First Fix & High Finish

"First fix means heavy duty. And Festool makes it so much easier and more efficient." That's what Sam Gough says. And he should know.

Holidays in Cornwall? A dream holiday! Timber construction in Cornwall? Hard work. The beauty of the landscape in the south-west of England Samuel Gough and Nathan McCartney have known the childhood. In the meantime, the two carpenters now only occasionally enjoy the beautiful the beautiful view from the highest point of their construction projects: from the roof truss. The building site, where we visit them is located in the small small village of Perranwell Station.

Sophisticated and challenging timber construction
The project: a two-storey family home - modern, energy-efficient, with lots of wood. Since February 2025, Sam and Nathan and their team have been on site almost every day. The company GM Haus, which they founded five years ago, as a "general builder" actually takes over the entire construction process with all trades: from the demolition of the old house structural work, erection of load-bearing timber constructions through to the finish of the interior fittings. Everything was demanding and challenging. But that's exactly what the love and what they wanted from the start.

When passion becomes longevity

Samuel Gough and Nathan McCartney have known have known each other since their school days. Both are trained carpenters. "When Sam and I got together five together five years ago, we had one main one goal," explains Nathan: "To use our combined craftsmanship in larger high-end projects." And that, Sam adds, is where Festool came into play: "We decided at the time to equip ourselves with tools that would support us support us in the best possible way. That was and is Festool."

"When we cut the many structural beams and uprights to size, it has to be quick and accurate. The HKC with the Guide rail is my constant companion."

Jude Hayward

Working with the best tools

On the construction site, Festool tools are are actually in use everywhere. Enthusiastic about it not just the bosses, but the whole team. team. "The Planer delivers incredibly flat surfaces. surfaces. The angled spiral blade Spiral blade simply makes the difference. The fact that we now have it as a cordless version is great," says James happily. Together with Jude he prepares a wooden stud wall that is cut to size to size with the cordless Planer. As soon as the wall is in place, the ceiling construction is prepared. With the HKC 55 K, the joists are cut and anchored in the wall with large anchored in the wall with large wood construction screws. The QUADRIVE TPC 18/4 does a great job here - the new the new Tabless TBX 4 battery powers the screwdriver the screwdriver and the Cordless insulating-material saw ISC 240 with extra power.

How timber constructors work in England

"Our team is simply great! Everyone knows what they're doing, everyone enjoys their work. And the tools from Festool contribute significantly to this."

Nathan McCartney

Quality at work, in the process and in the result

"We are concerned with quality in our work, in the process and in the result," says Nathan. A seemingly simple formula that involves hard work and a lot of care. But also with joy in what you do. The fact that Festool tools make a valuable contribution contribution to this is obvious to Sam: "When you have really powerful, reliable tools tools, it's really fun. And by that I don't just mean the individual Festool tools, but the entire well thought-out system."

Until completion in summer 2026, the team from GM Haus team here on the construction site will still still have work to do. How hard everyone is working here is more than remarkable. And when one or one or two of the team go to the coast after work to the coast after work to ride the Atlantic waves, then that's more like surplus energy. "Basically Basically, we work as if we were building our building our own house here," says Sam as he says goodbye. And that's pretty much the best thing that can happen to a can happen to a builder.