Timber frame specialist Midland Timber Engineering Ltd is investing £100,000 to produce its own trussed rafters.
The company, which operates out of two sites in Leicester, has already installed an AV Birch roof truss press and is now evaluating a metal web joist press to enable it to handle all aspects of frame supply in-house.
Managing director Steve Eversfield said that the investment was partly to help the company keep pace with demand. But he maintained that it was also concerned about the quality of trussed rafters from third party suppliers following the demise of long-established fabricators in the recession, notably Palgrave Brown.
“The failure of companies such as Palgrave, has spawned a lot of smaller businesses, some of whom do not have the expertise or experience,” said Mr Eversfield. “Obviously developers are paying closer attention to their bottom line, but by selecting [trussed rafter] businesses that don’t manufacture to the highest quality standards, they may be storing problems for the future.”
Evidence of this trend, he added, was some companies attempting to undercut MTE by 20%.
“We can’t see how they can offer such prices without compromising quality,” he said.
“We’re also going to supply trussed rafters to other customers,” said operations director Kirk Eversfield. “In fact, we’ve already had a lot of enquiries.”
MTE reports a “steady order book despite the recesssion”, with much of its work in the housing association sector Latest contracts include self-contained flats for the elderly in Bristol, a “care village” for the visually impaired in Bristol and an exclusive £500,000 apartment development in Devon.
The company says it is now applying to join the Trussed Rafter Association.
“That shows how seriously we’re taking this,” said Kirk Eversfield.
