A meeting and a look at the plot
We come and walk the plot, check whether a crane can get in, find out where the services are, and talk about what you actually want.
within 10 days of the enquiry · free
Cumbria · building since 2009
A timber frame house at a price that does not move
A family firm outside Penrith. We design the house, build the panels in our own shed and put it up on your plot — from the slab to the keys. The figure we sign is the figure you pay.
2009building since
148houses handed over
9 weeksto a weathertight shell
5 yearsguarantee on the structure
A fixed price in the contract
The schedule is signed as binding. Extras happen only on your written instruction.
We make the panels ourselves
Walls come out of our shed insulated and glazed. On site they are only stood up and fixed.
We build through the winter
Dry construction — no wet trades and no waiting for anything to go off. We build all year.
One person on the phone
The site manager who walked the plot with you answers the phone right through to handover.
Price it
Price the house before you ring us
Pick the type, the floor area and how far you want us to take it. The rates are the ones we are actually building to in Cumbria in 2026 — and a new house to live in is zero-rated for VAT, so there is none to add.
96 m² of footprint
that works out at 84 m² of floor area
60 m²180 m²
We work the monthly payment from that. Most self-build lenders want at least 20 %.
Rough price of the house
Floor area
Slab, including the dig
Frame and finishing
Price per m² of floor area
It does not include the plot, the services, the drawings and structural package (from £4,500), the groundworks beyond the slab, fencing or the kitchen. The exact figure comes after we have walked the plot, free and with nothing committed. The range covers specification, how steep the site is and whether a crane can get to it.
What we build with
Two build-ups, both breathable
Both our wall build-ups are vapour open — the wall lets moisture out instead of sealing the house in plastic. Which one you pick comes down to budget, and to whether you want to see the timber from the inside.
ETF‑1 · closed panel
Engineered studwork, blown cellulose
What we build most. A kiln-dried structural frame, the void blown full of recycled cellulose, wood fibre board outside and render on top.
Silicone render on wood fibre board60 mm
Breathable DHF sheathing15 mm
60/200 structural studwork with blown cellulose200 mm
Service void with mineral wool60 mm
Fibre-reinforced plasterboard12.5 mm
- Wall U-value of 0.15 W/m²K
- A 348 mm wall — more room inside than a masonry cavity gives you
- Comfortably inside Part L without anything bolted on
ETF‑2 · solid CLT panel
Cross-laminated timber
The structure is a solid panel of cross-laminated spruce. It can be left on show inside — the room smells of timber and never sees a sheet of plasterboard.
Ventilated larch cladding20 mm
Wood fibre insulation200 mm
CLT panel — the structure100 mm
Service void, or spruce left on show40 mm
- Wall U-value of 0.14 W/m²K
- More thermal mass — it takes longer to overheat in summer
- About 8 % more than ETF‑1
How it works
From the first meeting to the keys
Six steps, and at each one you know what is happening and when. The timings are from our last twelve houses, not from a brochure.
Drawings and a binding quote
You get plans, elevations and a schedule priced line by line. Until you sign, you pay nothing.
3 weeksPlanning and building control
We prepare the planning drawings and the construction package, sort the SAP assessment and the EPC, and deal with the council for you.
8–13 weeks, depending on the councilThe slab, and the panels in the shed
The slab goes down while the walls are being made. Your plot is not a materials dump for three months.
3 weeks, running alongsideErection and getting it weathertight
A crane, a gang of four, the roof and the glazing. Nine weeks and the house is dry, locked and ready for the trades.
9 weeksFinishing, handover and guarantee
On a turnkey house we hand it over decorated and swept, with the completion certificate. Five years on the structure, and the usual statutory cover on latent defects.
13 weeks for a turnkey house
House types
Six houses to start from
A standard house is not compulsory — it is a finished design that saves you time and money. We will change the plan to suit the plot and how you live.
L 92
bungalow 4+kk
Greystoke
The one people ask for most. All on one floor, with the living room opening south onto the terrace.
- Footprint
- 104 m²
- Floor area
- 92 m²
Weathertight shell from
Turnkey from
V 128
two storey, four bedrooms
Cumbria
For a family of five on a tighter plot. Living downstairs, four bedrooms up.
- Footprint
- 78 m²
- Floor area
- 128 m²
Weathertight shell from
Turnkey from
A 58
bungalow 2+kk
Greystoke
A small house to live in all year, or to use at weekends. The cheapest way out of renting.
- Footprint
- 66 m²
- Floor area
- 58 m²
Weathertight shell from
Turnkey from
Houses we have built
Houses people are living in now
These are not catalogue photographs. They are houses around Penrith, Appleby and Keswick, and you can come and see them — with the owners’ say-so.
Three things to settle before anybody digs
Ask them of us and of everybody else you get a price from.
Ask what the quote excludes. A frame price and a house price are not the same number. Ours lists the plot, the services, the drawings, the groundworks and the kitchen as excluded, in writing, before you sign anything.
Ask about the structural warranty. Most lenders want one on a self-build before they release funds. Find out which one the builder can offer and whether it is in the price.
Ask who erects the frame. Plenty of firms make panels and then hand the erection to whoever is free that week. Ours goes up with our own gang, and the site manager who walked your plot is there for it.
About us
Seven of us, one gang, and nobody else erects our frames
The firm was started in 2009 by a carpenter who had spent four years building timber frame in Austria. There is a shed on the Gilwilly estate now, a gang of four who erect, our own site manager and two designers.
The erection is never given to another firm. The plumbing, the floors and the tiling are done by trades we have used for over ten years — you will see most of them on every house we build.
148houses handed over since 2009
0disputes in court in 16 years
An enquiry, nothing committed
We come back within two working days
Tell us where you are building and what you have in mind. You get a price, a timescale and what we would do differently — even when that means the house costs you less somewhere else.
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Office and drawing roomGilwilly Industrial Estate, Penrith CA11 9BN
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The shedGilwilly Road, Penrith CA11 9BL (come and look round by arrangement)
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Phone01632 960716
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When you will get usMon–Fri 7.30am–4pm, and on site on a Saturday by arrangement
House enquiry
The starred fields are required. None of it commits you to anything.