As you begin the design/build process, you’ll talk to one or more timber frame companies about building your timber frame home. How those conversations go will often determine which company you work with as you move forward. If you..or they…aren’t asking the right questions, you could miss an opportunity to work with a great company or you might end up with a company that might not work well with you.
1) Educate yourself. Your initial meetings will go much further if you’ve spent some time on the Internet educating yourself about the timber frame building process, styles of timber frames, and the difference between timber frames, log homes, and conventionally framed homes. This will help you to better understand their answers in the “timber frame” context.
2) Narrow down the companies you want to consider to two or three. You might send off an exploratory email or make a call to a few more to help you narrow down your choices. There are great timber frame companies all across the country. Each one has their own “package” and business model. The differences may be subtle or blatant, but if you look at too many, you’ll only be confused, not better served.
3) Don’t be intimidated or insulted if they ask about your budget somewhere in the early conversations. They aren’t doing you a favor by making you think you can build more home than you can afford. Be frank and be willing to listen to them when they tell you that you can build within your budget, but you’ll need to make some tough decisions if you are trying to build more home than the budget will sustain. However, if their focus seems to be on your budget and time frame and not on you and your project, you might want to think twice.
4) Build with someone you would like if you met them outside of the timber frame context. Designing and building a home can be stressful. If you are working with someone that you can communicate with on a very personal level, then you are ahead of the game.
5) Make sure that they have a system in place to share plans and work in progress with you and your builder. Whether it is by emailing PDF files to you as updates are made or having web meetings or phone calls, determine what works for you and go with a company that is can keep things moving forward easily.
All of that said, just move forward confidently and when you build…build boldly…Bonnie Pickartz