When Michael Ferguson, a Dorset hotelier, was offered the chance to build on a pristine plot of National Trust land, next to the grand Edwardian home where he had grown up, he had only one problem: deciding what to build.

It was back in 1983 that the opportunity arose to purchase an acre overlooking spectacular Studland Bay, a few miles from the exclusive boatie enclave of Sandbanks. For two decades, Ferguson, now 60, dithered between building a pair of quaint clapboard houses or two five-bedroom homes in a more traditional style.

Ferguson, who self-deprecatingly describes his plans for the grander houses as “badly designed Victorian/Edwardian/ Palladian houses with a touch of Arts and Crafts and a smear of gothic”, received planning permission from Purbeck district council for both styles. He has ended up with something far more radical, however: two startlingly modern, German-designed Huf houses, a homage more to Bauhaus architectural principles than British ones.

“Although the planners had agreed to the more traditional designs over the years, the National Trust came back to me with a polite request for ‘more purity of design, form and scale,’” says Ferguson, who runs Knoll House hotel, in Studland village, and lives with his wife, Claire, 42, and children, Rory, 9, and Lucy, 8, in another Edwardian house just down the road. “The council were very forward-thinking, and I was only too happy to oblige. I didn’t want to build something that wasn’t fantastic. After all, I am a hotelier, not a developer.”

Ferguson opted for a Huf in 2004, the same year they were championed by Kevin McCloud on Channel 4’s Grand Designs. After researching the top-end prefabricated, glass-fronted houses, Ferguson realised he “loved everything about them” and paid a visit to the company’s British HQ in Cobham, Surrey.

Peter Huf, the company architect based there, visited the site and, with a little input from Ferguson, drew up designs for two three-storey, 7,500 sq ft houses with sloping grey roofs. With four bedrooms, three reception areas and private sunbathing balcony, they are made in local stone, with uninterrupted sea views. Ferguson had to pay a £6,000 deposit for the plans – typically requested by Huf from each customer – which was deducted from the final fee.

After getting the go-ahead from the planners and the National Trust, Ferguson undertook the mandatory trip to Hartenfels, western Germany, to visit the company’s showroom and decide on interior specifications. “We went for the complete package – carpets, light fittings, fitted kitchen,” Ferguson says. “From start to finish, we spent between £250 and £300 per square foot.”

There was not a murmur of dissent from Purbeck district council. “I was happy with this pair of energy-efficient, premanufactured houses,” says John Hartigan, the planning officer in charge of the application. “The low-pitched roof and wonderful interiors, with their open-plan concept, make terrific use of space.”

The council’s only objection was to the concrete tiles suggested in the original application. They insisted on grey clay tiles to blend in with the ocean views, which ended up costing Ferguson £28,000 per house.

With the land costing him £100,000, and because of the high specification that Ferguson wanted, the total cost of each house came out at about £2.3m – expensive, even for a Huf. But it was the speed of build that amazed him. “The German workers turned up on time, in articulated lorries, and put the roof on in five days,” he says. “They completed the house within five months and barely said a word. Perfect. We gave them a bargain B&B rate at the hotel.”

Ferguson has just accepted an offer on Boundary House, the first of the two to be completed, at “about the asking price” of £4m – which would make it one of the most expensive Hufs to change hands in this country. The other, nearly identical, is yet to be completed, and Ferguson is unsure when it will be on the market. In the meantime, he is busy planning the landscaping of the second house, and is enthusiastic about the native plants he has used – azaleas, rhododendrons, ferns and lots of shrubs, all suggested by the National Trust.

Houses should be in harmony with the nature around them: this is one of Huf’s main philosophies, and a large part of the brand’s appeal. Established in Germany in 1911, the family firm is celebrating its 10th anniversary in the UK. It has built 140 homes in Britain, mainly in London, the southeast and the West Country, with 15 in Scotland; its first, in 1997, was an 11,000 sq ft model in Leamington Spa.

Since then, this brand of “house out of a box” – known for its use of post-and-beam architecture, ecofriendly credentials and extensive use of glass and light – has established itself as one of the best and most luxurious on the market, challenging the notion of the prefab as something cheap and nasty.

Even so, a Huf is not cheap – a modest 1,800 sq ft version costs about £350,000 to build; an 11,000-square-footer with high-tech extras, £2m. Resale prices are usually in excess of £1m.

So, what exactly is the appeal of the Huf? Nick Esser, the company’s head of sales, is convinced it is down to quality. “People here like the designs because they are hungry for quality,” he says. “They like German cars and tools, for which they are prepared to pay a little bit more. They last for ever. And customers describe the fixed price from the outset as a breath of fresh air.”

The company’s success coincides with a growing interest in self-building in Britain. Although self-builds account for just 12% of new homes in the UK, compared with 40%-60% in Germany and other parts of Europe, the number of flat-pack, timber-frame constructions, as opposed to traditional brick and block, is steadily increasing.

Huf is far from the only solution for those looking for a prefabricated home.

Numerous companies promise all the benefits of building your own home without the disadvantages. They will provide a design (or happily deal with yours), sort out your planning, do all the building work, even style the interior, if you so wish.

