We can offer you two different estimating tools, square footage estimates and guaranteed prices. Both can be useful.

To help understand your timberframe budget, consider the following list of contributors.

1. Wood species There is a potential for 400% change in the material budget based on which timber you choose.

2. Location. We can and have built houses on mountainsides, but installing them is understandably more expensive than a house on the prairie. Especially a little house on the prairie.

3. Porches or other exterior timber.

4. Style of timber frame. Some common style choices are: Wall and Common rafter, Principal rafter and purlin, Principal rafter, principal purlin, common rafter, hammerbeam, scissor trusses. All of the listed styles can include organic elements, hybrid design, roughsawn or planed, scribe rule or square rule. We'll advise you early in the process about a style of frame that meets your budget and agrees with your aesthetic sense.

5. Enclosure systems SIPS, Traditional framing, straw bale, straw clay, etc.

6. Floor, wall, and ceiling coverings   In other words, “How much tongue and groove do you want?”

Square footage estimate . These estimates will come in the form of a range and will be a per square foot estimate. These estimates are based on two factors: Historical evidence of projects we've built and your square footage of conditioned space.  

The above listed variables involved in price we usually are unable to consider specifically with ballpark estimates. A few minutes of visiting can likely answer some of the questions, but will not give enough information to develop a guaranteed price.

A guaranteed price. Guaranteed prices can only be developed after preliminary design and engineering has been completed. To develop a guaranteed price, we will consider all of the above listed factors as they apply to your project. We will refer to this as the scope of work.  

We often build budgets after doing preliminary design work, submit their resultant price to the owners, and then go back and tweak. If they come in under budget, owners may have the opportunity to reinclude in the design features they had thought initially would be too expensive.   If they come in over budget, we also may need to remove features from the scope of work that are not affordable.

We will be partners with you in developing the scope and budget. You'll have the benefit of our experience with all of the major factors in the budget, and how they affect the price early in the discussion to help guide the initial design and budget.