For many people, it is a lifelong dream to be able to build their own house according to their own personal tastes. Most people do not reach the stage where they can reasonably take on a full scale self-build project until they have already lived in a few houses. This usually serves to fuel self-building aspirations and helps would-be project managers to get a better idea of what they want from their dream home.

A self-build project is all about finally creating the living arrangements that are suitable for your personal needs, the needs of your family and your personal tastes as far as style is concerned. Living in a succession of different homes teaches you the kinds of features and styles that are more to your taste and gives you a better idea about room layouts and architectural designs that are more practical to your own family.

Choosing a building method that allows you to tailor the construction of your house to your tastes and to your family’s needs represents an important decision. Timber frame construction is particularly successful in this regard and it allows you to take full control over how your property will look and will be arranged.

The processes involved in building timber frame homes are also very energy-conscious. This means that the cost of building with timber frames is cheaper than with other building methods, which ultimately drives down the cost of setting up affordable housing developments as well as one-off projects.

The processes behind timber frame construction involve sourcing timber from renewable forests. These forests are strictly regulated to make sure that production does not have a negative impact on the environment. The only energy-consuming operations involving timber frame relate to forestry and delivery.

On the other hand, building methods which rely on materials like steel are much more expensive and ecologically unsound. Steel takes a huge amount of energy produce because of the high temperatures required in its manufacture. This makes it costly, both in financial terms and in terms of energy consumption.

These advantages to building timber frame houses as opposed to other forms of construction is seeing more and more people turn to the technique in order to improve the ethics of their operations and cut costs. If timber frame construction seems like a suitable route for your project, it makes sense to contact professionals for more information.

Timber frame homes are gaining in popularity with self-builders and developers, partly because of the financial advantages of using this particular method of construction. Modern builders have to be much savvier regarding cost-effectiveness and green processes than in the past and timber frame construction fits the bills for more progressive people operating in the industry.

Even though timber frame construction has a very long history, it is not the most widespread construction technique used in the UK. It has seen much more prominence in Scandinavia, Northern Europe and North America. However, this may change in the future because of a greater stress on tightening finances and finding greener ways of building.

Timber frame homes and known to be particularly energy efficient. They keep families warm in the winter and cool in the summer and release people from the burden of high energy bills. This is way they are seen as such a positive long-term option for self-builders and developers alike.

With families relying less on their central heating thanks to the insulation and energy-saving properties of timber frame homes they can bring their own finances in line with their lifestyles in order to improve their general living standards.

There are several factors that go into making timber frame construction such a successful alternative to more widespread building methods in the UK. In areas like Scotland and Scandinavia, timber frame construction is particularly popular because of the way the method helps to regulate temperatures, staying warm in winter and cooler in summer.

It is this approach to setting the internal environment of timber frame homes that goes a long way to making them such a good idea. Not only do these homes prove comfortable to live in all year round, they also help the environment-conscious individual reduce his or her impact on the atmosphere by reducing energy waste.

Of course, this approach also helps homeowners to save money so that they do not spend over the odds on heating, or indeed cooling, their property. This is something that all homeowners take an active interest in.

Further appealing factors that stand timber frame construction in good stead for the modern world include flexibility in design and attractive interior and exterior finishes. These are important for those who feel aesthetics play just as large a part in building the ideal home as more practical concerns.

The fortunes of the housing market rest upon a number of different factors, but many industry experts consider the state of the mortgage lending market to be the most important single consideration. When more money is being lent in mortgages, more people tend to be in a position to drive activity in the housing market.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has recently released figures demonstrating the current activity in the mortgage market which goes some way to explaining the continued state of inertia in the property market. These figures indicate that lending has barely increased at all in the past twelve months.

According to the CML statistics, loan lending in February 2011 stood at an estimated £9.5 billion. The numbers for January were £9.475 billion and the numbers for February 2010 stood at £9.419 billion. This represents a rise of less than 1%, which is not enough to kick start growth within the industry.

Bob Pannell, chief economist for the CML stated that the latest numbers demonstrate:

nothing that alters our underlying view that this is going to be a challenging year for households and the housing market.

However, analysts are keen to point out there are still good deals to be found on the market and would-be buyers should make sure they explore all avenues.

