Coastal parcels in Bay and Walton counties rarely offer the wide, open backyards common on inland lots. Narrow dimensions, elongated driveways, fenced side yards and established parking pads shape how homeowners can introduce storage without having it get in the way.

Proper placement is key if you want to be able to easily move equipment, park boats or trailers and maintain easy access.

Working With Driveway Geometry on Narrow Parcels

Long coastal lots often rely on a single driveway that runs deep into the property. Homeowners can suffer a serious loss of swing clearance when a shed is positioned too close to the driveway’s throat or aligned at an awkward angle. Making this mistake will lead to difficulties parking utility trailers or backing boats into a rear pad. Even a small encroachment can tighten the turning radius enough to require multi-point corrections every time you try to park your trailer or boat.

This issue can often be solved by aligning the shed parallel to the driveway and tight to one side of the lot rather than floating near its center. Bestway’s portable buildings can be sized and oriented to preserve these travel paths.

Keeping Side-Yard Access From Being Bottlenecked

A lot of coastal homes rely on their side yards as the main way to reach the backyard or move equipment around, so clogging that space can cause headaches fast.

AC units, utility panels, pool equipment and trash bins often occupy these corridors, and your household or service people will need unhindered access to reach the rear of the property.

The solution is typically a setback strategy. Positioning the shed just far enough from the house or fence to preserve a serviceable walkway keeps the side yard functional. Bestway buildings can be placed with access clearances in mind so you can still move equipment through without obstruction.

Managing Rear-Lot Space for Parking and Storage

On most long coastal lots, the rear section is the only portion wide enough to serve multiple uses. If you need boat storage, guest parking, outdoor equipment setup or a secondary work area, it’ll be in that part of your property.

It is common for homeowners to initially place a shed at the very back of the lot, only to discover later that the depth of the pad is no longer adequate for a boat trailer or that the remaining turning area is too constrained to easily back into it.

Placing the portable building along the long axis, rather than centering it at the back fence, keeps larger pads open. Having portable building doors face the driveway, or an accessible turn pad, helps avoid situations where loading requires a sharp angle or backing into soft ground.

Bestway’s custom configurations and flexible placement capabilities make this easier, since door and window placement can be arranged to face the most efficient access points.

Reducing Direct Wind Exposure on Coastal Properties

Open coastal lots experience stronger lateral wind loads, particularly when the home sits forward and the rear yard remains exposed. We use tough anchoring methods on our portable buildings to minimize risk as much as possible, but this is Northwest Florida, and there’s only so much you can do about Gulf storms.

Homeowners should try to position structures where wind exposure is moderated by existing features. Even a slight break provided by a fence line or the side of the house can reduce the amount of direct gusting the shed faces, which also helps with day-to-day use when doors are open for loading.

We also need working room for anchoring, so avoiding tight corners or locations crowded with existing utilities tends to make installation easier.

Orienting the Building for Functional Loading and Daily Use

A building that technically fits the available footprint can still be inconvenient if the doors open toward soft sand, an uneven section of the yard or an area with poor drainage. Coastal properties frequently have swales that move stormwater toward the rear or side of the lot. If the shed is angled toward those low points, loading equipment becomes messy after every rain.

Making sure the primary doors face stable, compacted paths can prevent this issue. Our custom portable building options, especially with double doors or wider openings, give property owners flexibility to orient the building in whichever way will work best.

Get the Right Sized Portable Building for Your Northwest Florida Property

At Bestway Portable Buildings, we offer custom sizes, door placements and on-site installation and anchoring to ensure your storage shed, carport or garage meets your needs without limiting your property’s functionality. Call us at (850) 747-8974 for a quote or to learn more about our customization and installation capabilities.