Do It Yourself Log Homes

A few years ago we had a call from a woman named Karen in Georgia wanting us to quote on a log home plan. She explained that she and her husband had decided they would build their dream log home themselves with all of the timber they had on their large tract of land. They began harvesting the timber and hand peeling it all themselves. Her husband had found a video on how to scribe and notch the logs and he studied it carefully. They began building the large home one log at a time and, after many months, had gotten only a few rounds up in one section of the home when they began to run into problems. Their logs all had various degrees of taper to them and the grain wasn’t always straight. They just weren’t fitting together very well and they realized they had a long way to go before they got to the roof components. At this stage, because of all the hard work they had already put in, they weren’t too keen on the idea of giving up but Karen was curious to see what we would charge to do all of this hard labour for them.
We quoted on their plan and it wasn’t too long before Karen and her husband Mike called us back to say “Yes! Please build our log home for us!”

These people are two of the hardest working people we’ve met and their building knowledge is great. Although they both had full time jobs and toddlers, they still wanted to do most of the work on the home themselves. They realized that it would be far better to have us handcraft their log shell and then they could carry on with all the finishing themselves…which is still a lot of work.

We were able to build their log home shell within a few months and helped them re-erect it on their home site in Georgia. If they had continued on the way they were going they may have had some serious structural issues and been years away from a finished log home.

Mike has since become a good friend and champions our company. He has volunteered at about four of our set ups since his own log house has been built and he’s even come along to a home show to help promote our company; such is his love of log homes.

Many people over the years have built their own log home from scratch from the timber they have on their own property…it is definitely doable. This is, however, a huge undertaking so make sure you really are up to the challenge.

We have the right equipment, the skilled labour and a huge inventory of different species of wood to choose from which is already dried and ready for building.

If you decide you are not up for the job. We would love to build your log shell for you!

Log Homes and our Olympic Games Connection

The Olympic Games are all about pride for us. Pride in our country and pride in our elite athletes. There is nothing like the feeling of seeing your fellow countrymen and women standing on the podium while your national anthem plays. I’ve always loved watching the Olympic Games; in fact I remember watching one entire summer Olympics dressed in my gymnastic leotard when I was about 12 or so. While I watched I worked at the perfect dismount - arched back and arms up pose.

So you can imagine the thrill I felt when Sitka Log Homes was awarded the contract to build 3 log lodges for the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002 and then when the BC Government hired us to build a log house, BC Canada Place, for the Torino Winter Olympics in 2006.
Both projects began with a true sense of Olympic competition as we were bidding against other qualified builders. BC Canada Place began as a design/build competition through an RFP (Request for Proposal) and had certain criteria (read: hurdles) and a time deadline to make. Both Olympic projects could not be late…the Games have a start date and nothing can change that.

Our 3 lodges for the Salt Lake Games were on Snowbasin Resort where the Men’s downhill and Super G events were held. The 45,000 sq.ft main day lodge was followed by one 11,000 sq.ft and one 19,000 sq.ft lodge located at about 9,000 ft on the steep side of a mountain. The 3 lodges required 38 semi-loads of large diameter logs delivered to the base of the mountain and then D-7 Caterpillars pulled the logs on a wagon up the steep incline to where the buildings were constructed. Making the job work in such limited space and with a limited time frame was a real challenge.

BC Canada Place faced even greater challenges, the least of which was working in a distant country where the language is foreign. Throw in a truckers strike and rail strike around the time the logs were due to travel across Canada to Montreal where the ship awaited them, further delays with paper work to release the logs in the Italian port of Genoa and that was just beginning of our Olympic building marathon.

Each race was won however, and the rewards were great. We may not have a real Olympic gold medal to show for our efforts but the pride we feel for being a small part of the events makes me feel like arching my back and throwing my arms up.

