Re: >> House Building Direct Labour
With timberframers, its all in the erecting crew, they are mainly subbies, and being subbies they aint too bothered. Get a couple of good carpenters of your own to do it if at all possible, you get charged over the odds for the erecting and as I said the quality may not be good.
Getting your own guys to erect it also saves the haggling over who was supposed to do what, e.g. grounds for plasterboard& rads (grounds are extra bits of timber nailed onto the partition to support plasterboard or radiators etc. try to think where you'll need them - plenty of them in bathrooms & kitchen for all the fittings and maybe if going to have TV stands in the top corner of a room), finishing around dormers etc. etc.
Watch valley rafters (where the roof meets in a "V" running down from the top of the roof to the gutter) to ensure are done well, i.e. maybe ask for them to be doubled up - no shortage of timber when buiilding timberframe, dont spare it. Also the valley boards on the roof where the lead will go, make sure are plenty wide to take the lead, also ensure are solid i.e. not "spongy" to walk on or press - this is because they have to take the weight of lead and water or maybe snow/ice, you dont want sagging to result in leaks in your roof.
lastly - get a bitchy engineer, they may need to kick butt if its not going well