In this article, Tim Crump discusses our ethos, history, and just what sets us apart from our competition when it comes to producing beautiful, bespoke oak frame properties.
Why should people choose an oak frame house, and if so, why choose Oakwrights?
Good question. Oak is a living material and will give your home a tactile and warm feeling. Oak frames create versatile spaces and a theatre for living. With an oak frame, you can create a beautiful feature to your home that will gain character with age and will stand for hundreds of years. Our oak frame houses are extremely personalised, bespoke and have longevity. Oak is so different to all other constructions: it looks better with age and we combine classic and contemporary styles. We have a multidisciplinary team who can carry our clients from architectural design, through the planning application process to the creation of their amazing oak frame and onto the full construction of their home. We have built oak framed homes in all parts of the UK and as far afield as Mustique in the Caribbean.
What sets Oakwrights apart from other oak frame builders?
We build our oak frames combining the very best of CNC machinery technology, and link this with the traditional oak frame carpentry skills of our team; it’s unique. When a potential client takes the guided tour of our design studio and workshops, they can see the benefits of working with a company who will look after them all the way through the process. We are hugely proud that we are the only oak framing company to date to have helped to build the UK’s first certified oak frame Passivhaus and the UK’s first certified oak frame Passivhaus Bed and Breakfast. This means that we do not pay lip service to build environmentally friendly houses, we actually have the skill and quality of construction to achieve the incredibly high standards to gain full certified Passivhaus (Passive House) construction! We are the only company to offer a fully breathable wall and roof encapsulation system, giving a super-insulated and healthy living environment.
Talk us through the process of building an oak frame house from start to finish…
The process is very similar to the one I’ll outline for you below, but obviously, every client is different. Here is just to give you a flavour of the depth of the project and just how much planning and thought we put into what we do:
Tell us about the longevity your clients get from having an oak frame house…
The oldest oak frame I have personally worked on was dendrochronologically dated back to 1280. I always say to our customers that the only thing that we cannot give to our oak frames is 150 years, as they just look better with age. But that is part of the attraction and personality of an Oakwrights house: it’s a living house as oak is a living material! We would expect any house that we build to stand for at least three or four hundred years with good foundations and a sound roof.
Explain the show home try-before-you-buy option…
Yes, Oakwrights are the only oak framing company to offer not only the opportunity to visit a show home but also the opportunity to stay in a five-star self-catering oak frame show home, The Woodhouse, too! We find this experience works amazingly well for people and gives them a real experience of living with oak that usually leads to them embarking on the journey of building their dream home in oak with us. We have two to four sets of guests at our show home every week.
How important are the people who work for you and their team ethic to your company?
We have a combination of staff where some have been with the company since it was started through to the new trainees that we take on each year. We very much believe in starting youngsters on the shop floor and training them to a career path that can take them through to departmental heads which three have achieved to date.
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