Self build Potton, lots of reasearch to do

[Post and beam]

I am hoping to get a self build 4 bed house project under way, never built more than a garden wall before.

[Temp]

Welcome.

 

Opinions on Potton houses vary. My planning officer actually asked me.. "You're not building another Potton house are you?" Presumably this is because there are two in our small village already and the fake beams on them might have been OK once but just look a bit corny now. It depends what you want as they have a few different styles and some are better than others in my opinion.

 

 

[PeterW]

Welcome 

 

do lots of research - not only on their designs but parent company, and do some searching before you make any decisions. 

[DragsterDriver]

18 hours ago, Temp said:

Welcome.

 

Opinions on Potton houses vary. My planning officer actually asked me.. "You're not building another Potton house are you?" Presumably this is because there are two in our small village already and the fake beams on them might have been OK once but just look a bit corny now. It depends what you want as they have a few different styles and some are better than others in my opinion.

 

 

Most look very dated now!

[LnP]

I'm not defending Potton, but don't really understand the criticisms about fake beams and designs looking dated. It's the client's choice what to clad the frame in, and if mock Tudor's your thing, then that's what you can have. But if you want it for example brick clad, I think you'll get a house which most people wouldn't even know was timber frame. Regarding floor plan and elevations, you can have pretty much whatever you want.

 

It's an interesting question though, how to choose a timber frame company. It's very hard to compare prices.

[Bramco]

30 minutes ago, LnP said:

It's an interesting question though, how to choose a timber frame company. It's very hard to compare prices

 

Indeed.

 

We looked first at German kit houses but given Brexit and the Euro/£ exchange rates were driven away from that. We actually visited HanseHaus and Schworer. Both were very impressive. Schwoerer for example sources all the wood from within 40Km of the factory which employs more people than live in the village it is located at.

 

We discounted Hanse because theirs is primarily meant for a render finish - the insulation is on the outside of the frame.

 

Anyway, having discounted the Germans and really anyone else in Europe, we looked at Potton. Obviously they can do any style you want, from the beams, beams, beams look to a more modern look but....  on touring the show houses we were really put off by the very poor finishes.  Light switches on skew, really badly finished skirting boards etc. etc.  Our thought was, if that's the level of finish in the show homes ours might turn out to be a Wimpey nightmare.

 

So given the kit house route was going to be a non starter, we started getting quotes for the design from timber frame manufacturers. But given we wanted to chunk the project into a few large chunks we could put out to tender, we chose a company that would take on both the insulated slab and would erect the timber frame for a fixed price.  Lots of timber frame companies are supply only, or have a complicated formula for how much erecting the frame would cost.

 

I think if we stripped out the slab and erection costs, the quotes we had wouldn't be far from each other although there were differences in terms of the U values of walls and roofs. Some couldn't get to the levels we were aiming for.

 

Not sure if that helps, but it's how we went about things.

 

Simon

[Post and beam]

Pottons show houses are 30 years old now. Parts of them do look tired. They have been remodelled internally in the recent past and are now very open plan inside.

I happen to like the exposed beams and inglenook fireplace and i also think this sits well with the very modern kitchens.

Horses for courses

[Bramco]

18 minutes ago, Post and beam said:

Parts of them do look tired.

 

My point wasn't about them being tired, it was more about the workmanship, eye for detail and I guess attitude - why have a show house that has so many snags?

 

Simon

[Post and beam]

I am not a builder but i have visited the show houses twice in the past 2 weeks.  Apart from the 'tired' comment i cannot say that i am aware of many lapses of workmanship or snags. I think the houses are excellent.

[Bramco]

It was a couple of years ago that we visited. Sounds like they've got their act together.

 

Simon

[LnP]

14 hours ago, Bramco said:

 

I think if we stripped out the slab and erection costs, the quotes we had wouldn't be far from each other although there were differences in terms of the U values of walls and roofs. Some couldn't get to the levels we were aiming for.

Interesting. I wonder if you wouldn’t mind sharing some more information about who you looked at, what you found and who you chose. 
 

Regarding the Potton show houses, I agree they are not as good as they should be. We were there recently and noticed things like render falling off, poor exterior paintwork, noisy MVHR. They’re still on my list though. These are aspects of the build which they won’t be supplying, but it’s definitely a mark against them.

[Bramco]

I'll PM you if I can work out how to do that.  I'll have to go back to the bits of info we collated.

 

Simon

 

[CharlieKLP]

I know a little bit about Potton and would use them myself.

 

Worth noting that Potton supply the structure and insulation package (plus stairs, windows, roof if requested) it’s up to you to source a builder that will do the light switches and other finishes.
 

Timber frame doesn’t mean ‘post and beam’, only half of the showhouses even have those because they were popular at the time the houses were built. On the outside, it can have any brick, stone, render, weatherboard you want.

Potton is now a bespoke design and build business, they have planners and architects who design to any style or specification. They fully design from scratch for you, and get you planning, then help you self build with project managers.
 

The showhouses get a *lot* of foot traffic, so after 50 or so years it adds up to a lot of new wallpapering. That’s not really the point of the houses there.
They are there to show variety and give ideas - and it’s a shame people come away with the idea a Potton house is just a chocolate box with fake beams, if you look at the website it isn’t that at all. Of course at the time it was stylish, but trends move on.
 

It’s also quite sad that planning officers are judging a company on a style the were popular for some time ago, I would say it’s actually prejudicial and not the correct behaviour for a planner! 
 

Anyway, in my opinion the timber frame you get from Potton is a good spec for a reasonable price in the market, and there’s really nothing forcing you to have beams anywhere.

 

Check the website, there’s a price list there that breaks down what you might spend on the house and also since you are a total novice, they offer lots of resources and seminars to tell you how to go about it. They are really useful for self builders generally. I found them to be helpful and friendly.