John Shields
John Shields of Shields Buildings
Specialising in garden buildings, Shields Buildings gave us an insight into their trade secrets...
Where are you based and how long have you been in business?
We’re just outside North Tawton, and we’ve been Shields Buildings since 1991, with our family farming the land around our display area for more than a hundred years.
What do you specialise in?
Garden buildings! Whether you want an office to work from home in, a studio to enjoy your hobbies, a garage to park your car, a shed to keep your tools, or a summerhouse to while away the golden hour, we craft them all, from scratch, right here in Devon.
How has the pandemic been for you?
We were unable to install any buildings for about three months, but we’ve been busy ever since. Working from home is now a lot more common, which means a lot more people needing dedicated spaces, so our offices are in high demand!
What’s the most unusual order you’ve ever specialised in?
We get all sorts of weird and wonderful requests, from man caves through to dog grooming parlours.
Because our buildings are bespoke, customers can pretty much have whatever they want, so whatever your needs, we can help.
What makes you different?
The Internet has brought a whole load of cheap garden buildings to the market, many of them constructed overseas and shipped in flatpack furniture boxes.
The problem there is that they don’t last any time at all, and they’re not customisable.
We take the raw materials, and handcraft every single building from the ground up, so you can be sure of the quality, and – of course – if there were ever any issues, we will fix them.
What is the most challenging aspect of your work?
The weather. The construction of our buildings begins in our workshop, and then we take the constructed panels to the customer and assemble them.
When it’s bucketing down with rain, it’s much harder than when it’s a beautiful sunny day
Can you describe a typical day?
A bit of everything really. We have a team in the workshop, creating the base materials for each building, and another team on the road that focuses on installation.
In the office, there are four of us taking orders, liaising with customers, and generally pushing things forward.
What’s the best way to get started if I want a garden building?
Pop in and have a look – we’ve got 15 display buildings on site at the farm, so you can get a feel for the kind of buildings we create. But remember, each one is bespoke, so you really can have whatever you want!