One of the huge benefits of timber frame buildings is their transportability. Sections of the new home are easily preassembled, even with insulation and cladding already in place, transported to anywhere you want them, and quickly assembled straight from the back of the lorry.
Don’t forget the house when you move.
Although rare in this country, in North America where this kind of construction has always been popular, thousands of homeowners have had their beloved timber framed homes lifted onto the backs of lorries and transported intact to new locations. We don’t particularly recommend it on the roads typical of the British Isles, but it shows you what can be done.
If you can’t find it, build it!
Another key benefit of this type of build is the flexibility of design. Whilst the catalogues of timber frame building companies have many ready-to-go house designs that are indistinguishable at first sight from traditional block-built ones.
Take a look at ones built by this Northern Ireland timber frame construction company, for example http://www.qtfhomes.co.uk/. Timber frame companies are also very flexible when it comes to delivering bespoke designs. In fact, your only real limit is your own imagination.
Forget the wings – put wheels on it.
A forest retreat? A holiday home tree-house? A farm shop? Or a semi-mobile cafe to work festival sites? It’s a relatively simple matter to assemble such buildings in sections, or in some cases, virtually one piece, and hoist them from a lorry, with just a little assembly and connection of services to finish off. If you need to pack it up again and move it, then, depending on the design, it needn’t be too difficult to reverse the procedure and relocate it.
This can be the perfect solution in many circumstances where local planning or land use regulations exist to prevent certain types of permanent building. As a timber frame is relatively lightweight, it’s possible to literally have wheels permanently attached which has been the accepted strategy on permanent caravan sites for decades. There is more advice here https://homefarmer.co.uk/getting-planning-permission-log-cabins-mobile-homes/.
Off the grid.
The availability of cheap and efficient solar panels, combined with that of warm insulated timber prefabricated buildings, makes these kinds of projects ever more fashionable. We can expect to see growing numbers of exciting and unique designs tailored for beautiful unspoilt locations.