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Stuff you'll want and need to know...
The design and construction of a timber frame home is a challenging and rewarding experience. At Earthwood Homes, we work hard to ensure your design meets your needs, your expectations, and your budget. We believe this to be one the most valuable and important services we can offer. No stock floor plans or catalog... Earthwood Homes does not maintain a file of stock plans. We believe that a "stock-plan-with-modifications" approach severely limits a thoughtful exploration of the many opportunities available to create a harmonious balance between land, home and inhabitants. We will however utilize ideas gathered from various sources that are complimentary to our client’s overall vision for their home. We encourage our clients to develop a scrapbook of design ideas early on, which proves immensely helpful as we work our way through the preliminary design process. Design development is the first phase of our complete design process. As we work through the process of design development with you, we will be generating a set of custom preliminary plans. Design development involves a series of consultations, sketches, revisions, and a site visit. The preliminary drawings that emerge from this process include floor plans, exterior elevations, and cross sections showing possible timber frame configurations and beam placement. A key purpose of the preliminary design drawings is to generate sufficient design and cost estimate information for you to make an informed decision about moving to the second phase—construction documents. With preliminary drawings completed, we will provide you with cost estimates for work by Earthwood Homes as well as rough cost projections for the entire project. At that time we will also provide a fixed fee proposal and an hourly rate option to produce final construction drawings. Final construction drawings include all engineering and detail work necessary for construction. In addition to generating a custom set of drawings, there are other important benefits to our preliminary design program. The process gives you an opportunity to develop a working relationship with us. It also provides a reality checkpoint for balancing the dreams developed on paper with the realities of budget requirements. Because design has such a major impact on cost, we want this checkpoint to occur well before you have invested in final design detailing. Our preliminary design package for homes less than 4,000 square feet is a great value. Your investment in a set of these drawings through Earthwood Homes is usually $3600 plus travel expenses.
Complete Construction Documents Our experience at building timber frame homes throughout Oregon, Washington, Idaho and California since 1990, continues to prove that cost-effective construction of custom-designed projects requires logical, detailed and accurate construction drawings developed by technically knowledgeable designers and support staff. Our typical construction-drawing package includes much more than just basic information necessary for your General Contractor to obtain local building permits. We take great pride in our ability and efforts at developing clear detail drawings of potentially troublesome and confusing areas, such as stairs, loft and floor build-up intersections, and structural panel connections. Our project manual also contains all necessary structural engineering calculations and details. It becomes obvious after a review of our typical construction drawings and project manual that these are not your average set of building plans. The extra effort and expense we put into accurate detailing of our construction and shop drawings is ALWAYS returned to our clients in the form of a much higher quality home at lower total construction costs. Put simply, good planning pays and saves. Prior to engaging our services for design, we will carefully review the entire design process with you to ensure you have a clear idea of what to expect when construction drawings are completed. Typically, the total cost (preliminary design and construction drawings) of designing a timber frame home through Earthwood Homes will fall between $4 and $6 a square foot, not including engineering. Your investment in custom drawings through Earthwood Homes is quickly recovered as construction progresses on your home, and savings are realized from a thoughtfully detailed set of construction documents. Frame Production and Installation With construction drawings completed, we will provide you with a scope of work proposal and bid for the timber frame and structural insulated panel system. We will also work with your General Contractor to help establish overall construction costs. Our typical contract includes:
Continued technical assistance through project completion. |
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Designing
a Timber Frame Home