We bought our house last November knowing it had a few faults, not the least of which was one huge inconvenience: no storage for tools and yard equipment.

An outdoor shed was going to be the first priority, and midway through January — when the holidays were over and the guests had gone — we set about deciding where to put it. In February we finally picked a spot and determined how big the shed would be.

By March I had a design and was ready to get started.

Home improvement projects, I have learned from experience, usually take at least twice as long as I predict. So, allowing for optimism, I figured that by the end of April or early May I would be finished.

But my simple plan to build a small, wooden tool shed became a complicated tale of slow work, delays, interruptions and, of course, the vagaries of the South Florida wet season.

It wasn’t until the third week of June that I nailed down the last roof shingle, got a padlock for the door and, seven months after moving into the house, cleared the junk off the back porch and restored the view of our cherished, majestic oak trees.

The project was not without its triumphs along the way. The design was approved by the Broward County Building Department without corrections and it passed every inspection, albeit with the addition of some extra hurricane protection.

It also was not without some hitches. Getting the building permit was an almost laughable exercise in bureaucratic mumbo jumbo that caused a two-week delay. And setback requirements forced a slight change in placement of the structure.

Overall, I learned some valuable lessons about permits, inspections, setbacks, wind protection and, most of all, patience.

Probably the most difficult decision was where to put the shed. Where would it be the most useful and least obtrusive?

We have an L-shaped house that, because of the trees, sits at a slight angle on a rectangular lot. We didn’t want to clutter the backyard view so finally settled on the side yard, which is partially hidden from the street and already accommodates the air conditioner and utilities.

Broward County setback rules require that free-standing sheds be at least 10 feet from the house and 5 feet from the property line. That meant restricting the size to 6 feet by 10 feet and exercising great care in positioning it. Setback restrictions, which can vary from area to area, may be the single most important aspect of putting up an outdoor structure. You can’t pick up and move a concrete slab once you have poured it. And encroachment into a neighbor’s yard can cause, at best, bad relations and, at worst, legal problems.

It’s a good idea to talk to any neighbors affected before you begin work. When the code officer comes calling, in all likelihood it is because of a complaint from a neighbor.

If you aren’t sure where your property lines are, it would be wise to have a survey done. At the very least, locate the corner posts — you might have to dig — pull a string line across them and measure from that. Don’t forget about easements, either. In unincorporated Broward, the 5-foot setback rule applies to an easement, if there is one.

Check with your local zoning department about setback requirements, which, by the way, are established for fire safety.

BUILDING OR BUYING

The next decision was whether to build or buy.

We checked the usual sources for prefab metal kits, which come in a variety of sizes and prices from just over $100 to more than $500. But we could not find the size we needed.

We also checked two suppliers of pre-built sheds. One company did not use pressure-treated wood, so that was out. The other company could provide just about any size or style of shed, built entirely of pressure-treated lumber and delivered to the exact location. But prices started at $800, more than we wanted to spend.

We also saw an ad in a local flier offering to build sheds on site. Ego would not allow that.

But for those who don’t like the taste of sawdust or the rhythmic sound of bang, bang, bang, squish (when the 16-ounce hammer meets a fleshy thumb), pre- built sheds or kits are a nice alternative. And they’ll take less time.

In metal kits, you have the choice of aluminum or galvanized steel. Most come with a limited warranty against corrosion, but aluminum generally will last longer, at a higher cost.

Wood sheds built of pressure-treated lumber have a long life expectancy. I used pressure-treated wood for the framing; the siding is exterior textured plywood, commonly known as T-111, with 4-inch on-center grooves. It is not pressure treated, but I have treated it with a wood preservative, which will need to be repeated at regular intervals.

GETTING A PERMIT

Whether you are buying a kit or building your own shed, all cities and counties require that you have a permit. And there is great value in obtaining one. Because of the code requirements and the helpful advice I received from the building inspector, I know the job was done properly. More importantly, I think my neighbors feel reassured that, during the next big blow, a 2-by-4 won’t come crashing through their windows.

Just getting the permit was half the battle. The folks at the Broward County Planning Department and Building and Zoning were helpful, but the procedure is a lesson in bureaucracy. (I should note that all of my dealings with Broward County and private companies were as a homeowner. I did not represent myself as a newspaper reporter.)

Before finishing my plans, I called the county Building and Zoning office to ask about procedures and what I would need to provide for permit application. I also asked about basic code requirements. I was told I would need two copies of my property survey showing the location of the shed and two copies of the plans for the shed, drawn to scale in black ink. The plans would have to be detailed so that anyone could follow them.

As long as the size of the structure did not exceed 250 square feet (for residential projects), the drawings could be in my own hand. Otherwise I would have to provide drawings done by an architect.

I didn’t ask one very pertinent question, however: How long would it take to get approval?

I set out on a Monday, starting at the county Planning Department in downtown Fort Lauderdale. A worker at the counter looked over my papers, filled out a yellow form and explained where to go next.

Engineering was down the hall. A worker looked over both copies of my survey, with the little black rectangle drawn to scale to show the location of the shed. He went to a large file drawer, checked something, stamped both copies of the survey, signed them and the yellow form and sent me to the next stop.

The water district office was down another hall. A worker looked over the surveys, put his stamps on them, signed them and the yellow form.

On to a third department — whose responsibilities I am unsure of — retracing my steps to an office directly across from the engineering counter. Here a worker inspected the stamps of the previous two departments, affixed his own stamps and signed all the documents.

Back to the beginning I went.

The Planning Department worker checked all the stamps and signatures, logged the application in a book, filled out another form by hand, then gave that form to another employee to be typed. He presented me with the typed form, returned my stamped-with-approval surveys, and sent me off to the Building and Zoning Department a mile or so away.

By then it was 11:40 a.m., and Building and Zoning closes between noon and 1 p.m. for lunch.

When I arrived at Building and Zoning a little after 1 o’clock, there already was a crowd. I signed up and waited. I also found an application form, which I assumed I would need to fill out, so I began doing so. When I was called 20 minutes later, a worker finished completing the form, gathered my two copies of everything and sent me to the zoning counter 20 feet away to get a folio number and zoning classification for my property.

The worker there checked and filled in the information. I returned to the permits counter and waited. The person who had helped me three minutes earlier apparently had forgotten I existed. Finally, I got the attention of a second worker.

Did I sign in? she asked. I told her I was merely returning from the zoning counter. She took my papers and issued me a card with a number. Only then did I ask how long the review would take. The answer floored me: three weeks, maybe two.

I didn’t bother to ask why it would take so long to review plans for a simple 6-by-10 storage shed with no running water and no electricity. I paid my $40 fee and left.

On a Friday, two weeks later, I had my permit.

THE TALLY

If time were money, this shed would have cost a fortune. Still, materials including the concrete foundation and the shed cost roughly $550. That’s less than the $800 for a pre-built structure and not much more than we would have had to invest in a good metal one. And from the standpoint of aesthetics, we think a wood shed is better suited to our surroundings.

Of course, the cash register didn’t stop ringing when the shed was finished. I have built a wood deck work area around it and we plan to dress it up with trellises and landscaping.

In fact, the shed is only the starting point for many projects we have in mind to bring our 1960s house into the 1990s. One of our more ambitious ideas is to create a den from what is now a poorly designed hallway and closet.

It’s probably a two- to three-month project and it’s now August. I think we’ll wait until after Christmas — when the holidays are over and the guests are gone.