Are timber frame buildings quicker and cheaper to build ?

Over the years we’ve worked on a several timber framed building projects and I often reflect on how quickly they are built and also how much they cost. So, are timber frame buildings quicker and cheaper to build than conventional brick buildings ?

For example, the basic waterproof shell of this timber framed house, that we helped design, was erected in just two weeks. This is a big house, about 320m² / 3450 sq. ft. As the timber frame is a pre-fabricated construction system made in a factory, the component pieces are literally bolted, screwed and nailed together on site. A bit like a large-scale 3D jigsaw puzzle but with more organisation. As a result, the time on site is relatively minimal.

Traditional brick + block build

When looking at timber frame / pre-fab construction techniques something that is often overlooked is the pre-construction time and resources needed to design and co-ordinate everything to enable the products to be made in a factory or assembled on site. At face value timber frame buildings are erected very quickly but before this several weeks [or even months] of design time, heavily detailed co-ordination with double checking of sizes and dimensions has taken place to ensure that everything is very accurate, as late changes or errors can’t easily be accommodated during the building works. As we model everything in 3D with ArchiCAD this is slightly easier but it’s still time consuming.

I have conducted my own in-house independent research with quantified costings prepared by professional Quantity Surveyors and at the moment my conclusion is that a single one-off house can be completed cheaper and just as quickly [if not quicker] using traditional methods of construction. This is mainly because the materials are more economical and quicker to source, and even with labour costs, will often still work out cheaper than a timber frame system. The time required to complete construction can also be better as construction can start several weeks earlier without the need for the for such heavily detailed or co-ordinated design work up front. For a single dwelling this means that timber frame is probably not as economical as people often think.

Timber frame build

We have conducted our own in-house independent research with quantified costings prepared by professional Quantity Surveyors and at the moment our conclusion is that a single one-off house can be completed cheaper and just as quickly using traditional methods of construction. This is mainly because the materials are cheaper and quicker to source and even with labour costs will often still work out cheaper than a timber frame system. The time required to complete construction can also be better as construction can start several weeks earlier without the need for the for such heavily detailed or co-ordinated design work up front. For a single dwelling this means that timber frame is probably not as economical as people often think.

For larger scale buildings or volume estates of ten identical [or very similar] houses + then timber frame construction or alternative pre-fab methods will definitely have a benefit as the overall time taken could reduce by several months which would equate to a major cost saving. It’s about scale of economies.

Energy efficiency is often a reason cited to use timber frame but equal or better energy efficiency can also be accommodated [Passivhaus and better] with conventional building methods, especially with some of the new insulation products on the market. This is operational, end use energy efficiency though.

However, and this is the big sticking point for me, the total embodied energy and embodied carbon of timber frame is probably less than conventional masonry building techniques. The amount of energy and carbon required to make masonry products and transport them is relatively high. However, this assumes the timber is sourced from UK grown forests and not imported and shipped over from far away foreign countries, which is often the case, which may actually mean the carbon generated from the timber may sometimes be higher. I understand that most of the UK market construction timber comes from European countries like Sweden, Finland, and Latvia, as well as North America [Canada and the USA] so hopefully the embodied energy and embodied carbon is not as bad as it could be.

Another timber frame build

If you are building from timber in the UK well done! I think you are probably using less embodied energy and embodied carbon even though it costs more.

I hope this gives you an objective and helpful understanding of timber frame construction vs masonry construction.