Counting in timber frame
Creating the best commercial value is crucial when undertaking any construction project. Understanding how to undertake a timber frame commercial appraisal will help to generate accurate project costs, that in turn, will help to realise the true commercial benefits of building in timber frame.
Masonry build is typically a build time of 25-30 weeks. The same house built in timber frame takes 13-15 weeks. The time taken to get to weather-tight is between 6 to 10 weeks shorter when building in timber frame so internal works on the critical path can start and complete much earlier. This reduces overall site, saving 8 to 12 weeks of site preliminary costs for a typical site of 50 houses.
Understanding how to plan ahead to take advantage of the time differential is critical in reducing cost and benefiting from building in timber frame.
- Lighter buildings mean lower cost foundations
- Less onus on customer for site supervision
- Less forklift movements. Due to our crane in use
- Less safety risks (building roofs on the ground)
- Less reliance on expensive and scarce bricklaying resource
Reducing prelims
Building in timber frame improves the financial performance of a project. Accurate prelim costs are the first step to reducing cost. While there are many similarities building in timber frame and building in masonry, the savings in prelim costs are where you’ll see the first differences.
As all our products are manufactured offsite, we deliver to site on a “just-in-time” basis. Products are delivered to site and installed as they arrive, so you benefit from lower site costs for compound, storage, waste and crane use.
Check our list of prelim savings and ensure you’re seeing the benefit.
Reducing labour cost
At a time when skills and labour are in short supply, it’s important to maximise the productivity of your site team and your supply partners.
Offsite construction reduces site labour through the manufacturing and quality control of the super structure, reducing labour requirements, including brick layers. The faster delivery of products with consistent dimensions and accreditation enables faster project completion with fewer operatives on site.
Less requirement for labour in the initial stages is helpful to project costs. Our build systems arrive on site ‘just in time’ and are installed same day by our qualified installation teams. No time wasted, no labour waiting to start.
For the outer skin of the building, building in timber frame allows your bricklayers to focus on the external walls. They can complete two houses at the same time as they would complete one masonry house, so better use of valuable resources.
The more efficiently you build, the better your productivity and the lower your labour costs.
