Nelson Cottage — a 20′ × 24′ timber frame kit

The Nelson Cottage is Oak & Clay’s live timber frame kit: a 20′ × 24′ frame of about 800 square feet, with a king-post truss and a loft, starting at $38,780. It ships anywhere in the United States. It is named for Nelson County, Virginia — the foothills west of Charlottesville — not for a catalog number. The name is the origin story, not a shipping limit.

It started as a frame for friends who wanted a cozy mountain getaway. The plan stayed small on purpose. One exterior bent carries a king-post truss, which leaves you free to choose window and door locations in that wall instead of fighting a closed bent. On the second floor, a hideaway loft sits in the bedroom bay — a place to read, or to put a guest out of the way.

Specs

That price is the starting price for the kit. It is not a finished-house number. Do not treat it as a turnkey budget.

What’s in the kit, and what you still hire

The kit is the timber frame: members cut and joined, pegged mortise-and-tenon work, and the drawings you need to understand the pieces. It is a frame you raise, not a house you move into.

You (or your builder) still handle everything that isn’t the frame:

• Foundation and any site work
• Enclosure — walls, roof skin, insulation
• Windows, doors, and exterior finish
• Mechanical, electrical, and plumbing
• Interior finish

We can raise the frame with you. Enclosure, trades, and finish stay with the owner or a local GC. If you already have an architect or a builder, we work with them. If you’re a DIY owner, say so in the first note — we’ll tell you where the kit ends and the rest of the job begins.

We do not publish engineering stamps, lead times, or shipping costs on this page. Those depend on the site, the season, and the order. Ask.

Joinery and species

Joinery is traditional mortise-and-tenon, cut by hand or CNC, and pegged. That is the same joinery we use on custom work. We work in Douglas Fir, White Oak, Yellow Cedar, and Cypress, and we prefer local or regional timber when it fits the structure. Species for a given kit is a conversation, not a default buried in a SKU.

Who it’s for

This kit is for people who want a real timber frame at cottage scale — a getaway, a small house, a first timber project that isn’t an estate. It fits owners who will hire a GC for the envelope, and it fits hands-on owners who want to raise and enclose with help. It is not a shed kit, and it is not a custom home drawn from scratch. If the footprint is wrong for the land, don’t force it. That’s a custom conversation.

If you need permit, shop, or piece drawings beyond the kit, we draft those too — for you, for your architect, or for another framer.

Next

Look at the frame. If the 20′ × 24′ is close, write us with the site, your timeline, and whether you want us at the raising. If you need a different building, start on Craft instead.

Starting at $38,780. (434) 305-2062 · craft@oakandclay.com

Also: all kits · custom craft (central Virginia and Northern Virginia)