Quick Answer: Cedarshed is a British Columbia maker of western red cedar shed kits with pre-built wall panels, cedar joists under plywood decking, three roofing options, and a one-year warranty, with Ranchers from 6 by 6 to 10 by 20 feet. It is a premium wood kit, and it is still wood.
In This Guide
- Where We Stand (Read This First)
- What Cedarshed Actually Is
- The Lineup, Decoded
- What Is in the Box, and What Is Not
- What a Cedarshed Is Genuinely Good At
- The Documented Trade-Offs
- Cedar in an Ontario Winter, and the Squirrel
- Cedarshed vs the Box-Store Kit vs a Sea Can
- Who Should Buy a Cedarshed
- Who Should Keep Shopping
- The Container You Would Buy Instead
- Cedarshed FAQs
Reading Time: 14 minutes
Where We Stand (Read This First)
This review is written by a shipping container yard in Brantford, Ontario. We are not affiliated with Cedarshed, we receive nothing from it or from any retailer that stocks it, and we sell the steel box a Cedarshed buyer might buy instead, which makes us a competitor and you should read every sentence knowing that. It also means we have no reason to flatter a wood kit and no honest room to knock a good one, and Cedarshed is a good one; the section on who should buy it says so plainly, because for a lot of Ontario backyards a cedar shed is the right purchase and a sea can is the wrong one.
Facts about Cedarshed were checked against cedarshed.ca, cedarshed.com and the Rancher product specification on September 11, 2026, and are attributed where it matters. We did not scrape customer reviews and we make no claims about how the company treats its buyers. If you arrived here from the wood sheds guide, this page is the brand-level version of its cedar chapter.
What Cedarshed Actually Is
Cedarshed is a Canadian manufacturer of pre-cut and panelized western red cedar outbuildings, founded in 1980 and now made at 20 Udy Place in Spallumcheen, British Columbia, in the North Okanagan. The company was acquired in June 2017 by CS Manufacturing Inc., which had been producing Cedarshed goods since 2011, so the brand and the factory have been under one roof for the better part of a decade. It describes itself as one of the largest specialty cedar product manufacturers in the world, sells through a Canadian site, an American site and a dealer program, and advertises free shipping. Everything it makes is western red cedar on the outside, which is the whole proposition: a naturally rot-resistant, aromatic, renewable softwood that weathers to grey if you let it and holds a finish if you do not.
For an Ontario buyer the practical shape is this: the kit is built in British Columbia, ships flat across the country, and arrives as pre-built wall panels and pre-cut parts that two people assemble on a base you have prepared. It is the panelized route among the four ways a wood shed arrives, sided in cedar over 2 by 3 spruce-pine-fir framing, where most kits are spruce inside and out.
The Lineup, Decoded
| Line | What it is | Sizes (as published) |
|---|---|---|
| Rancher | The storage shed; double door, one fixed window, optional 7-foot high wall | Eleven: 6×6, 6×9, 6×12, 8×8, 8×10, 8×12, 8×16, 10×10, 10×12, 10×16, 10×20 |
| Gardener | Smaller garden storage and potting sheds | Six designs, from about 6×6 |
| Longhouse | Double-door garden cottage with a longer wall of glazing | Five sizes |
| Bayside | Lean-to storage against a wall or fence, single or double door | Small footprints |
| Cabana | Pool-side change room and storage | 9×6 and larger |
| Sunhouse, Green Pod | Cedar greenhouses, from a 4×4 pod to a walk-in | 4×4 upward |
| Cedarhouse, Haida Cabin, Farmhouse, Ranchhouse, Boathouse, Bunkhouse, Hobbyhouse, Studio | Studios, cabins and larger outbuildings on the same cedar system | Model-specific |
| Pergolas | Open cedar frames | 8×8 and 10×10 |
The Rancher is the one most Ontario buyers mean when they say Cedarshed, and it is the one to size against a container: its largest, 10 by 20 feet, is 200 square feet, which is a 20-foot sea can’s floor plus a bit. Everything below it in the line is smaller than any container we sell, which is a fact about categories and the first honest thing to say in a comparison between the two.
