Lancaster County Timber Frames Inc., a highly regarded award-winning shop is, by choice, a small company of passionate people, all of whom are shareholders. Quality of design, service and workmanship are of much more importance to us than volume of output. Read more
Since 1987 we have been crafting mortise and tenon timber frames of the highest order by hand. Each and every one of our timbers is carved in our shop, by our craftsmen, by hand. These same craftsmen are the ones who will arrive at your site to erect your frame, exercising the same care during the raising that they took during the carving.
We have designed and erected over 300 timber frames. Some have been small and simple; others have been large and complex. While private residences constitute a large portion of our work, commercial projects follow closely behind. In the past year and a half, some of our commercial projects include: Gettysburg National Battlefield Museum in PA, Belmont Abbey College Chapel in NC, Great Harbor Yacht Club on Nantucket in MA, Chevy Chase Clubhouse in MD and the I-70 Welcome Centers in MD.
We provide an unedited list of all the architects and builders with whom we have worked, along with their phone numbers. We also believe it is very important that perspective clients inspect some of our projects firsthand. It's all in the details, and the closer you look the better we look.
If you care to check us out on Twitter, our resident tweeter can be found at http://www.twitter.com/Splintergirl (none other than Amy Good).
Guildmaster Award Winner
2010 Guildmaster With Distinction*
2011 Guildmaster With Highest Distinction
2012 Guildmaster
Affiliations
GuildQuality
American College of the Building Arts
Home & Garden Television
Better Business Bureau
American Institute of Building Design
Inc. 5000
National Trust for Historic Preservation
The National Federation of Independent Business
Extreme Makeover Home Edition
Timber Frame Business Council
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
The Historic Preservation Trust of Lancaster County
Timber Framers Guild
The Theodore Burr Covered Bridge Society of Pennsylvania
Guildmaster Q&A
Company History
The company was formed in 1996 by Tony Zaya and Joe McCarthy. These two men had worked for ten years with competing timber frame companies before joining forces. Since both shared the same vision, the same passion and the same eye for detail, and as they were able to attract talented people to join them in their cause, Lancaster County Timber Frames soon became one of the preeminent timber frame companies in the country. In 2007 and 2009 LCTF was named to the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest growing private companies in America. In 2008 one of their projects was featured on HGTV's "Dream House" series. While the company is focused on residential projects, they have also worked on a substantial number of commercial projects including: the clubhouse at Lakehurst Country Club in Lakehurst, NJ.; the Longaberger Barn in Ohio; St. Mary's Catholic Church in Johnson City, TN; The River Company Restaurant and Brewery in Radford, VA ; The Great Harbor Yacht Club on Nantucket, MA and the Gettysburg National Battlefield Museum and Visitor's Center in Gettysburg ,PA.
More than 90% of your clients would recommend your firm to a friend. How do you earn such high praise from your customers?
When we learned that 100% of our clients would recommend our firm to a friend it strengthened our resolve to remain a custom hand crafting shop rather than opt for a CNC machine and the resultant mass production mentality which follows. By limiting our output and by carving all our timbers by hand, we have complete control over the quality of both our work and our services.
Why are you a builder/remodeler/contractor/developer?
We do this work because we love it - and because we don't have to wear neckties.
Is there anything else you'd like people to know about you and your company?
Visit our web site at www.lancotf.com and have a look at some of our projects. Our work says more about who we are, what we do, why we do it, and what we believe than anything we say does.
What is it that attracts people to a timber frame structure?
There are so many levels and so many answers to this question. The essence of it is this: a timber frame is, at its core, a structural sculpture that immediately imparts such a sense of welcoming and protection - a sense of strength and beauty - that it elevates the spirit. A timber frame elicits such reactions, in large part, because it is honest. The quality of the design and workmanship is fully on display, nothing is hidden behind drywall and plaster, and nothing is covered with paint or wallpaper. The truth of it is there for everyone to see.
I highly recommend Lancaster County Timber Frames, Inc. They do what they say they will do for the money they say they can do it. And the work is absolutely impeccable.
It has been our pleasure to work with the entire team to complete the work for The John Wright Restaurant. Many thanks for the kind words.
Tim and Amy bring professionalism and service to the project, which is a cut above. I am looking forward to years of continued working relationships. Good Luck, Dennis DeSimone, president of DeSimone Construction Company
It is our pleasure to work with DeSimone Construction. We have enjoyed the relationship and hope to see it continue for many years in the future.
I was most satisfied with the design process. They really have it down.
It was very pleasurable experience.
I was most satisfied with the workmanship and professionalism.
They are good guys. The have a good client relationship and are professional. I feel good working with them and knowing they can do the job.
The quality of their materials are fantastic.
I was satisfied with the whole project. I can't pinpoint one area or the other.
I have worked with them in the past. My expectations are based on past experiences and they held up to that.
Quality of work was exceptional, delivery was on time if not ahead of schedule, and the people we worked with along the way were always the most helpful and courteous.
None, everything exceeded expectations.
LCTF were a pleasure to deal with. Tim Diener was a great asset to our project. He brought a clear and thoughtful perspective to our project.
We had an issue with General Contractor and the pitch of our roof. Lancaster County Timber Frames could have taken a "not our problem " approach. They did not. They were flexible and open minded and worked toward a solution. Our contact Mr. Tim Diener was excellent.
I think Lancaster County Timber Frames is a wonderful and professional company. The product is awesome and the quality is great. I would recommend them to everybody and anybody who needs work done.
