Is it possible?

[JakeProm]

I am a family man with 2 children and a wife and I am currently attending a 2 yr program for HVAC/R. I really don't have money because of the school and going to school full time. I would love the financial freedom of being able to build my own log home, but I am not sure if it is possible in this day in age.

If I have zero experience with construction is it possible to build one of these log homes? Has anyone here built one of these homes with no experience? Where would someone even begin if there dream was to have a comfortable home of their own and a safe place to live with their family without being completely broke by a high house payment?

I have the drive to give my family a better life and a nice place to live, but knowing myself with no construction experience I am not sure if this is possible? My goal would be to purchase a piece of land and build a log home on it, but with no experience is that even attainable? I don't want to make my family suffer because I want a log home for myself, but I would love to not have the burden of a high house payment.

If anyone has any sound advice, I would much appreciate it, maybe even some encouragement. Thanks for reading.

[rreidnauer]

Ha ha! Your concerns read like so many others who first found this site. (almost word for word at times!) The short answer is yes, if you can think outside the box. Creativity plays a large part in a successful build. You don't have money so you need to be creative. A recent post talks about someone who built his place for JUST $180!!!! That person sourced all their materials for free. Again determination and creativity.
Many people with no experience have taken the course and went on to build their homes. It really isn't rocket science, and if you can avert yourself from looking at the big picture, and take it a step at a time, it's fully managable.
Keep reading. I think you'll end up answering your questions and concerns even without my insights.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy using TapaTalk 2

[loghousenut]

Jake, You were cut out of a mold that fits exactly a hole in some upcoming class. Remember to take the class as soon as you can but wait til you can afford to bring the Boss/Wife. It'll be the best money you've ever spent. Keep reading.

[edkemper]

I would bet that 90% of our member's homes are at least mostly owner built by people without any formal construction training. I'd bet 90% are not built by "rich" members.

Long before I reached high school age I helped build our Church and a new addition to my childhood house. That is the extent of my construction training. Now I'm 62, have rebuilt my body through multiple shoulder surgeries and bilateral total knee replacements. Can I and my <5ft <100# japanese immigrant wife build our place, you bet.

Read, read, read everything you can on the public side. Ask all the questions you need. Just know, if this seems worthwhile for you, make sure your spouse goes to the class with you.

Welcome.

[rocklock]

yes you can... see my photos... Get everyone on your side, cause you will need them... Building with logs is not easy, but it is fun.

[StressMan79]

possible, yes.

difficult, definitely.

requires 'suffering', absolutely.

get your wife on your side. I have spent >10k on helpers b/c my wife has refused to help me. Don't be in a hurry.

There are 3 ways to get things, but you can only get two... good, cheap, fast. Pick two.

Say you get a loan for 80k, you'll end up spending 160k by the time you are done. Also, say you take 6 years to save up the 20k needed for a down payment... but rent costs you 10k/yr... so there is another 60k down the tubes... You could have the 100k home for either 220k, or less than 100k. Buy some land (you can do it on contract), move out a cheap/free trailer to it, then live there for cheap, and build with your wife. You will be surprised how much stronger your marriage is because of it. You seem of at least average intellect. You can do it.

[JakeProm]

Thank you for the replies! I apologize for not responding to your posts sooner, but I have been moving my house into a storage unit this weekend.

Well I talked to my wife about this desire of mine this weekend and told her how I believe this would be a good idea not just financially but as a family. I told her I would like to write some of our goals down that we each desire and we can help one another to reach these goals. So after talking about a lot of the positive things that can come about with building our own home and that it WOULD take a lot of hard work and dedication, she was is on board with me about doing this and in complete support and also willing to help. (I told her if we did this we can get as many chickens as she wants since she has been wanting to own chickens someday).

So I guess my first step is trying to get to this class which I hope we both can do (sooner rather than later). My other question is what are some things I can do to start this process in the mean time? How do I calculate square footage in one of these homes because a 30' x 30' would only be around 920 sq ft, and we will probably want a log house with around 1200 sq ft, (we plan on having more kids and will need room to grow).

Also thanks again for the replies, I have been praying about this desire to the good lord above and hope he will get behind me with his blessing to accomplish this.

~Jake

[rreidnauer]

Way to go! It's a big first step just to make the decision to move forward with a plan.

Square footage is easy. Width times depth. (times floors if more than one) Which is how you get to your desired square footage. Put in a second floor, heck, even a loft over that for even more space.

BTW, the LHBA plans are a little light on square footage, as they take their dimensions from the center of the wall logs. So if the plans figure for a 12" nominal wall log, you'll be short 59 sq.ft per floor on a 30x30. May not sound like much, but one could see that as a loss of a mudroom or bathroom, and since property tax is based partly on square footage, why claim something that you don't have?

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy using TapaTalk 2

[rocklock]

Way to go Jake... I found that a list from the Mrs. was crucial and chickens a great idea... My key was berries... which I love, all kinds.
Not to repeat what rod just said, the style of log home with a ridge pole log will necessarily generate more usable sqft that you realize...
If you build a 35 by 35, with two floors and a loft with a 6:12 roof, you get 1225 times two or 2450 plus the area of a loft which can add as much as another 1000 sqft...

