Services
Build Kits
The frame cut, labeled and crated at our mill, then shipped to your site anywhere in the country.
Ships Nationwide
A Kit Moves the Hard Part to the Mill
The difficult part of a timber frame is not lifting it. It is the cutting, and a kit is the decision to do that here, under a roof, with the right saws, rather than on a slab in the rain.
We mill the timber, cut it to your drawings, work the joinery, specify and supply the hardware, label every piece for the order it goes together in, and put it on a flatbed. What arrives is a frame in parts rather than a pile of lumber and a problem.
That matters most to the people furthest from us. A contractor in Montana can have Pacific Northwest Douglas Fir in sections nobody local stocks, without sourcing it, without a timber framer on staff, and without owning a chain mortiser they will use once. If you would rather handle the cutting yourself, ordering the timber as a cut list is the cheaper route.
Get a Kit Quote
What We Ship
Kit Types
These are the shapes we cut most often, not a catalog. Every one is sized to your drawings. Horse facilities have their own set of constraints, which are covered under equestrian timber.
Pavilion Kits
Posts, beams, rafters and hardware for a covered outdoor structure, ready to set on a pad you have already poured.
Barn Frame Kits
Full post-and-beam barn frames cut and packaged for flatbed delivery, sized around the bay spacing you need rather than a catalog span.
Entry Gate Kits
Short members in very large sections. Shipped assembled or as a kit depending on how big the posts end up.
Pergola Kits
Pergola frames for residential and commercial outdoor spaces, where every member is visible and section size is doing aesthetic work as well as structural.
Run-In Shelter Kits
Three-sided shelters for horses at pasture, cut for fast assembly because they usually go up a long way from power.
Custom Kits
Anything drawn. Send the drawings and we will quote the cut, the joinery and the hardware against them.
Worth Knowing First
What a Kit Does Not Cover
The frame is one layer of a structure. Below it there is a foundation, and posts should land on a pier or footing with a standoff bracket rather than in the ground. A buried post sits in moisture permanently, concrete around it makes that worse by holding water against the wood, and Douglas Fir is not naturally rot resistant. That detail is the single most common reason an outdoor timber structure fails early, and it is site work rather than kit work.
Above the frame, roofing, glazing and gutters are separate trades. Permits and engineering stamps are yours, though we can supply published design values and grade stamps for whoever is doing the calculations.
None of that is a reason to avoid a kit. It is the reason to have the slab poured and the brackets set before the truck shows up, because heavy timber is expensive to store and awkward to move twice.
Common Questions
Build Kit FAQ
What is actually in a build kit?
Timbers cut to your spec, all structural hardware including bolts, brackets and connectors, an assembly guide, and every piece labeled for sequence so the frame goes up in the order it was drawn. Some kits ship with holes pre-drilled and subframes pre-assembled where that saves more time than it costs in freight.
What is not in it?
Anything below the frame and anything on top of it. Foundations, piers and standoff brackets are site work, roofing and glazing are separate trades, and permits are yours. A kit solves the timber, which on an exposed structure is most of the difficulty but not all of it.
How is the kit shipped?
Flatbed freight. We package it to survive the trip and quote the freight alongside the kit rather than after it, because on heavy timber the freight is a real line item and you should see it before you commit. Green Douglas Fir runs about 42 lb per cubic foot, so weight drives the number more than volume does.
Do I need a contractor to assemble it?
For a pergola or a run-in shelter, a small crew with basic equipment and the assembly guide is usually enough. For anything with long members or real height, use a contractor. Heavy timber is unforgiving of being dropped and the members are heavier than they look. In western Washington our partner company Svensen Builders can raise it. Everywhere else, the kit is built for your own builder.
What are the lead times?
Standard kits typically ship in 3 to 6 weeks. Custom designs take longer depending on how much joinery is involved. We confirm timing with the quote rather than after the order, and the guide to ordering custom heavy timber covers what we need from you to start.
Will the timber move after it is assembled?
Yes, and it is supposed to. Kits ship green, so the frame will shrink slightly and check on the face over the first couple of years. That is why the hardware is specified the way it is. There is more on what is normal and what is not in twist, splits and checks in solid sawn Douglas Fir.
Can you ship internationally?
Yes. Kits and raw timber both go overseas. The export page covers documentation and the port side of it.