ᐅ Timber frame construction or solid construction

Hello everyone,

I have a question regarding the costs of a single-family house built with a timber frame construction. I have read in various building forums and on specialized websites that a solid masonry house is approximately 30% more expensive than a timber frame house.

The house is a roughly 140 m² (1507 sq ft) city villa with two full stories and a hipped roof. The exterior facade is planned to be fully clad.

I am also wondering how much money could be saved if the interior wall and ceiling boarding and insulation were done as a DIY project. Labor costs for window installation, interior finishing (drywall), and electrical work would be eliminated because these tasks will be carried out by family members and myself.

Furthermore, the house should meet standard comfort levels: underfloor heating powered by an air source heat pump, automated blinds control, standard floor coverings, and so on.

Ground floor: kitchen, living/dining room, storage/utility room, guest toilet
Upper floor: bathroom, 2 children’s bedrooms, master bedroom plus walk-in closet, office

Maybe someone could give me an approximate price to help with further planning.

Thank you very much.

I don’t think that is really accurate. With the current construction boom, houses built with timber framing can sometimes even be more expensive. Of course, there are always exceptions, but in those cases the quality is usually higher as well. Generally, I would say that both construction methods are quite comparable in cost when the quality is similar.

As far as I know, with many “prefabricated house” providers it is not possible to remove the windows because they are integrated into the building envelope. However, I’m not entirely sure about this.

In general, you should take a look around this forum, as there are several threads discussing the question of masonry construction versus timber frame construction.

And at least just as many threads showing how it works with the help of friends and family.

jaeger schrieb:
I don’t think that’s really true. With the current construction boom, houses built with timber frame construction are sometimes even more expensive.

I can only confirm that. We compared all options for the same floor plan: custom build with an architect (very high quality), general contractor, and prefabricated house company. You can never really compare properly because each has its own specifics. It’s also difficult to compare detailed specifications for turnkey construction. Every provider includes some extras that others don’t have included. But if you describe the construction process in detail, you’ll find that solid masonry construction and timber frame construction are close in price, and timber frame can even be more expensive.

It also depends somewhat on the architecture you want to build. Timber frame has the disadvantage that for large spans, the wooden beams must be very massive, or steel beams have to be installed instead, which increases costs. Conversely, if you want to achieve a very high energy efficiency standard, that is likely easier to do with timber frame construction than with solid masonry.

Conclusion: It largely depends on WHAT you want to build and which features are important to you. But the claim that solid masonry construction is 30% more expensive than timber frame construction is probably an apples-to-oranges comparison—that is, the cheapest prefabricated timber frame house compared with the most expensive solid masonry house. Ultimately, the difference is mostly in the shell; everything else is essentially identical.

Timber framing is definitely not cheaper, rather somewhat more expensive, but of course equally well equipped. However, the difference between the two construction methods is certainly not as much as 30%.

Best regards
Sabine