What Is in the Box, and What Is Not
From the Rancher specification, because it is the most complete one Cedarshed publishes. The kit contains pre-cut 2 by 4 western red cedar floor joists with 5/8-inch plywood floor decking, which is worth reading twice because the floor is the part most wood kits leave out and the part most sheds die from. The walls arrive as pre-built panels that need no cutting, and the framing inside those panels and in the roof is 2 by 3 SPF, spruce-pine-fir, so the cedar is the siding, the trim and the floor joists rather than the whole skeleton. The roof is a choice of three: pre-shingled cedar, 26-gauge corrugated metal, or oriented strand board for you to finish. There is one fixed window with decorative shutters, a 60-inch-wide double door opening, and the assembly hardware and plans. The Canadian site’s line for the whole range is that kits come complete with floor, shingles and hardware.
What is not in the box is what is never in a shed box: the base. A Cedarshed sits on a level pad you build, gravel, patio stones, concrete or a treated-lumber frame, and a gravel pad done right is the same answer for a shed as for a container. Also yours: the stain or oil if you want the cedar to stay red rather than go silver, the padlock and hasp, any shelving, and the two people and the afternoon, or the twelve hours one customer reported for a 6 by 12 with the high-wall option. Cedarshed’s own guidance is that limited carpentry skills are recommended, which is honest and accurate.
What a Cedarshed Is Genuinely Good At
Strengths first, and they are real. The wood is the first: western red cedar is the outdoor softwood, resistant to rot and insects without treatment, and a cedar wall over a cedar joist on plywood decking is a better-specified shed than the thin spruce panels named as the category’s weak point in the thin-panel chapter. The floor included is the second, and it separates Cedarshed from most of the box-store aisle. The pre-built panels are the third: a kit that arrives as walls rather than as lumber is an afternoon instead of a weekend, and the three roofing choices let a buyer match the shed to the house. The looks are the fourth, and they matter in a backyard in a way they do not in a farmyard: a cedar shed with shutters and a shingled roof is the building people photograph, and it is the reason the brand sells through garden centres and Costco. Canadian manufacture and free shipping are the fifth and sixth, and for a buyer in Ontario the second of those is a real number on a kit that weighs what cedar weighs.
The Buyer It Was Built For
A homeowner with a level backyard, a few hundred square feet of garden tools, bikes and patio furniture to keep dry, a fence line the shed has to look good against, and a willingness to stain it every few years. For that buyer a Cedarshed Rancher or Gardener is the right category, and a steel container is the wrong one; we would say so on the phone, and the she-shed guide and the bike shed guide exist because we mean it.
The Documented Trade-Offs
With the source for each, because a review that stops at the strengths is a catalogue. The warranty is one year, limited, against defects in manufacturing and workmanship, with replacement parts shipped within ten business days if damage is reported within fourteen days of delivery; that is Cedarshed’s published term, and it is short against the multi-year limited warranties the resin makers reviewed on this site publish. Cedar is a finish-or-weather material: left alone it greys, which many buyers want, and it needs a coat of oil or stain every few years if they do not; the company’s own lifespan claim of fifteen to twenty years or more assumes that care. Assembly is real work, two people and a level base, and the high-wall option adds hours by customers’ own accounts. Security is a wood door with a hasp, which is the category’s honest limit rather than Cedarshed’s. And the kit ships from British Columbia, so a damaged or missing part is a courier conversation rather than a drive to the yard, which the fourteen-day reporting window in the warranty is written for.
None of that is a reason to avoid the brand. It is what a buyer should know before choosing between a cedar kit, a resin kit and a steel box, and the Keter findings, the Lifetime page and the Rubbermaid write-up carry the equivalent findings for the resin side.
Cedar in an Ontario Winter, and the Squirrel
Two things happen to a wood shed in this province that a British Columbia specification sheet does not have to think about. The first is the freeze-thaw cycle at the base: a shed on patio stones on unprepared ground heaves, the door racks, and the floor, however good, sits in the meltwater the pad holds. Cedar resists rot better than spruce, and the plywood decking under the cedar joists is the part that does not; the fix is the base, and the base is yours. The second is the animal. The photographs on our shed comparison, sent by Paul in September 2026 from an ordinary wood-framed garden shed, show what a squirrel does to sheathing when it decides the shed is a winter address, and cedar’s insect resistance is no help against teeth. A steel wall is the only wall a rodent does not open.
Snow is the third and it is fair to Cedarshed: a shingled cedar roof on a pitched frame sheds Ontario snow well, and the 26-gauge metal option sheds it better. The container shed versus traditional shed comparison runs the twenty-year cost-per-year window for both, and the container shed guide is what the steel answer looks like in a backyard rather than a farmyard.
