Oakwright country buildings

[acme]

Anyone got one of their buildings or know much about them?

Thanks in advance

[Equus]

I've worked with them in the past (they did the oak frame of a bloody great 'manor house' for a client in Hampshire that I worked on).

Good company; know their stuff, and I'd be happy to work with them again.

ETA: 'Oakwrights Country Buildings' is their garages and outbuildings division, of course - I worked with the team that did their 'bespoke' frames - but I've no reason to think that the quality or ethos they apply to their 'country buildings' range would be any different.

Edited by Equus on Wednesday 29th November 21:15

[acme]

Many thanks for the response, appreciated.

Anyone else? It is the garages/outbuildings I'm interested in.

Thanks

[dsl2]

Excellent company, financially stable & do as they say they will.

Night & day different quality to the other companies I looked at prior to placing an order for an Oak framed garage & matching house!

[acme]

Many thanks for the reply. If I remember correctly you replied with some pictures on a thread regarding garages with rooms above, yours looked very impressive. I recall the cost was very high, though you implied grounds works were a major factor.

I assume yours was bespoke as oppose to an off the peg version?

Cheers

[Equus]

acme said:

...I recall the cost was very high, though you implied grounds works were a major factor.

It has to be said, Oakwrights are not the cheapest company on the market.

You get what you pay for?

[dsl2]

Indeed we flood here, are on clay close to trees so the piled foundations alone were circa £30K then I spent a lot on doing it all inside to top spec as its our forever location, the garage provides fully self contained additional accommodation with two bedrooms / kitchen & living space / decent bathroom all underfloor heated & insulated well above the required specs, including separate gas supply / boiler / poo tank / alarm / CCTV etc so it soon adds up

[dsl2]

Prior to going with Oakwrights my dad had an oak framed garage from Prime oak & what a cheap looking piece of tat it is, tiny cross section badly finished oak frame not a patch on the quality of Oakwrights.

[acme]

Thanks again for the replies. I remember what you stated as a total cost for your project, estimates so far for my (bespoke) three bay weren't to dissimilar (& that didn't include any fixings etc in the room above), hence why I'm looking at 'prefab' versions.

Grounds work costs from a couple of builders were circa 40k, & that didn't include piling, but deeper strip foundations! For some reason they must think I'm a total mug!

Dealing with builders is a real PITA!

[Equus]

acme said:

Grounds work costs from a couple of builders were circa 40k, & that didn't include piling, but deeper strip foundations! For some reason they must think I'm a total mug!

Do be careful about what is included in the internal fit-out of the building, even from Oakwrights. A company I used to be Design & Tech Director of used to offer similar buildings and, for example, while the 'kit' for a room-in-roof double garage might come to less than £20K, that was for an insulated structure with no electrics, plumbing or finishes.

Without boring you with the technical details, there is a lot of extra work involved in insulating theses sort of structures properly (it's not just a matter of clagging on a bit of Celotex - you need breather membranes, ventilated cavities and vapour barriers.

It's very easy indeed to see the cost of a £20K 'kit' escalate to £45-£60K, fully fitted out.

Depending on the design, strip foundations might not be the most appropriate solution. At risk of stating the obvious, these are post and beam structures, so if there is no masonry being added at ground floor level, then individual pad foundations can sometimes be the most appropriate solution - although we frequently used a reinforced concrete slab with edge thickening to form the floor and foundations for the frame, in one. Again Oakwirghts will be able to advise to some degree (subject to ground conditions on your site).

[acme]

Equus said:

Do be careful about what is included in the internal fit-out of the building, even from Oakwrights. A company I used to be Design & Tech Director of used to offer similar buildings and, for example, while the 'kit' for a room-in-roof double garage might come to less than £20K, that was for an insulated structure with no electrics, plumbing or finishes.

Without boring you with the technical details, there is a lot of extra work involved in insulating theses sort of structures properly (it's not just a matter of clagging on a bit of Celotex - you need breather membranes, ventilated cavities and vapour barriers.

