Fraemohs Homes

Monni Fraemohs drew on both his Danish heritage and his engineering background to develop a business designing and building kitset homes out of solid timber. Monni was disappointed to see New Zealand-grown timber being sold overseas as pulp and was ahead of his time in understanding the importance to New Zealand’s economy of value-added products. He was also an “employer of choice” before this became a buzzword, treating his staff as dignified individuals and offering them generous benefits.

It is our stated purpose to provide sustainable timber building to protect the New Zealand environment and way of life, so that future generations of New Zealanders can enjoy life as we do.

Our vision is to transition the New Zealand construction industry to a sustainable timber future.

Guiding us at all times are our company values of long-term thinking, integrity and honesty.

Building with Fraemohs Homes gives you peace of mind. All our team are experienced professionals, from our management staff to our valuable trade partners. Your home is your biggest asset, so there is simply no room for error. We don’t take risks, preferring instead to work with proven technologies, quality materials and reliable people.

You’ll also be surprised at how many items charged elsewhere as extras are included in Fraemohs Homes, such as quality carpets and superior fittings and appliances. We know how to reduce costs and minimise stress. You can expect the best from us, and with our team committed to creating the latest in living solutions, you can be confident you’ll get the home of your dreams.

DURABILITY & STRENGTH

Solid wood construction is backed by 50 years of proven performance in New Zealand and a wealth of research to make it better than ever. Solid wood has proven to be one of the safest building systems in an earthquake.

LOCAL EXPERTISE

As locals, we understand New Zealand’s unique building challenges like no-one else. Our team’s expertise will ensure that you get the best home for you and your family.

SUSTAINABLE

Solid wood is natural, biodegradable and locks up large amounts of CO2 indefinitely. Plus it’s the only renewable building resource on the planet!

DECADES OF EXPERIENCE

We know that building your new home is one of the most important decisions you will ever make, so let us show you what over 50 years of experience can do.

CUSTOM DESIGN

Our plan or yours; our sales consultants and designers walk you through the process of designing a timber home that is just right for you.

HEALTHY LIVING

Solid wood naturally breathes creating better indoor humidity, which in turn translates into improved comfort and health for you!

Fraemohs Homes has been designing and manufacturing Scandinavian style kitset homes in New Zealand for over 50 years. All featuring handcrafted sustainably grown New Zealand timber. For our first thirty years we were known for our range of Solid Timber flat pack homes; in fact this is all we did. Over the last two decades however we have updated our designs and materials to match the times, applying our knowledge of flat pack home assembly systems to kit homes which feature a range of different materials. Regardless of style or price, the main constant you can expect with any of our modular kit homes is quality.

Earthquake resistant homes from our Solid Timber range performed exceptionally well during the Christchurch earthquakes of 2011, and more recently during the Kaikoura earthquakes of 2016. 

In one instance, one of our Solid Timber homes remained completely unscathed following the 7.8 earthquake in Waiau, despite the home being positioned literally 30 metres from the fault line. Many other homes and buildings in the same small town were decimated and in ruins.

We regularly have owners of Fraemohs homes contact us saying how safe they felt in their homes during the earthquakes. Here are a few:

“The best earthquake proof house – it handled the 7.8 no problems. I’d recommend to anyone going to build. Cheers Fraemohs.”

“Hi, not sure if this is of interest to the design team at Fraemohs but we have a 35 year old Fraemohs house on piles near Waiau so wanted to let you know that we are delighted to report no earthquake damage. The house coped very well with a huge shake.”

“I was in Hanmer in a wooden Fraemohs chalet trying to fix my phone while my wife watched a TV movie when the first big 7.5 hit. I have to say the chalet was great – strong as a boat in a storm as we rocked and rolled. It was built on a good thick concrete pad and the interlocking beam walls performed perfectly.”

“The house just rattle and rolled and then settled back into position again.”

“I live in a Fraemohs home in Spencerville and after 3 major earthquakes we have had no damage. Thanks Fraemohs for keeping my family safe.”

“Just a couple of kilometres up the road virtually an entire subdivision got ruined by the earthquakes – but our Fraemohs didn’t even require repairs. The only thing on our property to suffer damage was the driveway!”

“We have just moved to a property with a 70s original Fraemohs house – it rolled with the quake but we still felt safe – unlike the Chch house that broke apart in Feb 11.”

“Thanks Fraemohs, I feel safe in my home”

“Our 1981 Fraemohs home on poles in Mt Pleasant Chch had no damage requiring repair other than a hot water cylinder. Recommend!

An engineering perspective

The following is an excerpt from a report titled Performance Of Houses During The Christchurch Earthquakes of 22 February 2011 by Andrew Buchanan, David Carradine and Hugh Morris for The New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering Inc:

“While these buildings were reported to have moved significantly during the earthquake, the damage observed after the event was minimal, even in cases where significant ground settlement (up to 200 mm) was observed. It was noted that for Fraemohs houses built using 63mm thick (2 and 3 laminates) walls, there were some cases where small portions of the timber sections had sheared off near the bottoms of walls, as shown in Figure 43. This was reported to be the most severe damage to any of the inspected Fraemohs homes and it was noted that the failures occurred in places where the laminates were half notched, therefore having a smaller cross section.

No damage was observed in Fraemohs homes made using 93 mm thick, 3 ply laminates. A Fraemohs house located in the Avondale area of Christchurch was found to have only minimal separation of some of the log/timber courses even though the house suffered differential settlements up to 100 mm, cracking of the concrete floor slab, and severe liquefaction resulting in several tonnes of silt needing to be removed from inside the house and from the surrounding yard.”

Even better today

As this excerpt shows, despite being subject to serious movement of the ground and supporting foundations, Fraemohs Homes suffered only minimal damage. This damage was observed only in those homes with 63mm thick walls. As a result, we now use 100mm thick 3 ply external walls and 60mm thick internal walls as standard so our current homes are even more earthquake resistant.