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Welcome to ProFrame^® ~ Advanced Timber-Frame Design & Construction.

(NB: ProFrame^® is fully EuroCode compliant!)

Designed for 'NHBC' Registered House-Builders + Self-Builders + 'DIY' Enthusiasts

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QUESTION: Including all the 'on-site' handling, erection costs & foundations; how much would you expect a 'package-kit' based timber-framed house, erected & weathertight ready for the external wall & roof claddings, to cost you?

Because ALL the timber-frame components are sourced & delivered directly from Builders' Merchants and Trade Suppliers at NET TRADE PRICES using normal 30-day trading accounts; i.e. there are NO (huge) advance costs involved to mess up the 'cash-flow' and/or stage payments & NO factory overheads & (eye-watering) profit margins pushing up the costs!

Structural Components (comprising the walls, 1st floor & roof) = £65/m²

NB: That includes the ProFrame^® bespoke structural design & specification for Building Regulations' purposes and fully detailed framing layout drawings, etc. for the simple 'on-site' fabrication & erection of the timber-frame.

OPTIONS: Your Choice ~ Achieve basic 'SAP' compliance & Building Regs requirements OR Upgrade!?

e.g. ~ Fully Insulated "Slim-Line" (Ground-Bearing) Foundation = £50/m²

NB: The 'Standard Foundation' designed to have NO thermal bridging between the Foundation & External Wall Elements!

The simple ProFrame^® approach reduces foundation costs and makes it easy to eliminate "thermal bridging"; achieve "Passivhaus" levels of airtightness; remove need for & cost of expensive heating / heat recovery systems; achieve 'EPC A Rating', etc.

(NB: None of these is automatically achieved with 'SIPS' construction; at least one cannot be achieved!)

Timber External Doors (1.8 'U' value) & Windows (1.4 'U' value) = £83/m²

NB: There are cheaper options; e.g. uPVC windows & doors; that would significantly lower 'build' costs!

The simple ProFrame^® method has used a cost-effective "Fabric First" approach for many decades; (a) because it reduces the overall cost of building houses and, (b), because it permanently reduces the "running costs" of living in those houses!

An integral part of that approach; is to upgrade the 'U' values of the major elements (walls, ground floor & roof) rather than incur the extra expense and somewhat limited overall benefit of having very high window & door 'U' values!

(NB: As indicated by the typical costs shown above; even buying good quality windows & external doors with moderate 'U' values can still cost more than buying all the structural timber-frame components to build the house itself!)

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Learn How To Fabricate Timber-Frame Houses In 5 Minutes Flat!

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Our unique 'FREE' e-Guides are essential reading for anybody thinking about building high-quality timber-frame houses and/or wanting to build 'super-insulated', airtight homes to 'Passivhaus' standards (and beyond).  Read them and re-read them because they are packed with information that could transform how you go about designing, building and insulating any new house; potentially saving you £10,000's, possibly £100,000's in the process!  Don't miss them ~ they are FREE.  Just click on any of the 'blue' highlighted 'links' in the text above and below.

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Learn How To Create Multiple House Styles For Any Timber-Frame House!

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DO YOU KNOW WHY ~ Using 'package-kits' and 'SIPS' is NOT the preferred option in most other countries!?

The worldwide popularity of site-fabricated timber-frame houses isn't just down to being able to deliver high-quality, high-performance luxury homes much more cheaply than any 'flat-pack' package-kit or 'SIPS' construction can achieve; it's the sheer speed and simplicity of the work involved.  There is NO technical knowledge required and NO prior practical experience or training is needed either.

• Building timber-frame houses really is very simple work; judge for yourself, have a look at "Learn How To Do It In 5 Minutes Flat!" by clicking the highlighted 'link'!

• Our unique ProFrame^® structural design keeps the construction simple enough for inexperienced 'DIY' enthusiasts and professional house-builders alike to quickly and easily build houses of the highest-quality.

Timber-frame is a great way to build homes 'fit' for the 21st century. Timber-frame has the lowest environmental 'construction cost' of any 'mainstream' construction method and/or material and the potential to easily meet the most stringent thermal and 'airtightness' requirements to minimise 'long-term' energy requirements too. That 'unrivalled' combination is further enhanced when using the ProFrame approach which enables timber-frame houses to be designed to simply and economically exceed whatever performance standard is required; even exceeding "Passivhaus" or "EPC 'A' Rating" standards! The best part is that, using the ProFrame approach, such standards are achievable by inexperienced 'DIY' enthusiasts & professional 'builders' alike!

• Historically; over 200,000 'DIY' enthusiasts have self-built their own timber-frame homes each year in the USA alone; in fact, the number of homes built by American 'DIY' enthusiasts far exceeds the entire annual output of the combined UK & Irish Republic's house-building industries!  Similarly; the vast majority of the USA and Canadian framing contractors and house-builders also use site-fabricated construction to build some 2,000,000 new homes on average every year!  Needless to say; neither those 'DIY' enthusiasts nor the 'commercial' builders would choose to use site-fabricated timber-frame construction in such huge numbers; if it wasn't such a wonderfully quick, simple, straightforward and very economic (i.e. cheap) way to build luxury homes!

