightly.

How much does it cost to do custom development? How long does it take your team to deliver it?

Due to limitations on our development and engineering teams, we only offer custom development to existing Enterprise customers. If you are an existing client and need a quote for custom development, please talk to your customer success agent. We can not estimate a timeframe without assessing your needs in detail. If you are a new customer, please subscribe to one of our plans and then you can request an assessment from our team.

SETTING UP MY MATERIAL PRICING

Can I have different pricing databases in Shedmate?

Yes. You can create as many pricing databases as you want and assign those to specific project quotes by creating new quoting versions of the same project. You might have a database for a region of the country, other databases for different suppliers, etc.

ENGINEERING/SHED SPECIFICATIONS

Does Shedmate have a choice of columns base connections

Shedmate uses bolt-down above slab U Brackets by default. We don't do Angle Connection Brackets at this point. Embedded brackets could be used, but we would need to set this up for the company, which would require custom development. At the moment, our waiting list for any custom development is 4 months.

Does Shedmate offer an override for Knee and Apex Brackets

Shedmate uses specific Knee/Haunch and Apex Brackets that comply with our automatic engineering. We have done custom bracket certification based on customer demand in the past, but this takes a while to sort out with engineers and would fall into custom development, so we are not offering it at this time.

Does Shedmate have options for Internal and no internal pressure?

Our engineering system calculates fully opened and Fully Enclosed Sheds. For partially opened sheds, we are currently developing a system that will work with internal pressure calculations, wind tunnels, and other structural regulations to guarantee compliance with all rules. We can still offer partially opened shed engineering certificates, but this process is done manually by our engineers, which takes longer than the 2-day average for fully opened or fully enclosed Sheds.

Can we offer clients Extended side and gable eaves?

Shedmate can model, quote and document side eaves, but we don't have engineering and connections for it yet. 

What Class of buildings does the engineering cover?

We currently do class 10 and 8.

Can I add my own connection, cleats and fabrication details?

You must use Shedmate's standards for Lead Generator and Shedmate Lite.

Clients from Shedmate Standard and Enterprise can request custom development to add connections, cleats, and fabrication details to our bracket designer.

Does the system run back to back column and rafters as well as knee and apex ties?

Yes, you can easily enable back-to-back columns and rafter, as well as knee and apex bracings, directly on our shed designer. However, back-to-back isn't applicable for Shedmate Lite customers due to engineering limitations.

Is your fixed frame designed as a welded connection?

Shedmate supports only bracket connections for fabrication and ordering purposes. Welded plate workflows can still benefit, but an export to Tekla or Advance steel is needed.

Can we add other sheeting and gutter profiles?

Yes, we can do any custom development on demand.