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Bermondsey, London
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Home/How we build

How we build

Six stages, roughly fourteen months, and one person who stays with you through all of it.

Passivhaus TrustFMB Master BuilderFSC® Chain of CustodyNHBC RegisteredTRADA MemberCity & Guilds Carpentry
01

Listen Two to six weeks

We walk the site with you before we quote it. Sun, slope, soil, trees, and the neighbours who will live beside a construction fence for a year. Most of what decides a project is decided here, in conversation, for free.

Site walkFeasibilityBudget range
02

Draw Six to fourteen weeks

Working with your architect or ours, the design goes to a full 3D model — structure, mechanical, cladding, everything. We price from the model, so the number you get is a number, not a range with a shrug attached.

3D modelFixed pricingPermit set
03

Fabricate Eight to sixteen weeks

Timber is cut, drilled and numbered off-site while the foundation is poured. Two trades, two places, one schedule. This is where a mass-timber project buys back its months.

CNC timberShop drawingsSequencing
04

Raise Days, not months

The frame arrives in erection order and goes up with our own crew. Chiltern Ridge took eleven days. The Greenwich Pavilion took nine. Watching it is the best part of the job and we will tell you when to come.

Own crewCrane planWeather margin
05

Close Four to seven months

Envelope, services, finishes. One site lead from first pour to final walk — no handoffs, no re-explaining your kitchen to a stranger in month nine. Blower-door test before drywall, not after.

Blower doorSingle leadWeekly reports
06

Hand over And the year after

You get a bound manual, a full set of as-builts, and our phone number. We come back at three months and twelve months, spanner in hand, whether or not anything is wrong.

As-builts10-yr warranty12-mo return
Ironwood carpenters framing
The honest part

What we tell
every client.

We are not the cheapest bid

We are usually within 8% of the middle one. What we are is the number that does not move, because we price from a finished model instead of a hopeful sketch.

Change orders are real

Move a wall in month two and it costs a little. Move it in month nine and it costs a lot. We will show you the difference before you decide, not after.

Six to eight a year

That is our capacity with our own crew. When we are full we say so and tell you who else is good. We would rather lose a job than staff one badly.

Questions

Asked often.

What does a custom home cost per square foot?+
In London and the Home Counties in 2026, our custom homes land between £480 and £700 per square foot depending on site, finish level and how much glass you want. Mass timber civic work prices differently — ask us and we will walk you through it.
Do we need an architect first?+
Not necessarily. About half our homes are design-build with our in-house team, and half come to us with drawings already done. Coming to us early is cheaper either way, because we can flag the expensive ideas while they are still free to change.
How far do you travel?+
Greater London, the Home Counties, the Chilterns, the Kent and Sussex Weald, and the Essex coast. Beyond that, only for mass timber, and only if we can house the crew.
Is Passivhaus worth it?+
If you plan to keep the house more than ten years, yes — usually a 6–9% premium on the envelope for an 80–90% cut in heating. If you are building to sell in three, we will say so and build you a very good conventional envelope instead.
What happens if you find rot?+
We open a wall, we photograph it, we call you the same day with two prices. You have never heard from us about a surprise on a Friday afternoon at 4:55pm and you never will.

Let’s build
something that lasts.

We take on six to eight projects a year. Conversations for 2027 are open now.

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