It's very easy indeed to see the cost of a £20K 'kit' escalate to £45-£60K, fully fitted out.

Depending on the design, strip foundations might not be the most appropriate solution. At risk of stating the obvious, these are post and beam structures, so if there is no masonry being added at ground floor level, then individual pad foundations can sometimes be the most appropriate solution - although we frequently used a reinforced concrete slab with edge thickening to form the floor and foundations for the frame, in one. Again Oakwirghts will be able to advise to some degree (subject to ground conditions on your site).

Many thanks for the detailed response, appreciated.

The premise of my triple was that whilst building a garage I had a room in the roof to add value given the cost of the garage itself, seemed to make sense 'til the quotes came in.......

I didn't intend on finishing it out, and of course spec is a personal thing.

I started with piling, a soil test proved deep strip foundations were enough.

As far as I can tell these tend to be on a few courses of brick, then built from there. Again, the foundations are far cheaper if only a single story garage from what I can tell. Agreed re finishes for example I'm now aware of just how expensive celotex is and how deep building regs want insulation to go, often not just between the beams, but over the top of it too!

A standard single height garage is the way I'm most likely to go, but just exploring options, and as nobody I know is mad enough to have more than a double PH is the best place to ask

Cheers

[Equus]

acme said:

I started with piling, a soil test proved deep strip foundations were enough.

Well, of course the decision between deep strip foundations and piling comes down to cost... go deep enough, and strip foundations work pretty much everywhere, but there comes a point when the extra excavation and concrete involved outweighs the cost of a piled solution.

To which end, there's obviously not much point using a massive amount of concrete to to build a continuous deep strip foundation, when there are only six small point loads coming down from the posts of the frame... pads are a more sensible, cost-effective solution.

But there again, if you're building a reinforced slab to act as the floor of a garage, it takes very little extra by way of reinforcement and edge thickening to turn it into a raft capable of supporting the entire structure.

As I said, unless there are masonry wall panels to support at ground floor, it is unusual for a strip foundation to be the most appropriate and cost effective solution for this sort of building.

Unless there are serious levels issues to contend with, it would be unusual for the slab and foundations for a triple garage to run to much more than £10K - usually quite a bit less.

[acme]

Equus said:

Well, of course the decision between deep strip foundations and piling comes down to cost... go deep enough, and strip foundations work pretty much everywhere, but there comes a point when the extra excavation and concrete involved outweighs the cost of a piled solution.

To which end, there's obviously not much point using a massive amount of concrete to to build a continuous deep strip foundation, when there are only six small point loads coming down from the posts of the frame... pads are a more sensible, cost-effective solution.

But there again, if you're building a reinforced slab to act as the floor of a garage, it takes very little extra by way of reinforcement and edge thickening to turn it into a raft capable of supporting the entire structure.

As I said, unless there are masonry wall panels to support at ground floor, it is unusual for a strip foundation to be the most appropriate and cost effective solution for this sort of building.

Unless there are serious levels issues to contend with, it would be unusual for the slab and foundations for a triple garage to run to much more than £10K - usually quite a bit less.

Thanks again.

Agreed, piling can be more cost effective if you're going too deep, from what I've learnt. Mine was up to 1.8m in place, trees & it being on a slope no doubt added issue. Some builders were quoting 40k, a local small firm was circa 13.

What is laughable is that two neighbour's properties were converted 2 years ago with garages put on rafts, and I can bet the builder didn't spend anything like that!

I think the cost issue is that there are more projects than builders, and when asking for a triple they assume you're loaded - I just have my priorities centred around the garage rather than elsewhere!

[Equus]

acme said:

I think the cost issue is that there are more projects than builders

This is definitely a factor at the moment - with all building work, unfortunately.

[acme]

Equus said:

This is definitely a factor at the moment - with all building work, unfortunately.

Totally agree with that, some of the quotes I've had have been ridiculous, and it amuses me that the builders seem pi**ed off when I don't want to take them up on their offer!