Log Home Floor Plans

We are “custom” handcrafted log home builders.
“Custom” as an adjective means “made specially for individual customers” or “doing work to order”.
There are many who come to us with sketches and plans, sometimes even full working blue prints, understanding that we can build according to their own log home plans.
Then there are many more that come to our site looking for a huge book of plans. We have struggled for years about whether to offer generic log home plans or not.

One of the biggest reasons that we resist doing so is because we don’t want to be confused with the many milled log home companies out there that offer “log home kits”. These companies usually offer a large inventory of stock house plans that their milled components will work in.
Our log homes are all handcrafted. There are no pre-milled components that will fit within a variety of log homes from an assortment of different log home plans.
Each log placed in one of our handcrafted log homes is unique in shape and size and so, once positioned and fit, can only ever be used for that specific spot in that specific home. We simply rarely, if ever, build the same design twice.

However, we also realize that most people need somewhere to start…somewhere to get ideas and get their creative juices flowing. Many start with log home magazines for ideas and plans or by searching online. There are thousands of log home and non log home plans out there that can be used to get you started. Once you have a basic idea of what you would like, then you can start tweaking any plan to suit you.
With this in mind we have placed a few log house plans on our web site to help get you started. These plans are also a great way of illustrating what we offer and how our log packages are priced.

We also offer a blue print service which, after all revisions are made, will get you a full set (5 copies) of working plans which include the following:

Foundation Plan: (Typical Scale: 1/4" = 1’)
Drawing showing the layout of footings, stem walls, posts & beams, etc.

Detailed Floor Plans: (Typical Scale: 1/4" = 1’)
Drawings showing the log wall layout of each floor in your log home. As well as detailed information regarding the placement of such things as interior partition walls, windows & doors, appliances, roof lines, etc. The floor plans clearly show necessary dimensions and specifications.

Exterior Elevations: (Typical Scale: 1/4" = 1’)
Drawings showing the exterior views of your log home (typically four). As well as exterior materials such as roofing, log species, windows & doors, stone, trim, etc.

Cross-Sections: (Typical Scale: 1/4"-1/2” = 1’)
Elevation drawings showing the log home as if it were sliced from the foundation to the roof. Typically three sections are provided, but it depends on the size and complexity of the building. These sections are placed at locations that display how various parts of the log home are put together.

Details: (Typical Scales: 1/2"-1” = 1’)
These drawings generally include necessary log to framing connections, settling details, window & door details, a detailed section of a log wall, etc.

All plans will begin with a detailed quotation including the base price of the finished set of plans.

For more information or if you have sketches you would like us to quote on, email or call us at 250-791-6683 or fax your sketch to 250-791-6650.

Log Homes Cost Per Square Foot

Cost per square foot question

The first question most people ask us at Sitka Log Homes is how much do your handcrafted log homes cost per square foot?

The reason this is so difficult to answer is because our log homes are not priced by square foot, but rather by the type of wood used, the amount of notches cut, the complexity of the design, the height of the walls, how many interior walls are log, the complexity of the roof system, etc. There are many different components to be considered when pricing your handcrafted log shell.


When it comes to the price per square foot for a finished log home, the variables grow even more. Do you want a Bosch dishwasher or a Sears Kenmore? They are the same square footage, yet the price is remarkably different. Do you plan on high end finishes (flooring, appliances, built in sound systems, alarm system, wood burning stove, chandeliers, etc.) or will you choose moderately priced finishes? These are all considered when figuring out a “price per square foot”.
It would be like going into a car dealership and asking how much their cars cost per square foot.

I know your heads are going up and down, but you still want an idea of the price of a log home per square foot. When asked all we can do is offer you an estimate based on homes we have built in the past with a range from moderately priced to very high end.


Another option is to look at the prices of our sample plans which can be downloaded at: http://www.sitkaloghomes.com/log-home-plans.html
Drop us an email asking for the price quotes and we’ll email them right away so you can get an idea of our pricing and what is included in our log shell packages.
Better yet, if you have a sketch or a plan already, we are happy to offer you a price quote on it. We’ll show a complete breakdown of everything we include. This way you can get comparative quotes and know that you are indeed comparing apples to apples.