I was satisfied with everything.
Lancaster County Timber Frames provided me with top notch service. After a bad experience with the first timber frame company I dealt with, I hired the folks at Lancaster County to clean up the mess. This included refurbishing a frame created by the first company a year prior and replacing some timbers. I had been told that the whole thing had to be scrapped, and my entire investment was gone. Tony Zaya of Lancaster Country Timber Frames recommended I get a second opinion, which they gave me. They were able to salvage the vast majority of my frame, and recreate the pieces that had moved too much to use. They did so quickly and with the utmost professionalism. I was able to maintain my build schedule, which still amazes me to this day. I wish I had hired them from the start. They were so committed to a job well done, that prior to them leaving the job site, one of the craftsmen noticed that the crane operator had discarded a number of cigarette butts on the ground. Because of their commitment and professionalism, they weren't going to allow someone else's behavior to sully their reputation, so they picked up every single one of the butts prior to leaving the site. If you want someone to pay as much attention to your house as they would to their own, hire Lancaster County Timber Frames.
The pleasure was truly ours. The clients were kind, appreciative, and very easy to work with.
Professionalism, attention to detail, & customer service.
Preplanning, shop drawings, craftsmanship and performance
None, they excelled in all areas
Their continued interest and support in the building project after they erected the timber frame.
Professionalism of all the office staff, quality of the workmanship on the timbers, meeting the construction schedule, quality of the field crew doing the timber erection
Thanks. If we do another project, I'll use this experience to perform better in my role. Timber Frame is not a typical method of construction that I use, but cherish the experience from this project and will incorporate TF when possible.
I do. The project in question was difficult and tested both parties, but we managed to maintain a team approach to get it done.
I was very happy with Lancaster Timber Frame's work, quality and performance.
All LCTF team members have been great to work with.
LCTF did a great job of completing the work on-time.
I was most satisfied by the quality of the product and by their timeliness.
I asked them to complete my work in a timeframe that (in my opinion) was unreasonable. They did complete the work in the timeframe I requested however, and surpassed my expectations as well.
Time taken to show samples of completed jobs and answers to our questions.
Speed.
As a GuildQuality Guildmember, Lancaster County Timber Frames, Inc. relies on our customer surveying to help them deliver an exceptional customer experience.
We have surveyed customers on behalf of Lancaster County Timber Frames, Inc. in York, PA; Lancaster, PA; Pocono Lake, PA; Gladwyne, PA; Mullica Hill, NJ; Quakertown, PA; Wrightsville, PA; Maywood, NJ; Havre De Grace, MD; Cape May, NJ; and 51 other cities in Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Virginia, and 2 other states.
In this report, Lancaster County Timber Frames, Inc. has published a summary of the customer feedback they've received since they joined GuildQuality in August 2009. In that time, 57 out of 70 customers (81%) responded to a GuildQuality satisfaction survey, with the most recent response in December 2011.
Lancaster County Timber Frames, Inc. received feedback from a customer in Wrightsville, PA.
Lancaster County Timber Frames, Inc. received feedback from a customer in Mullica Hill, NJ.
Lancaster County Timber Frames, Inc. received feedback from a customer in Colts Neck, NJ.
Lancaster County Timber Frames, Inc. is a candidate for a 2012 Guildmaster Award.
The Guildmaster Awards recognize exemplary service among home builders, remodelers,
developers, and home services contractors.
Click here
to review this year's qualifications.
To be eligible for consideration, Lancaster County Timber Frames, Inc. must survey all
of their customers, with the following exceptions: Projects with a contract value under $20,000.
The review period for this member is closed.
Homebuilders, remodelers, real estate developers and home services companies pay GuildQuality for customer surveying and performance reporting. We refer to these companies as GuildQuality Members, Guildmembers, or members.
Our service helps Guildmembers monitor customer satisfaction and -- if they choose to publish survey feedback on our public website at guildquality.com -- articulate the quality of their service for prospective customers.
All of the Guildmember information we publish at guildquality.com has been provided to us either by the member (such as pictures of work and biographical information) or by their customers via one of our surveys (customer comments, performance summaries, and reviews).
All of the customer feedback that we publish is derived from the customers we survey. Our Guildmembers provide us with their customers' contact information, we conduct the surveys, they receive the feedback, and -- if they have chosen to make their feedback public -- the member's performance report is automatically updated to reflect the response. Members may choose to publish a summary of either all of their feedback or their most recent twelve months of feedback.
In addition to average performance ratings and survey statistics, GuildQuality also publishes two types of customer commentary: Comments and Reviews.
A comment has been provided by a survey respondent in response to any one of the survey questions we ask, and a member may or may not choose to publish it. Often customers provide unsolicited testimonials or compliments, and members can choose to share these comments in their published performance report.
Many Guildmembers choose to participate in our formal review process. These members have added an additional question on their survey: "If you'd like to provide a public review of your experience working with the Guildmember, please share it here." In contrast to comments, which a member selects to have published, we publish all reviews, provided they are at least 30 words long. With each review, we include a one to five star rating provided by the survey respondent.
It is important to note that GuildQuality does not endorse the qualifications of any company. We make no predictions, warranties or guarantees, expressed or implied, about the quality of any work a company on this website may provide. GuildQuality does not accept any liability whatsoever for any harm that might result from any statements presented on this website.
Prospective customers should weigh a multitude of factors when choosing the right building company, and never depend on a single source when making their decision to purchase a home or hire a contractor.
