Erwin Urbaniak, a construction engineer and Szczecin University of Technology graduate, started his own business– BSHaus in February 2014.  “The letters BSH in the firm’s name are the German acronym for glued laminated timber”, he explains. The technology fascinated him so much in his previous job that now he is rather reluctant to build houses using traditional methods.

 

“Working with wood is clean and pleasant. Germans have used glued laminated timber in the construction of houses for a long time. People in Poland are increasingly taking to his method, too.  This technology is more expensive than framing, because walls and ceilings are made of massive elements made of BSH panels.   It is a much more expensive type of timber and you need more of it in the construction process.  But the extra expense incurred at the beginning of construction quickly pays off throughout the lifetime of a house”, says the owner of BSHaus.

 

Erwin Urbaniak gave up his full time job as he had been increasingly demotivated working for others.    He made the decision to start his own business when the first customer asked him to build a BHS house.  “I thought: I know how to design a house and I know how to put it up. The only problem is where to source the timber from?”, he reminisces.     Then he found a German supplier.

 

He got a low-interest “Klon” loan for the start-up (from the Polish Entrepreneurs Foundation) of PLN 50,000.  He spent half of the money to buy a van and the remainder went on electric power tools and a website.     As more orders came, he had to fork his own money out to buy more tools.

 

In the first months of running his own business Erwin Urbaniak did small construction jobs such as facades, roof insulation or assembly work.   He also put up wooden houses in Germany. The first house (in Radziszewo) under his own brand in Poland was erected this year.  Now he is working on his third house in Pilchowo and has begun the fourth development in his hometown of Pyrzyce.

 

The businessman relies on trusted subcontractors.  His firm is directly involved in transport, logistics, purchasing and orders. “For the past six weeks, since I began the construction in Pilchowo, I have been working from dawn till late at night.   This is much more than a full time job”, he says.

  

Erwin Urbaniak builds houses based on plans chosen by his clients and customers and adapted to the BSH technology.  It takes him 12 weeks to complete one.  He gives a 30-year warranty for his constructions.

 

“The standard I offer ensures very good energy efficiency.   On the client’s request I can make the insulation layers even thicker and improve the ratios even more… The only question is: at what point does it stop being cost-effective?”, he says and admits that passive houses are not his cup of tea.

 

“The start of my own business was the best thing I could do”, Erwin Urbaniak states almost two years into the successful operation of BSHaus.  The firm has been profitable right from the start although the running costs are much higher today. “The office space rental, the shop space in Pyrzyce where we cut and prepare timber for assembly, and salaries amount to about PLN 10,000 a month”, he says.

 

In the pipeline for the next year, Erwin Urbaniak has houses for five or six clients. The long-term action plan assumes the firm will get subsidies from the EU to buy a CNC processing centre with software. This would enable improving business effectiveness and taking some of the work load from the employees (today, wooden elements are cut by hand using electric power tools).  As a consequence the firm will be able to build more houses as well as manufacture timber roof trusses and other wooden structural elements.   This poses a serious challenge considering that the price for such a processing centre amounts to a minimum of EUR 120,000.

 

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