Christian LeBlanc, Van Blanc: “Cedarshed is the one wood kit I don’t argue with. If someone calls about a 10 by 12 for the patio furniture and the bikes, and it’s going in a fenced yard in Ancaster where the neighbours can see it, I tell them to buy the cedar and stain it. The people we sell to instead are the ones who say the word ‘lock’ in the first minute, or whose shed is going on a lane out past the last streetlight. That’s a used 20-footer, and it’s the last shed they buy.”
Cedarshed vs the Box-Store Kit vs a Sea Can
| Cedarshed (cedar kit) | Box-store wood kit | 20 ft used sea can | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walls | Pre-built panels, western red cedar siding on 2 by 3 SPF framing | Spruce or engineered panels, often thin | Corrugated corten steel |
| Floor | Cedar joists, 5/8 in plywood, included | Frequently not included | Marine plywood on steel cross-members, included |
| Roof | Cedar shingle, 26-gauge metal or OSB, your choice | Usually OSB for you to shingle | Corrugated steel |
| Largest floor | 200 sq ft (10×20 Rancher) | Typically to about 12×16 | 160 sq ft; 320 in a 40-footer |
| Arrives | Flat-packed panels from BC, free shipping | Flat-packed from the store | Finished, on a tilt-deck, in one to three days |
| Assembly | Two people, an afternoon to a day | Two people, a weekend | None |
| Security | Wood door, hasp and padlock | Wood door, hasp and padlock | Steel cargo doors, four bars, lock box |
| Warranty | One year, limited | Varies by brand | Grade-inspected at the yard; no manufacturer warranty on a used unit |
| Care | Stain or oil every few years, or let it grey | Paint, and watch the base | Roof check, door gaskets; the rust checklist |
| Looks in a backyard | The best of the three | Fine | A steel box, unless painted or screened |
Read the last row as seriously as the security row, because it decides more backyard purchases than any spec. A container in a fenced suburban yard is a container; it can be painted a fence colour, fitted with a shrouded lock box and screened with cedar, but it does not become a garden building. The sea can versus storage shed comparison carries the cost-per-square-foot and lifespan arithmetic behind the table, and our grading system explains what “used, wind-and-watertight” means in the third column.
Who Should Buy a Cedarshed
Buy the Cedarshed if the shed lives in a residential backyard where it will be seen, the contents are garden and household rather than tools with resale value, the footprint is under about 200 square feet, you can build a proper base, and you will stain it or are happy to watch it grey. Within the wood category it is a better-specified kit than the aisle, the floor is in the box, and the cedar is the real thing. If the choice is between a Cedarshed and a thin-panel spruce kit at the same size, the cedar is the better purchase and the difference shows in year five.
Buy it for a greenhouse, too, where cedar’s rot resistance in a damp building is worth more than in a dry one; the container greenhouse guide is the steel version of that idea for a grower who needs a sealed, lit room rather than a glass house, and the two do not compete.
Who Should Keep Shopping
Keep shopping if security is the first word, if the shed is going on a rural lot, a farm lane or a job site, if the contents are a trade’s tools or a snowmobile, if the need is 200 square feet or more, if there is no one to build a base and assemble panels, or if the building has to be there this week. That buyer is a container buyer, and the honest version of that sentence is that a used 20-foot box, delivered finished and locked, costs less per square foot than a large cedar kit once the kit’s base and labour are counted, and outlasts it without a stain schedule. The Costco shed guide, the Home Depot aisle guide and the Canadian Tire write-up sort the retail aisle the same way, and the Rona and Lowe’s page covers the one big-box chain that installs.
The Container You Would Buy Instead
For the buyer in that second group, this is the section written from the yard. The shed answer is the standard twenty-footer: 160 square feet, corten walls and roof, a marine plywood floor over steel, double cargo doors with four locking bars, delivered finished on a tilt-deck and set on blocks or a gravel pad in an afternoon. Buy it used and wind-and-watertight from our used-container rows for a backyard or farm shed, or one-trip from the brand-new rows if it is going to be painted to match the house and fitted with a personnel door and a window at our conversion shop. Clip-on shelving bolts to the wall corrugations without drilling the skin, passive vents handle the condensation a sealed steel box makes, and the floor is replaceable if a used unit’s is tired.
Every container we sell is picked by a person and can be picked by you: drive to 90 Morton Avenue East, walk the rows with Paul or Christian, and choose the unit by its number before any money moves. Payment is on delivery, after you have seen the box on your ground. Delivery is by tilt-deck in one to three days to every corner of the province, the tilt-deck delivery explainer shows the sequence, and our site-prep write-up covers the pad and the straight run. Whether a container can sit on a given lot is your municipality’s call, so check with your local planning department before you order. What builds a container quote is on its own page. Everything is sold outright; Van Blanc keeps no rental fleet and does not lease.
