FAQ
The questions
we are asked most.
The questions people ask most often when they build for the first time. If yours is not here, call or email and ask.
Money
We do not print a figure here. A unit price changes enormously with what it includes, so the same number can mean two different things depending on who quoted it. At a first meeting we fill in a breakdown of the total — building, ancillary works, landscaping, other costs and land — against your own conditions.The categories are here.
On the day of the first meeting we build up a total as a framework. The firm figure comes with the quotation, once the specification is settled. We do not work in a way that only reveals a mismatch with the budget after the drawings are done.
There is no charge for a first consultation. Any cost from the design stage onwards is explained before we start, and we proceed only once you have agreed.
Working back from a monthly repayment to a total is something we do together. Choosing a lender, and the approval itself, are not things we handle on your behalf, but we explain the order the steps come in.
The house
New timber-frame houses are designed on the basis of seismic grade 3 verified by allowable stress design, and the result is confirmed by an airtightness test. Because conditions differ house by house we do not post a single figure here; the specification used in your plan and the calculations behind it are given to you in writing during design. The thinking is set out understructure and building quality.
We do not sell by drawing lines between grades. How we think about the kitchen and the natural materials, as a house made to fit the life in it, is set out underour house.
We will hear what you want, and we work with both the conventional post-and-beam frame and the SE Construction Method. But method and product are chosen after checking the site, the budget and the regulations, so we do not fix them in advance as a promise.
Yes. As well as designing and building new houses we do renovation, remodelling and shop fit-outs. Do not rule yourself out on the size of the job; ask us first.
How it runs
Yes. There are things about the relationship between what can be built and what it costs that are easier to explain before the land is bought. If you bring particulars for a plot, we check what can be checked on the day.
It changes with the plan and with the land, so we do not print one figure here. At the first meeting we give a rough programme for your own project.
It depends on how much there is to decide. Rather than promising a number in advance, we care about handing you the order of what has to be decided and by when.
We work mainly in Sakai City, across southern Osaka and Osaka Prefecture. About an hour by car from our office is one rough guide; for areas beyond that we confirm the use, the scale and our construction capacity, and answer case by case.
This site
Every one is a building we worked on. We never present a rendering or a generated image as a photograph of built work.
To protect the privacy of the people who live there. We show the building, and what can be told from the building.
New timber-frame houses get six third-party quality inspections as standard, and the checks continue after handover. Each scheme is set out underwarranty and inspection. The scope and conditions that apply to your house are given in writing when we sign and again at handover.
Anything not covered here, please phone or email. Some answers take a little looking into, but you will always get one.