Not everyone needs a granny flat in the backyard, or even a studio with an ensuite. For many people, all they need is an extra room for use as a home office, music studio or design space, man cave, or breakout room. This air-conditioned 3.6m x 6m art studio with a sink in Doreen, a suburb of Melbourne, is a great example.

It's always a pleasure for us to help schools with cost-effective building solutions. While we have helped many private and public schools, Condell Park Public School in Sydney, with 5x Backyard Pods, is perhaps the most outstanding example of our flatpack building kits helping budgets stretch further when a school needs an extra storeroom, activity room, or staff room.

What can you build in Sydney without approval? A non-habitable structure up to 20sqm. This cute little art studio in leafy Hunters Hill, Sydney, was undertaken as an exempt development for workshop purposes. We supplied the flatpack building kit and double-glazed windows and doors. Our customers organised their own builder and now, their backyard studio is complete. You can see how they love the place!

Many people start with one of our basic 3m x 6m flatpack building kits to create a low-cost Backyard Pod for their own purposes. This cute little 3m x 6m backyard studio complete in Colorbond Classic Cream with a custom timber-framed veranda and deck is someone's idea of a private cave, craft room, or informal workspace in their backyard.

Much is said about man-caves but a rising number of 'she-sheds' and 'sheila-shacks' are being built DIY or professionally in backyards all over Australia. This quaint, cottage-like example at Maryong, in western Sydney NSW, represents one woman's BIG dream - just a LITTLE space!

Even schools and other institutions are finding that building projects are more practical and affordable using flat-pack kits from Backyard Pods. Here's a Backyard Pod being installed at Condell Park School in western Sydney (it's one of three Backyard Pods there). You'll find Backyard Pods at other schools as well. Did you know there's even a Backyard Pod inside Sydney Harbour Bridge?

3m x 6m is the most popular size for simple backyard studios like this Backyard Pod near Doyalson on the NSW Central Coast. Fresh interiors and thoughtful positioning on the site show the owner's attention to detail with their project, installed by one of the professional installers in our network who services the area between Sydney and Newcastle.

Man-caves are a tremendously popular idea (or she-sheds, whatever you want to call them). Here is a simple man-cave in Canberra made using a Backyard Pod kit 3m x 6m, our most popular size of all-time. Sometimes a Backyard Pod needs no real purpose, it's just a great extra space to hang out and do your own thing.

Mentioning Colorbond cladding in classic Cottage Green reminds most people of traditional Federation colour schemes. What's so exciting about this practical 4.5m x 7m craft workshop near Newcastle is Cottage Green used in a modern way with contrasting cream-beige aluminium window frames and the inclusion of louvre-style windows for extra ventilation.

Not all Backyard Pods are intended as nice-looking granny flats, home offices, or studios. Many are for purposes where functionality is more important than appearance. This 4.5m x 10m flatpack project under construction in Queanbeyan NSW, near Canberra, is an industrial-looking storage facility and darkroom on residential land.