With HolzBau 3D you plan a pergola, carport, roof truss or any other timber structure right in your browser – free timber frame software with nothing to install. The parts list comes at the push of a button.
The templates build the whole structure from your dimensions – worked out, not just placed: purlins rest on the posts, rafters are birdsmouthed onto them, corners are half-lapped. They work out hips and valleys themselves.
The “Carport from your measurements” assistant also builds a hip roof with four sloping planes – on a square floor plan as a pyramid roof with an apex.
Under Templates you plan a gazebo with a pyramid roof, by side length or overall width.
A canopy that wraps around the corner of the house (with a hip) or sits in the corner of an L-shaped house (with a valley). Enter the lengths along both walls, the projection, the pitch and the height at the existing wall – the template builds purlins, posts, knee braces, rafters, jack rafters and the hip or valley rafter.
Mono-pitch roof in any direction, against a house wall if you like – or a gable roof with the ridge lengthwise or crosswise. The measurement assistant builds posts, purlins with corner laps, birdsmouthed rafters, battens and fascia boards.
The measurement assistant builds the carport from your measurements: glulam posts with knee braces, purlins with corner laps, birdsmouthed rafters, a mono-pitch roof at 8° to the side.
The assistant can clad the sides itself: the back wall and the left or right side with rhombus battens or board-and-batten cladding, all in the parts list.
Enter the dimensions and the pergola is there: posts, purlins with knee braces and battens on top.
A shelter in the usual kit sizes, open at the front or with entrances, with a mono-pitch roof falling to the back.
A coop on legs with a run next to it, sized for the number of hens.
A deck on post bases; the posts follow the slope of the ground.
Measure the four sides and the diagonals from post centre to post centre – or simply drag the corners in the sketch. The measurement assistant works out the floor plan and builds your carport.
The example is a 3 × 5 m carport from the template – exactly as HolzBau 3D prints it. Printing, PDF and the cutting plan are part of Premium.
Top view, all four sides and a section, dimensioned and with a scale. You can view the drawings on screen without a subscription.
A workshop drawing for every part: length, notches and cuts dimensioned, plus a table of all machining steps.
All parts pulled apart, with the item numbers of the parts list. So you can see what goes where.
Post anchors, screws and brackets counted at the joints, with size and what they are for.
Here the hip rafter of the gazebo: plumb cuts, side cut and birdsmouth dimensioned, at a true scale of 1:20, with position number and title block. The sheet that goes to the saw with you.
Material costs, cutting, joints and printing – HolzBau 3D is with you for the whole project.
Detects the roof surfaces of your model and covers them – roof tiles, plain tiles, slate, bitumen or wood shingles, metal sheets, a green roof or multiwall sheets, with the substructure if you like.
Roofs as templates, without posts – to place on your own structure. You choose the roof covering right in the form.
Two storeys with notched corners, floor joists, stairs with railings and a gable roof – every notch appears in the cutting plan.
Rotate, zoom, inspect – no plugin, no installation.
Carport, pergola, garden shed or patio roof: enter the dimensions and the complete structure is generated. The pergola is free – no subscription needed.
A dimensioned workshop drawing for every part that is sawn, notched or routed, at 1:10 or 1:20.
Bearing notch, halved lap, tenon with shoulder and blind mortise – as real geometry. You can join one or two parts without a subscription; joining many at once, changing and removing joints are part of Premium.
Automatic parts list as CSV, free; dimensioned single parts and DXF export with Premium.
See instantly what your project costs. Keep prices per timber type and create a quote PDF with your own letterhead.
Cutting plans for beams and 2D panel cutting for OSB/plywood – with saw kerf and leftover stock.
Place cut-outs on the panel with the mouse, as a CNC milling plan (DXF, 1:1). Three free to try, unlimited with Premium.
Plans as PDF at true scale from 1:1 to 1:100 – at 1:1 even as a template straight onto the timber.
Get a sensible timber cross-section suggested from your span and on-center spacing.
Load a photo, scan or drawing, calibrate it with a known distance and trace your structure over it.
Wherever two parts occupy the same space, exactly that region turns red – even deep inside the structure.
Enter location, date and time – and the shadow falls where it really falls.
Save on the server and carry on at the next device. A view link only works for the e-mail addresses you allow, for 7 days.
Build with your finger on a tablet, rotate with the touchpad on a laptop – no mouse required.
Plan for free — no limit on size. Premium makes it richer, easier and faster. Cancel any time, no minimum term.
Plan for free · with ads
For one project · no subscription
Ad-free · plan faster & more easily
= €8.33/month · almost 2 months free
Cancel any time with one click under “My subscription” – no minimum term, no notice period.
Yes. You can plan wood constructions in 3D for free. There is no limit on the number of parts, and you can save, load and export the parts list as CSV. Premium makes planning richer and faster: ready-made templates, the cross-section assistant, PDF and DXF export, CNC milling plan for panels, cutting-plan optimisation, costing and the saw tool — ad-free.