4,000 sq.ft log house

1643 sq.ft log house

                                                           
The 4000 sq. ft home is less per square foot than this 1643 sq.ft home which is a more complicated design.

Do we hire dealers to sell our log homes?

No we don’t…let me explain why.

Our company name, Sitka Log Homes, is also our reputation. We have a great deal of pride in how we have built our reputation as a quality handcrafted log home builder. We have been striving for years to make sure that when people see or hear our name that they recognize it as a trustworthy company, one that offers only high quality workmanship. It has always been important to ensure that clear communication between us and our clients is a priority. Adding a third party to the mix can result in mistakes made in this vital communication. We prefer to contract directly with the home owner.

We also believe that nobody can know our business practices as well as we do ourselves. We want to ensure that a potential client is given only precise information about our log or timber frame homes. Even clients with a good basic understanding of construction and house building will still have important questions about the process.

We prefer that we, directly, are your contact to make certain the information you receive is accurate.

Log Home Industry Competition

Our town, 100 Mile House, BC is known officially as the “Handcrafted Log Home Capital of North America”. We are very proud of this title because we know it is partly due to our own contribution of building log homes here since 1969.
It also implies, rightly so, that there are many log home builders in 100 Mile House. Our small town has about 13 log home builders and produces approximately 400 handcrafted log homes a year.
Sitka Log Homes recently featured a full log house display in two log home shows in Alberta. Most of the other exhibitors were from our area and were people we knew well. It was so interesting to see how everyone interacted with each other. If one company needed a certain tool they’d forgotten, another company was quick to lend it. After the shows we’d share a meal with each other, have some laughs and swap stories.
These old friends are also our competition.
This got me thinking about “competition” and the log home building industry. Our industry has seen a slump recently with the US housing market all but disappearing, and yet even in tougher times like these everyone is co-operating and practicing healthy competition. Most don’t compromise ethical standards in order to gain an advantage over others. I think this is due to respect. We all respect the hard work and dedication that it takes to remain in this business and so we prefer to compete in a co-operative manner. This is good for the whole log home building industry and what is good for the industry is good for each of us.
Healthy competition allows incentives for self-improvement. You can’t help but want to look for new ways to improve what you do when you aren’t the only guy in town offering a service or product. This in itself is helping our whole log home industry evolve.
Competition helps to stimulate innovation, encourages efficiency and can help drive down prices so that both the manufacturer and the consumer win.
Here’s to an ever evolving log home building industry and all of the hard workers behind it!

Log Home Maintenance

When building a log home it is important to think of preventative maintenance from the beginning design stages. You want to protect your logs against water, insects, decay and damage from the suns UV rays. When you are in the design stage you will want to consider your roof over-hangs to ensure the log walls do not have areas where any rain water will drain along them constantly. When the log shell is complete and erected on your home site, we recommend that the logs are washed to remove any dirt, sawdust or mud splats that can appear after leaving our construction yard. People usually use a pressure washer to rinse the logs at this point. When they are dry you would then apply your preservative wood treatment. This treatment would contain a water repellent with some pigment and UV inhibitor. There are many on the market and they are improving them every year. You are able to get good UV protection now without having to stain your logs with much colour if you prefer a more natural log look. As for the inside, that depends on the look you like. You can oil, stain, varnish or leave them as they are. Consider dusting the logs when you make this choice though. Sealed logs may also reduce some of the checking.
If you do a proper job of caring for your logs when your log house is first built you will save yourself extra work for the future. You should follow the recommendations of the exterior treatment manufacturer for re-applying.

Regarding insects, this issue is dependent on your area and specific to your home site. It is the same concern whether you live in a regular frame house or a log house, if termite nests were all around your property you would want to speak to a pest control specialist. An exterminator can recommend a selection of treatments if you have concerns about insects in your area.

There is more maintenance involved with a handcrafted log home compared to a vinyl sided home, but we think the effort is worth it.