Timber Frame from Estonia/Latvia/Lithuania

bobofernandez

hello MSE,

Does anyone here have experience or of anyone who has imported a Timber framed house from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania or even Poland?

Where I live in the north of scotland timber framed homes are the norm but tend to be from the Scandi nations, mainly Norway. I was discussing with a friend the other day who said I should look at some of the other Baltic states as apparantly the kits are better value for money and in some cases alot cheaper.

So if anyone here has done this or looked into it before would love to hear!! thanks

Hintza

It wouldn't bother me too much but I would be looking for a firm with a track record.

When we built our house 2010-11 I thought price was the main driver. By the end it was finding companies that would do what they said they were going to do when they said they would.

System

is it an off the peg type of house you are looking at?
I would always tend to a local joiner building the frame in a rural location (unless going down the sips route etc)
But i've never seen a huge difference in prices by the time it arrives on site - plenty of kit house manufacturers in scotland that should be easier to deal with.

bobofernandez

Its a SIPs style I am considering at the moment. I was discussing with a joiner friend the other who was commenting on the expense of kit houses in Scotland now, which in his opinion is being partially driven by local house prices. Ive found a few places that do SIPs in baltic states so im going to send of the plans and see what quotes come back.

System

bobofernandez wrote: »

Its a SIPs style I am considering at the moment. I was discussing with a joiner friend the other who was commenting on the expense of kit houses in Scotland now, which in his opinion is being partially driven by local house prices. Ive found a few places that do SIPs in baltic states so im going to send of the plans and see what quotes come back.

try Clays LLP - always found their pricing to be pretty good and a good comparison.
Interesting that your joiner friend doesn't want to build a kit for you!

As long as you can get proper documentation to pass scottish building regs it doesn't really matter where it comes from i guess.

keep us updated on the costs coming back

brightontraveller

You can get prices 1/3 of UK bought direct from old eastern block countries biggest problem with them is they are often manufactured whole with very little tolerance put together on perfect flat area in the dry as they are in the factory fine

But when you come to put them up on bases/foundations here that aren’t as flat as the factory they can be hard work…. Research is key look at other houses they have sold finished and visit them….. Flights there are cheap also a lot of logging going where it shouldn’t e.g. Chernobyl exclusion area can sometimes explain prices…

We have done works with huf-haus amongst others but there not cheap but take a look at there styles and other uk German Scandinavian manufactures/sellers etc if you find same styles in old eastern block high chance there supplying them ( no matter what there companies might say ) not sure of your budget but maybe give these a call http://ultra-architects.pl get some pointers from them

bobofernandez

The information is appreciated, especially the comment on tolerence. The area I am looking to build is exposed with high winds frequent during winter months!!

Anyone else got suggestions on possible suppliers or good points of contact in eastern block?