Design the ultimate caravan shed with shed designer.

What is a caravan shed?

A caravan shed is a steel-framed Australian shed built around the dimensions of a parked recreational vehicle, with the door height, eave height and length to roll a tourer, a 5th wheeler or a toy hauler in and out without scraping the roof or jack-knifing on the drawbar. Different brief from a residential garage. The job here is clearance, drive-through height and a slab that does not pit under jockey wheels and corner stabilisers. Get those right and your van keeps its resale value through a decade of summers.

ShedDesigner's caravan shed templates run from a 9 by 4 metre single-bay garage for a 4.9 metre pop-top through a 12 by 5 metre single-bay for a 6.7 metre full-height tourer, and step up to a 14 by 6 metre 4.5 metre eave build for a 5th wheeler with the goose ladder still up. Each template uses 100% Australian-made BlueScope steel and Colorbond® cladding, engineered to AS/NZS 1170.2 wind loading for the actual region (Standards Australia, AS/NZS 1170.2:2021 Structural design actions, Part 2: Wind actions). Pick the closest template, set your dimensions, then submit your design once for free comparable quotes from ShedSafe accredited dealers in your region.

Sizing the shed by caravan length

Start with the van and work outwards. The Caravan Industry Association of Australia recorded a national fleet of more than 850,000 registered RVs in 2024, with the average new tourer running 5.8 to 6.7 metres in body length on the drawing board (Caravan Industry Association of Australia, State of the Industry Report 2024).

• Pop-top, 4.9 to 5.5 metre body. 9 by 4 metre internal floor, 3.0 metre eave is the working minimum. Add a 1.2 to 1.5 metre A-frame drawbar.
• Full-height tourer, 5.8 to 6.1 metre body. 10 by 4.5 metre internal, 3.3 metre eave, plus drawbar. The most common Australian build.
• Luxury tourer, 6.7 to 7.3 metre body. 12 by 5 metre internal, 3.6 metre eave. Twin axles, washing machine, ensuite, plus drawbar. Plan for a 600 to 800mm air-conditioner box on the roof.
• 5th wheeler or toy hauler, 7.6 metre plus body. 14 by 6 metre internal, 4.2 to 4.5 metre eave. The goose ladder, raised front bunk and ute deck push the door height past anything standard.

Add 800mm of standing room behind the rear bumper for accessing the spare wheel, and 600mm down each side for the awning arm and slide-out clearance.

Door height, drawbar and the antenna trap

The single most common caravan shed mistake is buying off van body height instead of true drive-through clearance.

A standard 6 metre tourer measures around 2.7 to 2.9 metres external height before you add the air-conditioner box (Jayco, Journey Outback specifications). The roller door drum sits about 400 to 600 mm above the daylight opening, so a 3.0 metre roller door in a 3.0 metre eave shed delivers around 2.4 metres of drive-through clearance. That is too tight for almost every full-height van.

The maths runs: van external height + air-con box (200 mm) + door drum (500 mm) + safety margin (200 mm) = the eave you actually need. For a 2.9 metre tourer, that is a 3.6 metre eave. Step to 4.2 metres for a 5th wheeler with the ladder still up.

Plan the door width too. A van runs 2.3 to 2.5 metres wide, plus mirrors. Fit a 3.6 metre wide roller door minimum to reverse in without clipping the sides. Wider for 5th wheelers towing a ute with bull bars.

Slab, power and security

Three trade-offs worth getting right at design time.

Slab vs gravel. A reinforced 125 mm slab to AS 2870 Residential slabs and footings is the long-term answer. The slab stops jockey wheels pitting, makes wash-down practical, and lets you bolt down a tool cabinet or a security bollard. Compacted road base is cheaper and drains, but it pits under corner stabilisers and traps the silicone seals under the van.

Power for AGM and house batteries. A 240 volt 15 amp outlet on a dedicated circuit lets you trickle-charge the house battery bank through the off-season. AGM and lithium banks both prefer a slow float charge over months of storage to long, deep recovery cycles in the season. An A-grade electrician sizes the rough-in to AS/NZS 3000:2018 Electrical installations (Wiring Rules) (Standards Australia) before the slab pour.

Security door and ventilation. A heavy-duty steel personal access door with a five-pin deadlock is the baseline. Two whirlybird vents stop the trapped Australian summer heat from drying out vinyl seals, decals and tyre walls.

Before you get quotes

A van is a $50,000 to $200,000 asset that lives outdoors most of its life. Putting a roof over it pays back through resale alone.

100% Australian-made BlueScope steel. Across structural framing and Colorbond® cladding. BlueScope's COLORBOND® steel cladding for sheds and garages carries a warranty of up to 15 years against corrosion to perforation, with the exact period set by location and application (BlueScope, Garages & Sheds Warranty). Check your build on BlueScope's online warranty estimator. The shed will outlast two upgrade cycles on the van.

ShedSafe accredited dealers, no exceptions. Every dealer on ShedDesigner is ShedSafe accredited under the Australian Steel Institute programme, which independently verifies dealer engineering against AS/NZS 1170.2 and the National Construction Code (Australian Steel Institute, ShedSafe Accreditation Programme).

Insurance and security upside. The Insurance Council of Australia's 2024 catastrophe report puts hail and storm at the top of motor insurance loss drivers, and Australian RV insurers (CIL, Ken Tame, NRMA) routinely reduce annual cost when a van is stored undercover and behind a locked door (CIL Insurance, Caravan insurance). Theft, hail and UV claims drop when the van lives inside.

One design, multiple quotes. Your design goes out to dealers covering your region. Every quote prices the same caravan shed, in the same steel, to the same engineering, to the same eave height, so the quotes you get back are directly comparable.

For lower-vehicle storage, see boat sheds. For a smaller motorhome footprint, see campervan shed. For a residential garage that fits one van alongside the cars, see triple garages. Browse the broader sheds category for related layouts.