Of the several hundred timber frame builders in operation in the United States and Canada, you can choose only one to build your timber frame home. How do you narrow your choices?
First, determine just what you need from your timber frame builder. Start by asking some basic questions about your new home.
Why are you building a timber frame home? If you are interested in the historical precedent of timber framing, then a firm that uses traditional joinery or tools will be important.
On the other hand, the aesthetic appeal of a firm’s frame might be more important to you than how the frame is created. Or perhaps energy efficiency tops your list of priorities.
How deeply will you be involved in the building of your home? Some firms welcome the opportunity to work with owner-builders. Many companies offer workshops to teach frame building skills. Still other companies specialize in providing complete project managment, from frame design to the construction or general contracting the rest of the project.
What level of design assistance do you need? You may prefer working with a framer to design a one-of-a-kind custom home, or you may find just what you’re looking for in a company’s stock floor plans. Determining just what you want from a timber framing firm will help you narrow the field.
While you may ultimately choose to work with a framer close to your home or building site, your frame could be made at a workshop in a distant state and transported to your site. The distance that your frame can be transported is limited mostly by your budget and your needs and desires. The more specific your requirements, the farther you may have to search for the right company.
After you identify what you need from a timber framer, your next step is to find the company whose services match your needs. If you plan to build much of your home yourself, you may need only basic services. Some families will desire more extensive design assistance, or even complete instruction services.
Most timber framing companies will design the frame and its foundation, and will also both produce and raise the frame.
You should also expect your timber framing firm to provide technical support in those areas of home building unique to timber framing. This includes specifying and most often installing the insulating system that will enclose your home, as well as recommending how to properly integrate your home’s mechanical system with its frame design.
In addition to providing these basic services, the company you choose to build your frame should be available to consult with your architect or general contractor during your home’s design and construction.
Once you have gathered your design ideas and carefully studied your family’s needs for living space, you need to begin working with a design professional.
One of your options is to have the timber frame firm provide or coordinate design services. Some companies have a designer on staff, while others customarily work with an outside design professional.
Some timber framing firms build only custom homes, others have stock plans that can be customized. Some firms offer a blend: You can study floor plans for the custom homes they have previously built as a starting point for designing your own home.
Be sure to find out if design fees are involved.
If you are already working with an architect or designer, this professional will benefit from the input of an experienced timber framer early in the design process. Your floor plan and frame plan should work together, and it’s not always easy to fit one to the other.
Both architect and timber framer should be aware of any building codes or neighborhood covenants that must be followed.
No matter what design route you choose, it’s worth the time and money to have your architect or timber framer prepare a complete set of drawings. Drawings are not only evidence that your needs have been registered, but they also provide the basis for accurate cost estimating.
And thorough drawings leave less room for miscommunication during construction (although drawings can’t take the place of clear, face-to-face communication).
Timber framing companies can offer a range of involvement in the construction process. Almost all timber framers will provide construction specifications, which can range from the basic-foundation and first-floor deck plan-all the way to complete architectural drawings.
Most likely, you’ll hire a general contractor local to your building site to build your home. It’s not always feasible for a timber framing firm to provide a construction crew, especially if the building site is several hundred miles away.
Still, some timber framing companies will help you locate a general contractor, and a limited few will manage the entire building of your home, especially when the job site is local.
Once you’ve found several timber framing companies whose services match the needs of your project, you’ll need to take a closer look at the firm and the quality of the frames it builds.
You’ll probably spend at least a year working with the company you choose. One of the most important variables to a good working relationship is trust. Will you feel comfortable working with the framing company?
Get to know the people in the company. Find out how and why they entered the timber framing business and what their roles are in producing timber frames. If at all possible, arrange a visit to the workshop or a building site so that you can see the crew in operation.
Above all, don’t hesitate to trust your instincts.
If you feel comfortable with the company, you’ll need to gather some objective information.
First and foremost, ask and check a framer’s references. You may be satisfied with the deal you’ve worked out, but checking a builder’s references offers solid proof of how past agreements were upheld.
Are former clients satisfied with the frame and service provided? If they encountered problems, how were differences resolved? Did they enjoy working with the company? Did the production schedule go smoothly?
In many parts of the United States and Canada, the building season is constrained by the weather. A firm’s ability to deliver a timber frame on schedule is an important factor in the process of building your home.
Visit the timber framer’s shop to learn all you can about the way the framer makes frames. You may need to set up an appointment if you want to see a frame in production.
Some timber framers base their frame designs on historical models. Others base their designs on a modern engineering analysis. Find out which context a framer is working within. Ask the framer to explain some of the elements of structural design that will influence your frame.
How can you judge the structural integrity of a frame?
In many parts of the country, builders must prove that their structures will hold up under unexpected loads and stresses. To meet these building codes, many timber framers provide an extensive design analysis from a licensed professional engineeer.
In some parts of the country, builders are not required to obtain an engineeer’s stamp on building plans. In many cases, the framing company has an engineeer on staff, or hires an outside engineeering company to review its designs.
Although the joinery is concealed in the finished frame, there are other ways to judge the quality of a timber framer’s work. One of the best ways to ensure that a company is building frames to last is to visit some of its past frames.
Take time to visit some of the homes a framer has built. Talk to the owners about what they like or might change in their frame.
Do you like what you see? As you walk through the house, ask yourself how well the frame design enhances the home’s living space.
For example, in a home with a traditional floor plan or more formal decor, the timber framing should follow that lead. The formal living or dining room might be framed by a post in every corner or might feature an attractive arrangement of ceiling timbers. The wood chosen might be of a richer hue or greater figure. The frame might also contain elegant embellishments.
In a more contemporary home, the living space might have a more open flow and include vaulted ceilings. The frame might be of a light wood, planed smooth and unembellished. Timbers might be left untreated or simply rubbed with oil.
Searching for the right framer to build your home can be an enjoyable and educational process and one that requires you to take a closer look at what you and your family truly need and want from your new home.
As you visit examples of a framer’s past work, keep in mind how the frame works in harmony with the home’s overall design. The quality of a framer’s work can be seen not only in the soundness of the frames alone, but also in a framer’s ability to consistently build successful timber frame homes.
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Next week: Finding a framer
The Timber Frame Homes Buyer’s Guide is available for $3.95, plus $3 for shipping and handling, from Home Buyer Publications, 1-800-826-3893.
