What species of  wood do you use?

White pine, Douglas fir, hemlock, red oak. Usually we use white pine because it is local, easy to work, and quite stable (less shrinkage). Often we use red oak or cherry for knee braces.

Can we see some of your work in the local area?

Yes, we have various homes and barns the owners are willing to let us tour.

Can you give us a square footage price for your frames?

No. Any home final cost is hard  to estimate by square footage, especially timberframes. For example, the labor cost to cut joinery for a 10 x 12 frame vs a 14 x 16 frame is basically the same, yet there is a difference of  104 sq. ft. We generally need an accurate floor plan and elevations to develop a frame plan. Then we consider the amount and complexity of the joinery to make decisions on the costs.  Consider this:   If you were given five grocery bags of food,  would you be able give an accurate estimate of their total value.   It sure depends on what is in them doesn't it?

Do you only build in the Bethel, Me area?

No, once a frame has been completed at our shop, we can ship anywhere in the country. We have erected frames in all the New England states and also Colorado and Montana.

What services do you provide besides cutting and raising the frame?

We can provide construction drawings for most projects. Working with you we can create floor plans and elevations including interior and exterior perspective drawings on a CAD system. In the case of you working with your own architect we can share electronic files through the Internet to facilitate a cohesive planning effort. We can oversee the enclosure of your frame with stress skin panels. When the frame is within an hour of our shop we will consider installing the panels ourselves and continuing the process until the frame is weather-tight. We can provide other custom woodworking elements for your house or barn such as stairways, railings, fireplace mantels, small scale timber furniture.

How long will it take to have a frame completed on our site?

Once plans are complete, it normally takes 3-4 weeks to receive timbers and the another 5-7 weeks to complete the joinery and deliver it to a site. Once on site we usually have the frame up in a week. If stress skin panels are being used to enclose the frame, plan on another 5- 8 day depending. Sometimes we use pre-cut panels so the installation is a quite a bit faster.

More FAQs coming soon regarding insulating systems including stress skin panels and other alternatives!