We work with builders, homeowners, and architects to design custom timber frame homes. Our homes include design elements such as vaulted ceilings, decorative beams, and timber trusses. Our team not only designs, engineers, and constructs timber frames for new homes, we also add timber additions to existing homes. Beams and trusses can be used to dress up living rooms, foyers and great rooms. Whether you’re looking to build or dream home, or add trusses to an existing home, we will design something that will exceed your expectations.

The Post and Beam Barn is an integral part of the timber framing legacy. Traditionally used for horses and livestock, barns have evolved to store equipment, display automobiles, host weddings and be cozy get-a-ways. Post and beam framing is perfect for the spans needed in horse barns and stables. Most barn designs are based on  12’x12’ stall grid with a 12 foot or 14-foot center aisle. Party barns can have clear spans of forty feet or more. We have manufactured rustic timber frames out of native hemlock for country barns and elegant horse stable frames out of smooth finished Douglas fir. We design barns that have been used for storage, stables, homes, and private events and can help you custom design the perfect barn for your needs.

Vermont Timber Works is proud of our experience designing and constructing Heavy Timber Frames for sacred spaces. We have worked on many heavy timber church and monastery projects over the years. A few are featured on these pages. Often, we can value engineer beautiful timber frames to meet a congregation’s budget. Ideas range from simple king post truss designs with curved knee braces, to complex scissor truss or hammer beam designs for the most elegant sanctuaries. With our in-house design and engineering experts, we can create a custom timber frame church from the ground up, or we can add to existing structures.

Timber framing is an ideal design aesthetic and building method for spacious, inviting public gathering places at regional, federal and state parks. At Vermont Timber Works, we have designed, engineered and built handsome, durable structures that serve the needs of both local communities and long-distance travelers. Our bold post and beam buildings lend themselves to the scale and expansiveness of parks themselves, echoing the visual strength of forests and the airy, light-filled expansiveness of meadows and lawns.

Heavy Timber Trusses are a perfect way to dress up a house’s great room or kitchen. They are also economical solutions for hotels, restaurants, and businesses that want a high-end look using timber frame construction. Vermont Timber Works will custom design exposed wood beams and trusses for large or small rooms to meet our clients’ needs. While all our trusses look decorative, most are structural and are designed to carry heavy roof loads. We use traditional mortise and tenon joinery held with hardwood pegs as well as decorative steel plates with bolts and tie rods. The aesthetic of each project is unique some clients prefer all wood joinery, others prefer the look steel gusset plates.  When using traditional joinery on large projects we will often hide structural steel plates and rods in the timber to keep that traditional look while meeting the engineering requirements for the project.

With 39 years of experience designing complex residential and commercial heavy timber projects, our company is an excellent resource for structural engineers looking for timber design solutions. Often we can help find simple solutions for complex design problems and are always happy to help. Many times, joints that appear to require steel gusset plates can be done with traditional timber joinery and hardwood pegs, or an architect, builder or owner will prefer metal plate connections, which we are also happy to help design. Heavy Timber projects include hotels, welcome centers, restaurants, pool houses, ski lodges, schools, museums and porte cocheres.