About Auto Shed Plans

Auto Shed Plans is a free website for farmers and landowners who want to put up a new agricultural building and need drawings and paperwork to go with it.

Who makes it

The site is made by an independent individual in Devon, UK, not by a company, architect or planning consultancy. It is one of a small family of free tools by the same person, alongside Model my Property and Auto Field Maps.

What it does

You find your farm by postcode or address, and an aerial photo loads at true scale. You draw the new building on the photo, then choose a style: general purpose barn, machinery store, hay and straw barn, livestock building, grain store, farm workshop, stables or lean-to. The frame, bays and heights are set to suit, and you pick the walls, cladding, colour and roof, then add doors and windows.

From that one drawing the site makes elevations, a roof plan, a 3D model you can walk round (and, on a phone, see in the field through the camera), A3 planning sheets, a check against the agricultural prior approval rules (Part 6, Classes A and B), an editable supporting statement you can download as Word, and construction sheets with a Building Regulations exemption check, a frame section, a foundation layout and quantities. The how it works page goes through each step.

It is meant for farmers, smallholders and landowners working out what they can build, and for getting a clear starting point before talking to the council, a building supplier or a consultant. The planning and building regulations checks follow the published rules for England.

Why it is free

There is nothing to pay and no account to make. The site is paid for by adverts from Google AdSense, shown on these pages. The privacy policy explains how the adverts and their cookies work.

Your plans stay with you

Your plan is saved in your own browser so it is there when you come back. It is not sent to us, and plans or pictures you upload are read in your browser too. When you look up your farm, only the postcode or place you type, or the map area being shown, goes to the map services listed below. Your drawings only leave your device when you print, download or send them yourself.

Where the data comes from

Aerial photos: Esri World Imagery (Esri, Maxar, Earthstar Geographics and the GIS user community).
Roads, buildings and airfields near the site, and address search: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), through the Overpass and Nominatim services.
Postcodes and councils: postcodes.io.
The shape of the ground in the 3D view, when you turn it on: the Environment Agency's 1 m lidar in England, or open Terrarium elevation tiles elsewhere.

Limits

A guide only. Everything is produced automatically and has not been checked by an architect, surveyor or engineer. Sizes and distances from the aerial photo and OpenStreetMap are approximate, and the planning checks are guidance, not a decision: only your council can confirm what you need. Have the drawings checked by a planning consultant or agricultural surveyor, and the frame and foundations by the building supplier's engineer, before you apply or build. It is not professional advice. The full terms are on the terms of use page.

Contact

Questions, mistakes you have spotted, or ideas for the site are very welcome. Email [email protected]. Please don't send personal or sensitive documents. This is a one-person project, so planning or engineering advice for your own site can't be given.

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