Shed insurance

Looking for shed insurance in Australia? Get cover for the shed and the valuable stuff you keep in it.

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Product AUFHO Finder Score Is my shed covered? Accidental damage Tools of Trade
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Qantas Home and Contents Insurance
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Finder Score - Home and Contents Insurance

Each month, we get crunching on most every home insurance product in Australia to see how they stack up. We rank over 50 products on 16 different features, including price. We end up with a single score out of 10 that helps you compare home insurance a bit faster.

Read full Finder Score methodology

What is shed insurance?

Shed insurance covers your shed and the things you keep in it against damage or loss from a whole range of scenarios, including theft.

The good news is that most home, building and contents insurance policies treat sheds and other permanent outdoor structures – garages, pergolas, granny flats – like they're part of the home. This means that you can get the same levels and types of cover for your shed as you can for your main house.

Some policies will cover the shed itself, some just the things you keep in it, and some will cover the shed plus its contents.

How do I get shed insurance?

The first step is to include your shed and what's in it when you're tallying up your assets and choosing or tweaking your insurance policy. You'll have various home/building and contents insurance policies to pick from, and they'll cover your shed and its contents in various ways.

The policy that's right for you (and your shed) will depend on your situation. A suburban homeowner will have different needs to a renter who's using a landlord's shed for storage.

Why is it a good idea to get covered by home insurance?

  • When you crunch the numbers, the value of what's in your shed might surprise you. Lots of the things we tend to keep in sheds – vintage furniture, power tools, dusty sports equipment – can qualify as valuables.
  • If you're a homeowner, you might have invested heavily in your garden and the shed itself, and storm, tree and other structural damage can be a big expense.
  • Being outside and separate from the home can make your shed more vulnerable to break-ins, not to mention the elements.

What does shed insurance cover?

  • Home and building policies will cover the structure of the shed.
  • Contents policies will cover the things you keep inside the shed.
  • Combined home and contents policies can cover the shed as well as the things you keep in it.

Home/building and contents policies offer protection against damage or loss from a long list of insured events such as fires, floods, vandalism, storms and theft.

Contents insurance can cover a whole range of things that people might keep in a shed. You might want to look into extending or tailoring your basic contents coverage if:

  • You keep high-value items in your shed.
  • There are certain things (e.g. work tools) that you often take with you from the shed (portable contents insurance could help).
  • You only want to insure a few items in the shed (if so, consider single item insurance).

For any valuables that you're keeping in your shed, such as a ride-on mower or an expensive bike, check the upper limit that the policy pays out for these items. If the item's actual value exceeds the limit, then you can look into specified contents insurance as a way to increase the limit.

What doesn't it cover?

If you use your shed as part of your business or mainly for business purposes, your home and/or contents policy might not treat it as part of your home. Be sure to check this and ask about alternatives so your business won't affect your coverage.

FAQs

Here's the bottom line

When you're weighing up your assets and home insurance options, don't overlook your shed, where you'll often find more value than you'd think.

Jessica Prasida's headshot
Travel Insurance Expert

Jessica Prasida brings a decade of experience in the travel industry, including over four years as a travel agent and branch manager at STA Travel. She holds a Bachelor of Business and a Master of Marketing from the University of Technology, Sydney, as well as a Tier 1 General Insurance qualification that complies with ASIC guidelines. An avid traveller herself, Jessica combines her professional expertise with a passion for ensuring safe and enjoyable journeys for all travellers. Jessica was a Travel Insurance Publisher at Finder from 2019 to 2024. See full bio

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