One rival, Scandia-Hus – which, despite the name, is British and based in East Grinstead, West Sussex – certainly has the experience. The largest designer and supplier of Swedish energy-saving homes in the UK. It has built more than 2,000 houses in Britain since the early 1970s, using only Swedish timber and joinery. Its designs may not be as modernist as Huf’s – its books hold patterns of timber-frame takes on Kent farmhouses and flint-clad Norfolk homes – but they are more affordable, with building costs start at £100 per sq ftfor a complete turnkey service.

Baufritz, another German firm, was launched here last year, with a British base in Girton, near Cambridge. It leads the way in prefab “green” building, and its first house, in Padstow, Cornwall – a pure timber construction clad in reclaimed slate, with solar panels – was completed this year. The company is now working on a modern five-bedroom house with an elliptical staircase in Bath.

“We are leading the way with eco-logical building,” says Amanda Politzer, the company’s marketing manager. “Our thermal performance is high, and we build only with sustainable timber. The health aspect is huge. We use natural building materials and are carbon positive [the houses store more CO2 than they emit]. There are no chemicals or toxins present.”

Thanks to a bespoke design system, Politzer says, the company has been successful so far with planners: “We tick a lot of boxes as far as ecology and aesthetics are concerned.” The typical cost of a three-bedroom Baufritz self-build would be about £300,000.

For those looking for a budget alternative, there are also eastern European options. Dan-Wood, a Polish housebuilder, has had an Edinburgh base since 2004, and has put up about 50 energy-efficient timber-frame houses in Britain. Its bungalows and five-bedroom detached family homes are prefabricated in Poland and shipped to the UK with a team of craftsmen.

The company prides itself on working to a strict timetable. A £200,000 five-bedroom home that was completed in August this year, on the island of Ker-rera, off the west coast of Scotland, was wind- and watertight within a day – pretty impressive, seeing as the island is only accessible by ferry from Oban, and the owner had to hire a special vessel from the local shellfish company to take the lorries.

TrueBuild, a Bulgarian company specialising in two-bedroom, single-storey timber lodges, also hopes to set up in Britain in the next three years, putting up houses for £50,000 each. Although most of its projects so far have been in Bulgaria, it is now working on a housing development in Normandy.

So, as yet, does anything compare to the grandness and sheer class of a Huf? Certainly not as far as owners are concerned. They have set up an online forum, www.huf-haus-owners-group. co.uk, on which they swap tips.

“We are delighted with our houses,” says forum member and Buckingham-shire Huf owner Jan Thubron, “except for the odd hiccup you get with any new house.” It’s the personal service that sets Huf apart, she says: “People from the company come along to our meetings to answer questions on running the houses. They are even having a Christmas fair for us.”

On the block

HUF-HAUS

Style: Modernist post-and-beam structure; lashings of glass

Materials: Everything sourced in Germany, including workforce and even the crane

Typical cost per sq ft: £130-£150. A four-bedroom, 3,400 sq ft house will cost about £500,000

What is included? Everything except the groundworks, kitchen and mandatory visit to Germany

Build time: Weather-tight within five days; complete build within four months

Optional extras: Anything you want

Building regulations:Type Approval from the National House Building Council Contact:0870 200 0035, www.huf-haus.com/gb

SCANDIA-HUS

Style: 44 basic models on its books, and a bespoke service

Materials: Swedish timber

Typical cost per sq ft: £100-£120 for a complete turnkey service

What is included? Full construction

Build time: Watertight within three weeks; completion in 20-26 weeks

Optional extras:The company will try anything that is possible

Building regulations: Will handle all aspects

Contact: 01342 327977, www.scandia-hus.co.uk

THE SWEDISH HOUSE COMPANY

Style:Timber-framed houses in traditional and contemporary styles

Materials: All from Sweden

Typical cost per sq ft: £110-£140

What is included? Everything except the groundwork (although the estimated cost of this is included in the quote)

Build time: Weather-tight within five days; total build 16 weeks

Optional extras: Will help you find a project manager

Building regulations: Awarded Local Authority Building Control National Type System Approval

Contact: 0870 770 0760; www.swedishhouses.com

BAUFRITZ

Style: Offers a bespoke service, along with a range of ecofriendly open-plan designs

Materials: From sustainable European forests

Typical cost per sq ft: £100-£130

What is included? Everything except groundworks and a kitchen

Build time: Watertight within two days; total build in about four months

Optional extras: Solar panels, ground-source heat pumps

Building regulations: Complies with all current UK building regulations

Contact:01223 235632, www.baufritz.co.uk

DAN-WOOD

Style: Ecofriendly, traditional and contemporary ranges

Materials: All from Poland

Typical cost per sq ft: £90

What is included? Fixtures and fittings, plumbing and wiring

Build time: Up to 12 weeks

Optional extras: Solar panels, conservatories and pergolas

Building regulations: Houses meet English, Scottish and Irish requirements

Contact:0131 555 1771, www.dan-wood.co.uk

Living in a box

Kimberton, a 6,200 sq ft Huf house built in 2002, is onSt George’s Hill, aprivate estatein Weybridge, Surrey. It has five bedrooms and three reception rooms.

For sale for £4.95m with John D Wood; 01932 842323, www.johndwood.co.uk

Bay House is a Scandia-Hus in the village of Laughton, East Sussex. Built in 1989, it has four bedrooms and a paddock, with 1.56 acres of land.

For sale for £637,500 with Freeman Forman; 01273 812061, www.freemanforman.co.uk

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