Oak Porches Online

Green oak porch kits made in Worcestershire

Oak Porches Online is the trading name of Wood and Stairs Limited, a small family joinery firm based in Worcestershire, England. It manufactures and sells bespoke-cut green oak porch kits, delivered unassembled for the customer to install. The company states it has 30 years of experience working with wood as family joiners.

The production process takes place entirely in its workshop: each structure is drawn to scale, cut, assembled with pegged mortice-and-tenon joints and dry-fitted on the workshop floor — the complete porch standing — before being taken apart, numbered and packed. According to the company, what arrives at the customer's home has already been built once.

Model range and customisation

The firm sells fifteen porch designs. Among the models featured on its website are:

• The Malvern: gable with under-arch beam and curved braces, from £2,196.
• The Romsley: splayed gable with 40-degree pitch and brick plinths, from £2,130.
• The Hallow: curved beam with full posts and wall-hung return, from £2,694.

Each model opens in an online configurator where the customer sets the exact width, height, posts and other details, and sees the price update in real time. The company also offers finishes and accessories cut or supplied by them: beam engraved with the house name, dates or a family motto (£210 plus VAT, £252 including VAT), saddle stone plinths, stone cappings and a factory oil coat.

How it works: from tape measure to front door

The process described by the company has four steps and requires no site visits or waiting for a quote:

• Measure: a free measuring guide shows exactly what to record; according to the firm, ten minutes with a tape measure is all it takes.
• Design: the customer chooses style, sets sizes and selects posts, braces and finishes in the configurator, with the price updating live.
• Craft: the frame is cut and assembled to order in Worcestershire from high-grade green oak using draw-bored pegged mortice-and-tenon joints.
• Deliver: the kit arrives with clear drawings and numbered joints for straightforward assembly, with joiners available by phone.

The company sells kits rather than carrying out installation, arguing that a well-made kit with clear drawings can be put up in a day by most builders and also confident DIYers. This, it notes, keeps the price sensible and allows delivery anywhere in the country from a single workshop.

The workshop and headquarters

The business operates from a single unit at Harris Business Park in Stoke Prior, just outside Bromsgrove. The company describes it as a working joinery shop, not a showroom: planers, saws, workbenches and oak stacked to season, often with a frame or two standing waiting to be checked. Visits can be arranged by appointment before ordering.

Material and construction philosophy

Green oak is cut while the timber still holds moisture, jointed tight and left to season in place; as it dries, it locks the pegged joints even harder. According to the company, the wood silvers with weather if left natural, or holds its colour with a coat of oil. The firm maintains that porches on buildings four hundred years old were made this way, and that its own follow the same method.

Reviews and company details

Oak Porches Online is rated 'Excellent', with 4.8 out of 5 on Trustpilot, according to the company itself. It operates as a trading name of Wood and Stairs Limited, a company registered in England and Wales with number 11629754 and VAT 309 5800 04.

Location and contact

Phone: 01527 590776