# Forum Home Renovation Structural Renovation  Frames and Trusses. How long should they take to put up?

## Art Martin

I’ve got a two storey 35sq house I’m planning on building. Roughly same size on each level.   I’ve noticed that frames for two storey homes often go up in 3-5 days, and then the trusses generally only seem to a take a day after that. What I don’t see is how many men are working to get the frame and trusses up in that timeframe?  What’s a reasonable timeframe I should allow just myself and an offsider to get a prefab   ground floor frame up? My guess two days? Subfloor joists? 1 day Yellow tongue floor? ½ day Top floor frame? 2 days Trusses(craned on top) ? 2 days?  7 -8 days for two men? Sound reasonable?  Another question? Is is possible to do it yourself without an offsider? I highly doubt it, but I would imagine it possible to stand up prefrab frames?   Just planning how much leave I should take for this part of the build?  Thanks for any comments.

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## ringtail

Pref fab frames - ground floor 2 guys 1 day
1 day for bracing and strapping and tie down of ground floor
Floor joists 1.5 days
1 day for yellow tongue
upper floor 2 guys 2.5 - 3 days including strapping / bracing tie down/ ribbon plate and making sure its perfect before the trusses arrive
Trusses including strapping and tie down 2 days 2 guys 
So not too far off the mark, but anything can and does happen in the trade so expect the unexpected. Very rarely does evrything go perfectly and there are always issues to deal with along the way. 
Note - ; theses times are for qualified persons who know what they are doing and are doing it properly ( not a spec home) 
If you are new to all, even if your offsider is a pro, blow out the time by 50 - 80 %. Chippy gangs go hard as they paid per frame. No chance with one person.

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## Art Martin

> Pref fab frames - ground floor 2 guys 1 day
> 1 day for bracing and strapping and tie down of ground floor
> Floor joists 1.5 days
> 1 day for yellow tongue
> upper floor 2 guys 2.5 - 3 days including strapping / bracing tie down/ ribbon plate and making sure its perfect before the trusses arrive
> Trusses including strapping and tie down 2 days 2 guys 
> So not too far off the mark, but anything can and does happen in the trade so expect the unexpected. Very rarely does evrything go perfectly and there are always issues to deal with along the way. 
> Note - ; theses times are for qualified persons who know what they are doing and are doing it properly ( not a spec home) 
> If you are new to all, even if your offsider is a pro, blow out the time by 50 - 80 %. Chippy gangs go hard as they paid per frame. No chance with one person.

  Thanks ringtail. That gives me a good idea. 
When you say "doing it properly(not a spec home)", are you saying there are a lot of corners cut by those guys to make it quicker? If so, how do they get away with it during the frame inspection?

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## ringtail

Dodgy work happens everywhere in every trade and the frame inspection (or any inspection) is only as good as the guy doing the inspection. Say no more.

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## intertd6

if you have no experience in timber framing, especially 2 storey then I suggest you get someone with the relevant experience to at least oversee the project to get a decent level of quality & safety. You will need the frame fully scaffolded to work safely when doing the roof plus an allowance for craneage.
regards inter

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## Gaza

maybe have truss company do supply & errect, its not as simple as it looks, plus not all guys have all the tools like trip grip gun & ramset gun, while it can be done other ways these take longer

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## Art Martin

Thanks for the advice guys. 
I'm done a few full reno's, including a fair bit of structural work, although never a house. I feel pretty comfortable tackling the frame, as I'm pretty vigilant about quality and safety. All the bracing and fixing requirements are either laid out by the engineer, frame and truss maker as well as AS. It's not an unknown entity. Besides, when it's your own build, it's not as though you're rocking up to the job on a monday morning with no idea about the frame you're about to build. As an OB, you've been living it for the last year or so, so you have a clear idea of exactly what you need to do well before you turn up on the first day. You'd probably find a lot of OB's know the structure of the building back to front, because they've either designed it or visualised it themselves.(there'd be a lot who wouldn't though too i'd imagine) Happy to be corrected on some of these points, however that's the current view... 
That said, I actually planned on getting a retired chippy in as an offsider, or if that falls through, get a young keen chippy willing to do the work over a few weekends.  
And yep, good point. Get the scaffold on board early in the piece....

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## ringtail

Its hardly rocket science. A few little tips and tricks of the trade is all you need and if you get a chippy ( the old one) he should know them. If you go the prefab frames its just a matter of standing them up, plumbing and bracing them. Stick built is a different matter.  x 2 on the supply and install on the trusses. PITA of a job I reckon and if the one company does the lot they have no one to blame - provided the frame is good of course.

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## Art Martin

> Its hardly rocket science. A few little tips and tricks of the trade is all you need and if you get a chippy ( the old one) he should know them. If you go the prefab frames its just a matter of standing them up, plumbing and bracing them. Stick built is a different matter. x 2 on the supply and install on the trusses. PITA of a job I reckon and if the one company does the lot they have no one to blame - provided the frame is good of course.

  Thanks mate. I'll always planned on going prefab. I reckon it would take forever to stick build a frame, and from what i've been told, the cost saving is only marginal anyway.

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## ringtail

I have never done the sums but I would say it would be more or less the same price and the extra freight costs would be the difference. I used to hate framing - well not hate it, but I found it boring as. A crew of 3 is good for stick building - labourer cutting the timber and 2 guys assembling and standing. Gives me shivers just thinking of a whole pack of studs waiting for you on a Monday morning.

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## intertd6

good to see your going to get some help, just remember this, besides the engineers bracing & fixing details you will need plenty of temp' bracing to hold everything nice & straight untill the roof loaded & finished. Trusses are not hard to do if you have the skills to work above ground, a few hours with a crane makes life easy
regards inter

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