The Process

Please feel free to contact us about your project for an initial, informal discussion.

We would be delighted to meet you at our offices to discuss your proposals in more detail, and to show you our portfolios of past projects. We can also guide you around our workshops if you'd like to see the frames being made. A typical initial meeting can cover a range of questions - budgets, timescales, planning matters and the self-build process.

We also have a beautiful showhouse nearby, which is definitely worth a visit.

If you have a plot with planning approval we would be delighted to look at your plans and to provide an appraisal, initial cost estimate and visual resources to demonstrate how we might be able to help.

Also, if you have a plot, one of our Project Development team can visit you on site to discuss your ideas with a view to preparing planning drawings for you.

We also have Open Days throughout the year plus a full calendar of exhibitions and it would be lovely to meet you there.

Our Project Development Team can of course meet you at our offices at any time, but we also find it incredibly helpful to meet with you on site before preparing and finalising your design scheme.

We like to get a full understanding of your area and the local architecture, and to look at the advantages of the site and digest how we might be able to enhance and celebrate these. Most importantly, we need to identify any site restrictions, issues or potential problems.

As a bespoke design company, we are confident that we can work around almost all issues, but we find it works best if we can collect as much information at the earliest stage. All of this helps us prepare your home design and planning application.

After taking your detailed design brief (including your budget), our design team begin work on your individual plans. This is an exciting time - the first step in creating your perfect home. Typically, the sketches take us around 4 weeks to prepare, these are then sent to you for further input before being refined and completed in anticipation of submitting your planning application.

This process encompasses block and site location plans, ground and first floor plans, front, rear and side elevations, sections and other details as appropriate. Perspective views and artist impressions are occasionally provided to enable us to communicate the craftsmanship, character and appropriateness of the design in its setting.

This information can be used for a planning application alongside supporting evidence and surveys. We can prepare and submit the Planning Application on your behalf, monitor its progress and respond to further enquiries or requests. We can also supply Design, Access and Sustainability Statements, materials samples and photographic evidence (as appropriate) to supplement any application.

Again, there is a nominal cost plus a statutory Planning Fee payable to the Local Authority.

You may wish to award us with simply a 'primary package' for just the oak frame, or a 'turnkey construction package' for a complete house. You may also wish to visit us to view further samples and products and discuss the project in more detail with the team. 

You will be provided with a detailed cost analysis and a quotation document based on your requirements and current costs at the time of tendering.

You will then be issued with:

A contract summary

Building Contract and Building Contract Conditions

Details of the agreed interim payment structure

A Deposit Invoice

A Fixed Price Quotation and Acceptance letter

Once your order has been placed, Border Oak will begin the complex and detailed process of preparing the technical working drawings, frame manufacturing drawings, engineering calcs, construction notes, working details, building regulation drawings and certification documents.

Our highly experienced in-house team uses advanced computer aided design technology to provide comprehensive design packages including bespoke workshop and fabrication frame drawings.

We also prepare multilayered construction notes and supporting drawings for every part of the build (site services, foundations, frame and panels, roof, joinery, interior fit out etc). These drawings are incredibly detailed and the more information they contain the better for our builders and project managers.

Our specialist (independent) consulting engineers will assess and analyse the proposals and provide structural calculations, beam loadings and full structural analysis.

The completed frame drawings are forwarded to you for confirmation and approval before procurement and fabrication.

Your new Project Manager will orchestrate the entire project. They will co-ordinate workshop programmes, delivery dates, procurement requirements, erection crews and site labour.

We believe that our transferable experience and project management is vital to the success of any project.

Read more about our Project Managers

Your foundations can be installed while your frame is being made.

Once the Project Manager is happy with the foundations, the frame will be delivered and erected by one of our experienced crews.

Work then continues to a pre-agreed schedule - with the PM orchestrating the labour and materials to maintain progress and ensure standards are met and the site is safe (amongst a million other things!).

Most Border Oak houses take between 20 - 55 weeks to build, depending upon size and complexity.

We offer a range of different packages from 'frame only' to 'complete build'.