Ironically; despite achieving efficiency levels some 200% - 300% better than typically achieved with the UK's 'traditional' construction methods; most of the American housing is still being built using the relatively inefficient (more labour-intensive) 'stick-building' method which we superceded and discarded over 40 years ago!

• For most houses; a decent 'spirit-level' will be needed to ensure the 'vertical alignment' of 'trussed rafters' but otherwise the only essential tools anybody needs for the timber-frame itself are a decent (DIY) circular-saw, claw-hammer, steel tape-measure and a carpenter's pencil; i.e. NO cranage, scaffolding, heavy lifting gear, or even a 'plumb-bob'!  Other power tools; such as nailing 'guns'; aren't essential although, when handled correctly, they can 'speed-up' much of the work involved.

With over 40 years experience of designing and building 'bespoke' timber-frame structures for individually designed houses and bungalows; we are specialists not only in 'bespoke' residential timber-frame design but also in using the high-efficiency erection techniques that we have developed over the decades of doing our own 'single-handed' self-build projects whilst seeking to maximise the advantages of using our advanced timber-frame design and optimise the whole construction process.

• Our clients get the full benefit of being able to get their houses built using a fast, simple approach to the construction that even the most inexperienced house-builders and 'DIY' enthusiasts alike can use to build the highest quality houses ~ the performance of which can match and/or exceed anything that 'factory-production' claims to achieve whilst slashing 'like-for-like' prices to a fraction of the 'normal' build-cost!

Whilst the rest of the house-building industry seems to delight in finding ever greater difficulties to obstruct the whole house-building process; our philosophy and ethos as 'self-building' professionals has always been to keep everything as simple as possible.  (Houses are always quicker and cheaper to build with a common-sense led approach to how things are achieved; conversely most commercial 'products' and 'solutions' that we see advertised and promoted seem concerned with parting customers from their money rather than delivering any real 'value-for-money' improvement!)  We can provide all the 'on-site' info'; e.g. simple framing layout drawings and nailing specifications, simple 'step-by-step' instructions, etc.; so that within 2 - 3 hours even the most inexperienced builder or 'DIY' enthusiast can confidently fabricate and build houses using our quick, simple timber-frame construction methods.  We also have a full range of services available to handle all the 'techie-stuff' that will keep life really simple for you!  We can provide in-depth advice and support for every aspect of your project or housing development.

• Uniquely amongst professional consultants; we have several decades of personal, practical 'Hands-ON' experience of designing and building houses & bungalows on our own projects to maximise the cost-effectiveness of how they are built and 'designing-out' potential difficulties and problems; as well as undertaking all the usual professional work for 'self-builders' and commercial 'house-builder' clients!

Although it should be obvious that anybody; not familiar enough with advanced timber-frame construction to build straight from the 'approved' Building Regulations / Warranty (Scotland) drawings; will need large-scale wall-framing layout drawings, nailing details and 'step-by-step' erection instructions to work from; as experienced 'DIY' Hands-ON self-building professionals; we know how vitally important it is to have that information provided 'weather-proofed' ready for use 'out-of-doors' where they will actually be needed on-site; so that is what we always supply!

That's just one simple example of how our practical 'Hands-ON' building experience has helped to create our unique client-orientated services!

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The essential reading mentioned above for anybody thinking about building high-quality timber-frame houses and/or wanting to achieve 'super-insulated', airtight homes to 'Passivhaus' standards (and beyond) are our unique 'FREE' e-Guides.  Keep on reading and re-reading them because they are packed with information that could transform how you go about designing, building and insulating any new house; potentially saving you £10,000's, possibly £100,000's in the process!  If you haven't already discovered them; simply click on the 'blue' highlighted 'links' immediately above!

"The UK & Irish Republic's Unique Residential Timber-Frame Design Specialists AND 'DIY' Self-Building Professionals!"

(Providing A Truly Unique Blend Of Professional Design & 'DIY' (Hands-ON) House-Building Experience With Speculative/Commercial Residential Planning & Development Experience.)

How about using 'Bespoke' Timber-Frame 'Self-Assembly' Kits?

It's the best of both worlds!

It avoids the hassle of getting quotes for materials, placing orders and/or arranging for delivery of the structural materials yet still retains the full benefit of simply paying competitive 'net' trade prices for everything; i.e. NO hidden profit 'mark-ups'; NO manufacturer's factory & office overheads and profits to pay for, NO heavy lifting gear/cranage costs, NO erection 'crew', etc. to push the 'build' costs through the 'roof'!

Some clients have even found that getting a 'self-assembly' kit assembled and erected works out cheaper than the price they were quoted just for the erection of a manufacturer's 'package-kit' for building the same house!

(Click on the 'blue' highlighted 'link' above.)

We take care of the 'organisation' so you can concentrate on getting the houses built!

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Our Guiding Philosophy ~

To appreciate what our clients want and to provide an unique response that will create great 'added value' for them.

Further Information About What Else We Do ~ Simply Click On The Highlighted Website 'Links' Below

Self-Build-Pro (Chartered Surveyors) ~ Residential Planning & House Design

Land Agent Services ~ Selling Land For A 'Premium' Price (It's A Totally Free Service)