It’s important to get your priorities in order when setting out on a building project. Nowadays a great deal of stress is put on both cutting costs and cutting energy waste. This is why timber frame construction is becoming a more and more popular building method. Although this technique has been used for a long time, other methods have been used widely in recent years.

Cutting costs

A good way of cutting costs regarding your project is to try and complete it in as short a time as possible. Fortunately, timber frame construction is a very quick way of building your house. This is because most of the time is spent of planning to ensure that all manufacturing processes are carried out smoothly off site. Then the timber frame is erected and made watertight before it can be finished off on site.

Cutting waste

Cutting waste means reducing energy. Obviously the fast nature of timber frame construction means you’ll used waste less energy on building processes. However, timber frame houses are also made of components that are low in energy waste. Timber frames themselves are natural and do not require huge amounts of energy to produce like steel components.

Saving money is a really important part of building your own home. Although you might initially be spurred on by the opportunity to design a house in exactly the way you want it, it soon becomes clear that you have the opportunity to construct a house that meet your needs financially and practically as well.

This is where timber frame construction comes in. Timber frame construction can help to keep the actual cost of your project down by making sure that you don’t waste time on site. All preparation of the frame takes place in a factory, so you don’t need to spend on staffing the site whilst the manufacturing takes place.

However, you can make plans with timber frame construction to design a house that will go on saving you money long after it has been fully erected. Timber frame homes have an excellent reputation for energy efficiency. You are in control, so you can make the decision to pack your walls with insulation.

Taking this step will make sure that your house does not lose energy through heat that seeps through the walls. Instead, your energy bills will reduce dramatically and you will not have to rely on your central heating as much.

Industrial processes are responsible for very high levels of carbon emissions within the construction industry, but this is something that many self-builders are trying to set right. There are ways that you can significantly lower your carbon emissions when guiding a construction project through to completion. One way is to build a timber frame house.

Timber frame homes use natural timber from renewable sources. These timbers act as excellent substitutes for steel girders and other heavy duty metal components. They are strong and durable and are more than capable of supporting the weight of the house itself.

The environmental advantage to using timber frames in construction is that they do not require vast amounts of energy to produce. Metal components need very high temperatures and power-consuming processes in production, so replacing them where possible is important to any self-builder with a conscience with respect to the environment.

The energy used in timber frame construction related to cutting the timber to size and delivering it to the site where the frame is built quickly. This is a more environmentally-friendly approach than using steel which takes so much energy to produce and which requires more protracted processes during the construction stage.

One of the best things about choosing timber frame construction as your building method is related to interior design and layout. When you are in a position to build your own home, you want to do it on your terms. Unfortunately, there are often structural limitations that prevent you from designing the ideal living space.

When you build using timber frames, you will find that these limitations are not nearly as problematic as with other building techniques. This is mainly down to the fact that the timber frame of the house you are building will take the weight of the entire structure.

When the frame takes the weight of the house, there is a reduced need for interior walls that actually bear any weight. Your interior walls can act as partitions between living spaces instead of structural supports. The advantage of this is that you can incorporate large open spaces into your layout.

Large open living spaces are really stylish and sociable and they are only really possible if your building method does not necessitate weight-bearing internal walls. This is why self-builders who want to really take control of their design often choose to build with timber frames in order to boost their options.

In the last few years, housebuilders have exercised supreme caution when discussing the fortunes of the housing market. Since the recession, many of the largest firms have seen their projects stall and their targets fall far out of reach. However, it appears that the promising start to 2011 is giving homebuilders a new sense of confidence.

Buyers have been expressing increased interest in property since the beginning of the year and this rise has continued beyond the traditional January rush. Six of the major homebuilders in the UK have experienced increases in downpayments on properties and visits to property showrooms over the period stretching into the beginning of March.

Persimmon Homes and Barratt Homes have both registered increased activity which they have described as ‘unusually’ high. Taylor Wimpey has also seen a rise in property sales despite introducing no new offers or incentives. Bovis Homes and Redrow are also performing better than expected.

Although homebuilders are beginning to express a little optimism in the industry for the first time in a while, it is believed they will continue to be cautious on the whole. The market could turn at any moment and no-one wants to get caught out.