Building with glulam; how much will your project cost?

One of our most popular blogs from the last couple of years is when we talked about how much a glulam structure costs. While every project is different, we realised sharing a ball park figure would be helpful when in your project planning phase.

This was in September 2021, so we thought it would be useful to share what costs look like in 2023.

Timber and steel prices were significantly affected both by the pandemic and the invasion of Ukraine. Timber prices nearly doubled during the pandemic, then came back down significantly in 2022, now we are seeing more gradual rises but still far below peak prices. Steel prices went up similarly but did not fall again in the same way as timber, and we are now seeing price rises again.

For glulam, overall since prices peaked in 2021, prices decreased as much as 30%. They have remained relatively stable, but we are now seeing some slower increase in 2023.

To give you an idea of what projects may cost you if you are thinking of starting a new project, we’ve shared some current examples below.

Small glulam project: house extension

This project was a spruce glulam single storey house extension. A post and beam structure with scissor trusses, this design provided a new kitchen and dining living area, as well as space for an additional bedroom and bathroom.

Medium glulam project: new family home

This project was a two storey, three-bedroom house new residential home. It’s a spruce glulam portal frame structure with glulam beams to support the first floor.

Medium glulam project: new family home

This project was a two storey, three-bedroom house new residential home. It’s a spruce glulam portal frame structure with glulam beams to support the first floor.

Large glulam project: Guildford Lido

This project was a supply of larch glulam frames for a new changing area to be created next to Guildford Lido. The project design has a total of 86 columns and 31 frames which are combined to create the final structure.

As well as size, this project was a higher specification, with both the choice of larch glulam and SiOO:X treatment adding to the final cost. (see our blog here about stains and finishes)