How much do the huts weigh?
It all depends on what is in the hut, and its size - but they can be anything from one ton up to five tons.
Why choose a steel frame and chassis hut?
We make the hut with a steel frame and chassis as Dave has over 30 years’ experience in steel frame buildings. We use 40mm box steel for the frame and 50mm box steel for the chassis.
This gives you a long lasting hut that can be moved almost anywhere and not twist or swell like wooden frames; also, you don’t see the frame at all and only a small part of the chassis so it’s not important for the look of the hut. It does not create a cold bridge and cause condensation as some think.
Do you give a guarantee with the hut?
We give a 30 year guarantee for the frame, chassis and wheels. If you have a corrugated exterior, we get a 25 year guarantee from our supplier unless you are within 25 miles of the coast line; this is then reduced by 10 years and you have a choice of over 25 colours – which isn’t painted on, it comes as the colour chosen and is .07 plastic coated so will never peel off. The Red Cedar Wood is supposed to last as long as the corrugated, we have been told, but it does need treating at least three times a year to help preserve the wood and colour. The only thing you have to do is look after the windows and doors and clean the corrugated with water when needed.
Do you import any products for making the huts?
No! We use all local suppliers wherever possible. If it cannot be sourced locally to us, then we always use a British manufacturer. Even our cast iron wheels are made by a local family-run traditional foundry that keeps our pattern for our exclusive use. Our windows and doors are made by a local joinery that we could practically walk to and collect them; they use the same practice as us, to buy everything locally, even the ironmongery. No imports for us!!
Even our number plaques are made locally to us, which we order in batches of 10. When you order a hut, we give you the next number. This is then put on the hut before it’s delivered in a place of your choice. We think it will then be part of history when people look back in 100 years’ time and will be able to see how many we made and where in the UK or aboard they went.
Do you insulate the huts?
Yes! We use insulation on the roof, walls and floor. We can also supply certain products for insulation; if you want a recycled product or have your own choice of insulation, ie. wool, we can do it. You can use your hut all year round; all you need to do is to make sure you have a small heater during the winter just like you would in the house.
Are the huts too warm in the summer if it’s all corrugated?
No! They are so well insulated that they keep cool in the summer and warm in the winter. We even tried this out last year at the CLA game fair as it was one of the hottest weekends of the year.
People came into the huts to cool down and asked why they were cool, which is down to the amount of insulation, especially in the roof; we asked people to touch the roof panel on the outside and then the interior roof to see if it was true.
So it would be the like saying ‘like a cat on a hot tin roof’, but not on the inside!
What safety standards do you use?
We have a team of qualified electricians who we use to NIC level to install our electrics so we can supply you with a certificate if you are renting the hut out. Also, we have a team of qualified plumbers to install the boilers and a caravan expert who is qualified in the ALDE system if this is installed in any of the huts.
There have been recent changes in the law for installing wood burners in huts, so we now price for delivery & installation of a wood burner as a separate item to the hut. We have a company that are qualified HETAS engineers and will travel to where ever in the UK or abroad we take the hut, once we deliver the hut they will then install the wood burner and give you the safety certificates. So we all know everyone is safe then!
As standard, we include a carbon monoxide alarm, fire extinguisher and smoke alarm in all of our huts, also a fire blanket if you have a kitchen in the hut.
Do you charge for delivery? Access is difficult, what can we do?
Huts up to 24ft x 9ft we transport on our own lorry.
If the hut is over 24ft x 9ft a haulage company must be contacted – we can then confirm a cost for this once we have your postcode.
Delivery: We charge £4 per mile including return journey . This is charged on a separate Invoice with the final payment for the hut.
Self build huts: Price on application.
Delivery exceptions-
We request as much information as possible from you for delivery to include photos and advise of any difficult areas which may be encountered during installation. We can install the hut into position if
the groundworks are ready. Otherwise the hut can be left with you for positioning by yourselves after delivery.
We will not charge for installing the hut unless it takes longer than 2 hours or difficult obstacles are encountered on route that have not been advised of in advance. Over 2 hours, charges of £30 per hour are applied.
The hut can have soft wheels put on for delivery if the ground is soft, we will check before delivery if we need to bring these with us.
Access to site-
We would like to advise you that the hut is delivered on a very large lorry (please ask if you would like to see a photo of the lorry and trailer) that has a trailer on the back with a load-all for helping move the hut into position so we ask that there is somewhere near by that it can be parked and safely remove the trailer without blocking the road. We would be grateful for your help with this as it is a large heavy item we are bringing.
Crane hire –
Our huts can be craned into difficult areas, we have found the best way is to contact a local crane company to see if they will quote you then if it is doable then we know we will be able to get the hut in. We are more than happy to talk to your crane company to discuss the hut delivery in more detail if they are not used to lifting huts.
Services below the hut-
The hut comes with all the waste pipes below the hut around 6 inches in length which will then need fitting to your waste system by yourselves once the hut is installed. The electrical socket will be underneath the hut ready to be connected by your electrician, they will need to check the electrics again and NIC you directly as ours NIC Certificate is only valid from being checked at our workshop.
We request the position for the hut to be level with no waste/water/electrical cables to obstruct the movement of the hut to get it into position.
Do we need any special base for the hut to sit on?
You can sit the hut on normal slabs. We can let you know the distance between the wheels so you can get this ready before the hut arrives; some customers have placed a concrete slab sunk into the ground or even railway sleepers. Depending on the condition of the ground, you can always just leave it directly on the ground.
Can you move the hut once we have installed it?
We supply a detachable draw bar with a turn table underneath so that you can move your hut in a complete circle and re-position the hut. All you need is a vehicle with a ball hitch. A quad bike, tractor or Land Rover is fine. This is really useful because, in the winter, you may prefer the hut to be nearer to somewhere and then have it moved to a different location for the summer. If you move house, we can always come back with our trailer and help you move it so you never lose on your investment because it goes with you. Again, this is a good reason to have a steel frame and chassis as it will cope with most journeys off the trailer on private land and not twist or move like timber frames.
What do you use on the interior finish?
We use tongue and groove on the roof and MDF bead and butt and panels for the walls. The architrave and skirting is also MDF that is primed more than once then painted with a top quality paint. The choice of colours used for your interior finish is endless. We colour match from popular paint companies to use our choice of paint which maximises the quality of the finish through our sprayers. The flooring used is again down to your preferences, we have a range of options to choose from laminate to engineered oak in many finishes.
How rodent proof are the huts?
We have an aluminium facia below the curve of the roof, which will stop any birds or rodents getting in the gaps and a small gap at the bottom of the corrugated side panel with a drip flashing that allows the air to circulate but is too small for anything to get in.
Do we need planning permission?
We have found that some people do and others don’t. The planning department local to where you live will let you know if you do or do not need planning. If you are going for change of use on the land or renting the hut out, then you do tend to need planning. Otherwise, we always advise you to contact your local planning officer and ask their advice.
We have an architect who will do a scale drawing with elevations and floor plan that you can use if you need to go to planning. This has been really helpful to some of our previous customers who did need planning as the planning officers have it all correctly shown in their particular style required. This usually incurs a cost from the architect but it is not expensive. It is then always nice to keep showing people how it all started.
Can we stay in one of your huts before we buy one?
We have customers who have purchased huts from us and rent them out as a business or diversified from their normal line of work. Please contact us of you would like to know where they are based and we can give you a link to their website. Depending on whereabouts in the UK you are, we can normally find someone near to you. Some even have hot tubs as part of the rental!
You dream it, we'll build it!