Open HolzBau 3D in your browser – the demo even works without signing in – and assemble beams, posts, purlins and rafters to scale in 3D. Planning is free and not limited to a number of parts; you export the parts list as CSV. The pergola template generates a complete structure from your dimensions; the cutting plan, PDF printing and the other templates are part of Premium. The result is a preliminary design, not a structural calculation.
Yes. HolzBau 3D is a free 3D design tool for timber structures that runs in your browser. Instead of lines you draw parts – beams, posts, purlins and rafters with a cross-section and length – and see the structure in 3D straight away. The parts list is generated automatically (as CSV for free). It is made for timber structures in building, such as pergolas, carports, roof trusses and garden rooms. Scale plans as PDF, the workshop drawings and DXF export are part of Premium.
HolzBau 3D is timber frame software that runs free in your browser with nothing to install: you plan timber structures in 3D with no limit on the number of parts and export the parts list as CSV. The workshop drawings, a dimensioned drawing of every machined part, the plan as PDF and the cutting plan are part of Premium. HolzBau 3D does not hand data over to beam-processing (joinery) machines and does not replace professional timber frame CAD or a structural calculation: the result is a preliminary design.
Yes. You place rafters, purlins, collar ties and posts as beams in 3D in your browser and export the parts list as CSV for free. With Premium, the roof templates build a rafter roof with collar ties or a purlin roof, including birdsmouth notches, from your dimensions; the saw tool cuts angles, and the workshop drawings dimension every notch. HolzBau 3D does not check whether a roof truss carries its loads: the plan is a preliminary design, and a structural engineer or carpenter confirms stability. How a roof truss is built is covered in the guide “Roof Frame Design”.
Yes. With HolzBau 3D you design pergolas, carports, roof trusses, patio roofs and any wood construction yourself – including a parts list. The pergola template is free to use; the cutting plan, printing and the other templates are part of Premium.
No. HolzBau 3D runs in your browser with no installation. To design you need a PC, laptop or tablet; on a smartphone you can view your saved projects when signed in.
HolzBau 3D is a web app: you open it in your browser on a PC, laptop or tablet, there is nothing to install, and there is no app to download. On a smartphone you can view your saved projects once signed in; planning is done on a larger screen.
From a carport and a pergola to a complete roof truss: you place beams, posts, purlins and rafters to scale in 3D and rotate the structure freely in space.
Yes. HolzBau 3D automatically generates a parts list with all beams, lengths and sections. You can export it as CSV for free; with Premium you print it together with the plan as a PDF.
HolzBau 3D is available in German, English, French and Dutch – switch the language any time with one click.
Yes, any time. You cancel your Premium subscription with one click under "My subscription". There is no minimum term and no notice period.
Those are two different things. Cancelling does not trigger a refund – you keep full Premium access until the end of the paid period, after which it is simply not renewed. Separately, the statutory right of withdrawal applies: within 14 days of concluding the contract you may withdraw without giving reasons and get the full amount back – with no deduction for the days already used.
Hands-on guides for wood constructions – from pergola to roof truss.
HolzBau 3D is timber frame software and a 3D planner for your browser: you design timber structures online – no installation needed, and free to plan with. Whether pergola, carport, patio roof or a complete roof truss: you assemble beams, posts, purlins and rafters to scale in 3D and view your design from every angle. Mistakes in dimensions or joints show up during planning, not on site.
As design software for timber structures it works with parts, not lines: beams with a cross-section and length that you join and organise in groups. Your design takes shape step by step – enter dimensions, place beams – and every project automatically produces a parts list with lengths and cross-sections, which you can export as CSV for free. Premium adds an optimised cutting plan for the timber merchant, printing as PDF and the workshop drawings. Everything runs as a web app in your browser on a PC, laptop or tablet; there is no app to download.
If you are looking for timber framing software with joinery drawings: the Premium workshop drawings show every machined part dimensioned, notches included. There is no data handover to beam-processing machines, so HolzBau 3D does not replace professional timber frame CAD.
A roof truss can be planned online too: you place rafters, purlins and collar ties freely, and the Premium roof templates under “Roofs” build a rafter roof or a purlin roof, including birdsmouth notches, from your dimensions. If you would like to read up first, see our guides: roof frame design, how to build a pergola and how to plan a carport. The plans are a preliminary design and do not replace a structural calculation.
With Premium, complete structures such as a carport or garden shed are generated automatically from your dimensions; the pergola template is free to use. Also part of Premium: a built-in material cost calculation with a quote PDF, 2D panel cutting that optimises OSB and plywood sheets, unlimited cut-outs milled into panels to the millimetre (three to try for free) and export of finished plans as DXF or print-ready PDF.
Try HolzBau 3D right in your browser – no installation, and free to plan with.