Timber frame construction, which company is good

Hello everyone.

I am new here and wanted to ask you who has built a prefabricated house using timber frame construction?!
Are you satisfied?
Which company did you choose and if so, why?
I have been dealing with this for some time now and am stuck between 2 companies.

Thank you very much in advance

Mrs. Ungeduld

Hanse Haus or Haas Haus

I have been dealing with this for quite some time now and am stuck with 2 companies.

Hanse Haus or Haas Haus

These two, between which you now want to decide, are two out of how many that you know in total? Which others have already been eliminated from the selection, and why? "Timber frame construction" is by far the most common in "prefabricated houses," so that hardly narrows down the selection. Where do you see similarities between the two mentioned providers, or where do you find it difficult to work out selection criteria or differences for decision-making purposes? The more of your ideas about how your house should be you share here, the more it becomes clear whether one or the other or even a third would be better recommended for you.

we will get our timber frame house from a local carpentry. It was actually supposed to be erected yesterday, but due to the snow, it has been postponed to next week. From what I have seen, many carpentries now offer complete timber frame houses. This has its advantages and disadvantages compared to large prefab house providers. However, it also makes the choice more difficult. Unfortunately, I cannot say what the price difference is either. Many factors come into play. For example, the wall construction is often different. Our carpentry would never put styrofoam on the wall, nor mineral wool between the studs. I would also never want styrofoam or other insulation boards made from mineral oil-based materials. On the outside, there will now be wood fiber insulation boards and wood fiber will be blown in between the studs. And of course with an installation level. But some prefab house manufacturers have also caught up in terms of wall construction.

What I have seen is that nowadays many carpentry companies offer complete timber frame houses. This has its advantages and disadvantages compared to large prefabricated house providers.

Prefabricated house manufacturers essentially all originated from carpentry businesses. Those who conceptually remained so have now almost completely disappeared from the market. As a side effect of the construction boom, only currently some are coming up with the idea to try this path again. And on this way, they will likely have to pay about the same tuition fees until reaching today’s series maturity level of the industry as the pioneers back then.

A few might succeed, by including the factor "short distance to the customer"—but really within a maximum of 50 km driving distance to the construction site—to offer competitive products as a company that still needs to learn regarding industriality.

However, it is strongly advised for those to use architectural planning: having built a thousand roofs doesn’t automatically make one a good house planner.

But in terms of wall construction, some prefabricated house manufacturers have caught up by now.

Prefabricated house manufacturers already had the lead in wall construction technology thirty years ago; the solid builders have caught up, and it took them until almost today.

By now, the insulation share is quite high in both, and the wall thicknesses have converged—today at a higher level. Thirty years ago, the prefabricated builders usually had about 16 to 22 cm wall thickness (and thus twice as good thermal insulation values as the masonry builders with 30 cm and 36.5 cm walls).

However, back then the image was still shaped by the wall structures of the 1960s—harshly put, "cardboard with pollutants"—and of course by the news images from the USA where houses fly away "in one piece" during tornadoes.

By now, the prefabricated house is an industrial product of high precision and differentiated detailed construction and "Made 2 Measure." Only the—often three to four selectable—wall constructions are "off the shelf," all proven in series (which the local carpenters still have to catch up on).

Prefabricated house manufacturers were way ahead in wall construction technology thirty years ago, the solid builders have caught up, and that took them almost until today.

What I meant was rather that some prefabricated house manufacturers now also use ecological and sustainable insulation materials. Many, however, still put polystyrene on the outside and a vapor-tight foil on the inside, making everything diffusion-tight. However, there are also various controversies about this. I also don’t know which prefabricated house providers offer installation levels.
For me, a timber frame house with polystyrene would no longer be an option. Nor one without an installation level. But everyone has to decide that for themselves. At the beginning of the planning, we also dealt with prefabricated house manufacturers. I do not know what has changed in the last two years. For me, the advantages of a local carpentry shop outweighed the others. For others, it surely looks different. Everyone has to weigh that up.