Thanks. The new building will be situated very close to the existing one. And on the same horizontal plain - so they will need to relate. Both will also have white window trim, and white trimmed doors.

Pictures are always a good start.

I can show a pic of the ouse but the 2nd building hasn't been built yet, obviously!

Will post pic later - need to find one!!

Design is all about trade-offs. Is it more important the roofs match or you can see out of the 2nd floor window? BTW changing the pitch on a 14' wide building won't do that much to the overall height. Have you considered a roof that's almost flat i.e. 1/4"/12" to downplay the secondary building?

I’d want them the same.

There are two factors that determine the height of the roof ridge: the pitch and the width of the building. If the building is small it might be fine to repeat the 7 in 12 pitch of the main house.

For a 14 ft width, a 7 in 12 roof would be 49" tall. A 5 in 12 roof would be 35" tall. Since its best to not go below that pitch, the most you might lower the roof ridge is 14" which would not make much of a difference unless the new building was very close to the main house.

Remember, as the pitch increases in inches per foot, the difference per inch in degrees decreases. For instance, the difference in degrees of slope between 2" and 3" per foot is 4.6 degrees and the difference between 11" and 12" per foot is 2.5 degrees.

That's why dropping below 5 in 12 is something to consider carefully; when water slows down capillary action can compete with gravity so you don't want water to get confused about where it going. Gravity is your friend. .

thanks so much for your input. i will try to download Sketch-Up to see what I can figure out.

@jocsue - you said the accessory building is to match "... the house that it will be sited very close to."

How close is "very close"? Please be certain that you are adhering to setback requirements. Where I live (Sacramento County, CA), an accessory building cannot be closer to the house than 6 feet, to allow for emergency personnel & equipment access.

It would be best to provide an image or three of the existing structure and not a drawing.