Why more than 130 Men’s Sheds are worth a look in retirement

Retirement can leave a gap that hobbies at home don’t fill. You miss the workmates, the banter and the feeling of being useful. A Men’s Shed is built to fill that gap.

MENZSHED New Zealand, the national association, describes a shed as a community space where men share their skills, have a laugh and work on practical tasks. It also mentions a benefit some partners will appreciate, an escape from “underfoot syndrome”.

What happens in a shed

There’s no set programme. Each shed decides its own projects, but the association says most take on community work. Examples include building for preschool playgrounds, repairing toy library toys, fixing old bikes for families who need them and making planter boxes for the main street.

Skills go both ways. A retired builder might show an engineer how to frame something up, and the engineer might return the favour. Many sheds also invite health professionals in to give talks and basic health checks.

The movement started in Australia in the 1990s. In March 2025, there were 136 sheds open across New Zealand with more than 4,000 members. One of the earliest, the Taieri Blokes Shed near Dunedin, dates from 2008.

What members say

In 2025, a report for The Selwyn Foundation, which funded the research, looked at how sheds affect their members’ health and wellbeing. Emeritus Professor Edwina Pio surveyed 68 members at four sheds and ran focus groups at sheds in Manurewa, Kerikeri, Masterton and Te Awamutu.

Members rated their loneliness from memory, before and after joining. Before joining, 29 men scored high on loneliness, and after joining, only 8 did.

The report notes that the men scored themselves, and it covered only four sheds, so it doesn’t prove sheds cure loneliness. One member called the shed “a reason to get up in the morning”.

Who can join and what it costs

You join your local shed directly. Annual subscriptions are set by each shed and are usually small. Taieri’s was $10, Greytown’s $30 and Temuka’s $60 a year when they last updated their listings.

Despite the name, a shed isn’t necessarily men only. MENZSHED NZ says some sheds have women members or run sessions for women.

Waipu runs a Ladies Group on Friday mornings. The Boomer Shed in Manurewa welcomes retired women and men aged 50 and over, and Greytown’s shed welcomes anyone, regardless of age or gender.

Women also have sheds of their own. Women’s Shed Aotearoa in Queenstown describes itself as New Zealand’s first purpose-built women’s shed.

To find a shed near you, use the map and regional listings on the MENZSHED NZ website at menzshed.org.nz.