Any experience with pre-fab homes?

Nawty

Nawty

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I need to build a 3 or 4 bed home and am exploring the pre-fab route and was wondering if anyone had any experience with such things?

There are a number companies out there, from avant-garde glass strewn grand design type things to smaller drag and drop wood frame chalets. I was thinking something a bit like this: https://www.scotframe.co.uk/house-style/ptarmigan/ and hopefully getting someone to bolt it together (whilst able to fit a kitchen, do plumbing etc I think speed and quality of work will be of the essence).

Any major pitfalls, lookouts, recommendations?

Thanks :)
 
Nawty said:
I need to build a 3 or 4 bed home and am exploring the pre-fab route and was wondering if anyone had any experience with such things?

There are a number companies out there, from avant-garde glass strewn grand design type things to smaller drag and drop wood frame chalets. I was thinking something a bit like this: https://www.scotframe.co.uk/house-style/ptarmigan/ and hopefully getting someone to bolt it together (whilst able to fit a kitchen, do plumbing etc I think speed and quality of work will be of the essence).

Any major pitfalls, lookouts, recommendations?

Thanks :)
Click to expand...
They are not prefabs, they are timber frame houses.
I've lived in a few. they're popular up in Scotland.
It's not just a case of bolting together and fitting a kitchen....
They need a foundation, brick/block exterior, tiled roof etc etc.
 
We built our own, constructed in concrete. Took a year to complete plans, a year to build and completed on budget. Don’t under estimate all the vast array of details needed to be thought through and planned for. That being said it was a fantastic project and I would do it again. People who have done it more than once tell me the first one is a practice run and you get it right second time ;) Good luck!
 
Our house is timber framed but I didn't have a hand in building it - It predates me by over 60 years.

I do have some experience in building my own timber frame building but these have been fabricated on site, with the design honed as I build (nothing as big as local houses, but my workshop is bigger than some homes I've seen).

I'm somewhat unsure about a home thats pre-fab, surely it should be absolutely fab. rather than something that doesn't quite make it.... :exit:
 
Bobsyeruncle said:
They are not prefabs, they are timber frame houses.
I've lived in a few. they're popular up in Scotland.
It's not just a case of bolting together and fitting a kitchen....
They need a foundation, brick/block exterior, tiled roof etc etc.
Click to expand...

No intention of doing any of it myself, and we will need to install water treatment and a whole load of other things first, just wondering about the manufacturers, it seems they are all in either Scotland or Germany...

Alternatives are converting a barn or a conventional build but this route is potentially cheaper and I like the idea - building houses brick by brick seems a bit old hat...
 
If you have ever watched the program DIY SOS Big Build, many (all?) of the builds that have included adding a significant extension to the property were not factory built timber frame modular construction at their core.

Plus in the past there were a few Grand Designs built that way with one very early one who used a German company called 'something' Haus.

All the best with your project :)
 
Huff or Hoff Haus?
 
Some of my friends lived in them over Hackney Marshes because their families were bombed out in the blitz
Well chuffed with them, if the new ones are similar they should last for donkeys years
 
tijuana taxi said:
Some of my friends lived in them over Hackney Marshes because their families were bombed out in the blitz
Well chuffed with them, if the new ones are similar they should last for donkeys years
Click to expand...

there was a street of ww2 ones in my village, built with a 10year life expectancy, around 2000 they put a brick skin around them....
 
Bobsyeruncle said:
They are not prefabs, they are timber frame houses.
I've lived in a few. they're popular up in Scotland.
It's not just a case of bolting together and fitting a kitchen....
They need a foundation, brick/block exterior, tiled roof etc etc.
Click to expand...
As Robert says, there are timber framed kits and there are prefabs, but they are definitely not the same. The Haus someone mentioned may well be Weberhaus, and they really do build prefabs as shown at this link: https://www.weberhaus.co.uk/services/prefab-home-building/
 
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