That is a beautiful design. I can;t wait to see it.
Question. Is this more expensive that typical stick built (I assume so) but I also assume it will last longer. Other advantages (besides beauty)?
Some day I want to build the last house I will ever live in, and I want it to survive me and get passed down to grandkids, and their grandkids, etc...
I hope the question is not too nosey...
Thanks in advance,
David
Hi David,
Not too nosy at all. Short answer is yes, it is more expensive. To give you a little info on why we chose a timber frame home I'll start with a little info on our situation.
I'm 35 and have a beautiful family with a wife and three kids ages 4, 7, and 8. I started my business at the same time I started college at 18. We married when I was 24. Instead of renting a home or buying a new home at that time we built our house on a second floor of our metal building which is used for our business. The home inside our building turned out great and from the inside looks as nice as any other home. We were able to build it this way for about $30 sq/ft doing a lot of the work ourselves. At that time I promised my wife that eventually when we could afford it and were comfortable taking the leap we would have a "real" home away from work. The original plan was to build about 4-5 year from now however with current interest rates and the age of our children we decided it was time to make the jump. We have also outgrown our current home and an addition would have been in the works had we stayed.
This leads into our plan to build. We decided that we were going to build with the idea that this would be our retirement home as well. Starting out we liked the look and rustic feel of a log home. In doing research we decided we really didn't want to deal with all of the maintenance issues that came with it. We ran into a few web sites on timber frame homes. After researching we decided this was the way to go. We found Clydesdale Frames on the web and toured a few of their homes that they built frames for. When walking into the first home on the tour list we were sold. A timber frame was our only choice, even if we had to wait a few years.
In pricing timber frame homes most of the advice I received was that when comparing a timber frame home to a stick built home you could pretty much add the price of the timber frame itself and that was how much more the timber frame home would cost. I would say that is probably accurate if you consider the same type of finishing. The problem is that with a timber frame you tend to go higher end on the finishing due to the look of the frame and type of home. More hardwoods instead of carpet, fireplace vs no fireplace, more expensive lighting, furniture, tongue and groove ceiling vs sheetrock, etc. We are trying to get this home built for $100/sq ft which is doable as our own builder. Most of the estimates I see for a timber frame are anywhere from $150 to $225 sq/ft.
Benefits are longer life span, energy efficiency, and aesthetics. The exposed timbers and joinery are really remarkable when walking into one of these homes. The vaulted roof lines add to that. A timber frame should last hundreds of years and the SIP panels are a very high and true R rating. With that said we are going a little more conventional route due to cost. We started out with a similar design using a full timber frame, SIPS, and attached breezeway and three car garage. I found out quickly that I was better at designing than budgeting. I initially designed a fantastic house that we couldn't afford. We scrapped the breezeway and the garage was moved into the basement. The laundry room was placed where it is with the idea that an attached garage would be added later when we could afford it. We were still over budget and decided to do a partial timber frame instead of full. We kept the central portion of the house as a full timber frame and scraped the timber frame for the left and right wing with the exception of kitchen and dining rooms. We will use stick framing for the entire home and spray foam instead of using SIPS. All of the above changes brought us within budget. Sorry for the long winded reply but wanted to give a little more background on ourselves and decision for this type of home.
Jeremy