I had a post and beam house designed in winter of 2021, the frame built and installed in fall 2022,…read moreand the house was completed fall 2023. I have been living in the house for a month.
My overall experience with Vermont Frames is very positive, with a few caveats worth mentioning. If I was to construct a home all over again (please, no), I would do business again with Vermont Frames. I hope, and have confidence, that their work will last my lifetime.
The design process is lengthy, but thorough. I worked specifically with Rye, who answered a litany of questions about effectively everything I could think to ask. Rye was extremely patient, and always gave us a wealth of well sourced information that would address all of my questions. He was transparent in describing all of the phases, both for billing and construction, and costs that the project would entail.
Vermont Frames had done work with my GC before, which simplified the experience a bit. We first started with a house design, which we made alterations. The design firm that Vermont Frames worked with was competent, and their structural engineers were quick to vet and validate requested revisions.
After purchasing the plans, and putting in the necessary deposits, we were given a timeline for milling, and installation. Deposit payment is necessary prior to being put on the schedule. Of course, the construction was ordered during the height of Covid supply chain issues, and labor shortages in the state. Furthermore, construction on the project was delayed due to one of the worst mud seasons the state had seen in decades. Ultimately, our frame was installed one to two months later than expected, but largely due to unforeseen circumstances that plagued more than just Vermont Frames. Vermont Frames was open about the timeline whenever I inquired, despite it being an unfortunate situation. I don't attribute those hiccups to Vermont Frames.
Actual installation was wonderful. Once the date was confirmed, their installation team was on time, and actually installed everything in less time than was estimated. Vermont Frames is very clear about the schedule of work, and prerequisites that must be completed prior to your scheduled installation date.
Things I wish I knew:
- Their design partners are just okay. They're good plans for overall guidance of the project, and the the homes themselves are beautiful, but many details in the plans are just not realistic. These details fall outside the timber frame construction, however (my plans, for example, contained non-standard sized appliances for the kitchen, and made it nearly impossible to have a sink centered under the window - shame on me for not vetting the plans more thoroughly!). Plans cost a few thousand dollars, and revisions a few hundred in billed labor, as billed by the design firm.
- I wish I knew more details about the craft of timber frame construction beforehand. Mortise and tenon joinery, the process of timbers checking over time, actual impact of SIP r-values to the overall insulation of a house, etc. Ask all the questions. They arrange to make completed projects viewable for customers, or at least did for me. Ask if this is possible, and see the work in person. I probably would have foregone some of the bells and whistles, and gone for others, if I saw them in a completed structure beforehand.
- The SIP work being done in tandem with the frame further simplifies things, but the cost of this work is significant, perhaps even more so than the timber framing itself.