Said the word “lock” already? Price the box once
Tell us the size, the grade you have in mind, and your postal code, and we will send an all-in number for the container delivered and placed, usually the same day. If your shed is really a cedar-in-the-backyard job, we will say so. Or walk the yard on Morton Avenue and pick the unit yourself.
If you are still deciding what kind of building the job needs, the shed-alternatives hub is the wider read, and the container reviews series hub lists every supplier we have looked at, ourselves included.
Cedarshed FAQs
Where are Cedarshed sheds made?
In Spallumcheen, British Columbia, in the North Okanagan, at a factory operated by CS Manufacturing Inc., which acquired the Cedarshed brand in June 2017 after producing its goods since 2011. The company was founded in 1980, sides and trims everything in western red cedar over 2 by 3 spruce-pine-fir framing, sells through Canadian and American sites and a dealer program, and ships kits flat with free shipping.
What sizes does the Cedarshed Rancher come in?
Eleven, as published: 6×6, 6×9, 6×12, 8×8, 8×10, 8×12, 8×16, 10×10, 10×12, 10×16 and 10×20 feet, with a 60-inch double door opening, one fixed window with shutters, and an optional 7-foot high wall. The 10×20 is 200 square feet, which is a 20-foot shipping container’s floor plus a little; every other Rancher is smaller than any container.
Does the Cedarshed kit include the floor?
Yes. The Rancher kit includes pre-cut 2 by 4 western red cedar floor joists with 5/8-inch plywood decking, and Cedarshed’s Canadian site says its kits come complete with floor, shingles and hardware. The base under the floor, gravel, patio stones or a treated frame, is yours to build and level, and it is the part that decides how long any wood shed lasts.
How long does a Cedarshed last?
Cedarshed’s own figure is fifteen to twenty years or more, which assumes a level, drained base and a coat of oil or stain every few years if you want the cedar to keep its colour. Western red cedar resists rot and insects better than the spruce in most kits; the plywood decking and the base are the parts to watch. The published warranty is one year, limited, on parts and workmanship.
How hard is a Cedarshed to assemble?
The walls arrive as pre-built panels that need no cutting, so it is easier than a lumber kit; Cedarshed recommends limited carpentry skills, and customers report two people finishing in an afternoon for a small unit and about twelve hours for a 6 by 12 with the high-wall option. You need a level base ready before the kit arrives and a second pair of hands for the panels and the roof.
Is Cedarshed worth it compared with a box-store shed?
Within the wood category, usually yes: the cedar walls, the included floor and the pre-built panels are a better specification than the thin spruce kits at similar sizes, and the difference shows after a few winters. Against a resin shed it trades a longer warranty for real wood and better looks; against a steel container it trades security, size and zero assembly for a building that belongs in a garden.
Is a shipping container cheaper than a Cedarshed?
At the top of the Rancher range, once the base, the stain and the assembly are counted, a used 20-foot container delivered finished usually costs less per square foot, locks properly, and needs no maintenance schedule; below about 100 square feet the cedar kit is the cheaper and better-looking building. Get both numbers for your postal code and decide on security and looks rather than on price alone.
Sources
- Cedarshed Canada. (2026). About Us. cedarshed.ca
- Cedarshed Canada. (2026). Garden Sheds, Cedar Kits, Storage Sheds. cedarshed.ca
- Cedarshed. (2026). Rancher Sheds: Large Wooden Sheds, Lawn Mower & Motorcycle Storage Shed Kits. cedarshed.com
- Cedarshed. (2026). Garden Sheds, Cedar Kits, Storage Sheds, Red Cedar Buildings. cedarshed.com
- Van Blanc Ent. Inc. (2026). Sea Can vs Storage Shed: squirrel damage photographs, September 2026. vbinc.ca
Reach Van Blanc in Brantford
We have been supplying shipping containers across Ontario since 1995. Our yard is at 90 Morton Avenue East in Brantford, and we deliver right across the province with payment on the day of delivery. No deposit, no upfront wires, no chase-the-paperwork.
Van Blanc Ent. Inc., 90 Morton Ave E Unit 1B, Brantford, ON N3R 7J7, 519-754-6844 (cell) or 1-888-509-6658 (toll-free).
If the shed job turned into a steel job somewhere in this page, call with the size and your postal code and we will tell you on the spot what is in used stock and when it can land. Worth the drive for unbeatable quality, family customer service with 30 years of experience.