So, lots of choices, conversation and planning... which is exactly what you should be doing...

Good luck and enjoy the process...

[JakeProm]

Thanks for the replies again! So how would I go about planning the "build" or "layout" of a cabin or would I have to wait to go to a class to fully understand what I am capable of when building with logs?

I just started this school which I will be in for 2 years, so I am hoping to get a lot of planning done during this time so when I am done with school I can actually start the work.

So do I get my wife and start putting together a blueprint of how we would like our setup to be and THEN see if it would be possible? I would honestly like to have a 3 bedroom house and then some sort of den (man cave), my wife will decide on a living room and family room etc... I am also liking the idea of having 2 levels in the home.

Anyway If you guys can maybe point me in the right direction of where I can research the right way of going about this because I don't want to annoy the people here with my question asking.

So thanks again for all your expertise!

[Tom Featherstone]

Jake,

To put a roof on a house you first have to build a foundation and then on up... It is simple.. one step at a time. It's hard work... one step at a time. Can you do it? Only you will determine that. The class will give you all the tools necessary to build a Butt and Pass Log Home. Take the class ASAP and take your wife as mentioned many times before.

All your questions will be answered...one step at a time. If you wish to build a log home and you're willing to put in or pay for the necessary work it will happen. Many of the Members here have built or are in process of building their own place and started exactly where you are at now, me included, although I'm in the trades and have building experience. Many living in their homes right now had none!

Good Luck! Hope to see you on the members side soon.

Tom

[JakeProm]

Also I have been reading about log building on the Internet and ran across some people stating that skips method is a hoax and doesn't work as well as this site claims.

Can someone please tell me why people may be saying this? My wife would kill me if this log cabin building does not work as it says it does? I just want honesty that's all, does this method work and will it give my family a good roof over there head for years to come?

[Cruiser]

Also I have been reading about log building on the Internet and ran across some people stating that skips method is a hoax and doesn't work as well as this site claims.

Can someone please tell me why people may be saying this? My wife would kill me if this log cabin building does not work as it says it does? I just want honesty that's all, does this method work and will it give my family a good roof over there head for years to come?

Yes it works! A hoax?? LOL It would be one heck of a hoax to still be going strong for over 40 years! There are a lot of kit builders that hate the LHBA...wonder why? :) Read all you can on this site and you will see why we all believe this is the best method for self-builders. You will end up with a rock solid home without any of the drawbacks (settling to name to name one) or expense of a kit. One size does not fit all, but this this method us well. One thing is for sure, a well built LHBA home will be around for generations. That is not something you will likely be able to say for a kit. Read all you can here and look at all the pictures of student built homes an decide for yourself. Hope to see you on here more in the future!

[rocklock]

Jake;
I have been to many of these sites... The big problem is there are many problems with kit homes... They shrink, the doors must be maintained, the roof lowered, etc...My wall have not shrank, not even a little...

They just cannot comprehend that a tightly pinned butt and pass home doesn't have a bunch of problems like their kit homes... There are many kit home makers as well as many problems.

Check out my pictures if you don't believe...

[JakeProm]

Yes it works! A hoax?? LOL It would be one heck of a hoax to still be going strong for over 40 years! There are a lot of kit builders that hate the LHBA...wonder why? :) Read all you can on this site and you will see why we all believe this is the best method for self-builders. You will end up with a rock solid home without any of the drawbacks (settling to name to name one) or expense of a kit. One size does not fit all, but this this method us well. One thing is for sure, a well built LHBA home will be around for generations. That is not something you will likely be able to say for a kit. Read all you can here and look at all the pictures of student built homes an decide for yourself. Hope to see you on here more in the future!

Thanks for the reply, again I apologize if I question the authenticity of this. This day in age I have a hard time trusting people and I mean to make the best decisions possible for myself and my family. I really am interested in this type of log building, I really am! I just haven't been able to see anyones pictures or documentation of someone using this method.

I have looked at the pictures on the main page under "Student Log Homes", and in all honestly those homes look to good to be true. Again it would be nice to see and hear of someone who has done this from beginning to finish using these methods, just so I know that someone isn't just trying to get money from me.

I really love this idea and I honestly feel the need to do this but I am also being scared of being "scammed". I am not sure if anyone has ever heard of the saying "If it's to good to be true, then it probably is".

Again I apologize for my lack of faith, it's just the father/husband in me who wants to make good choices for his family.

~Jake

[loghousenut]

Jake,

There's plenty of scamming out there. LHBA isn't one of them. I took thr class from Skip over 30 years ago. There are scads of these homes around the world, and especially in the Pacific NW. Most of them built by a fairly inexperienced family without a mortgage. It works. This one is for real.

I am just a student and a member of LHBA. I make nothing if you go to class.

Sent from my ZTE V768 using Tapatalk 2

[rreidnauer]

Jake,

Keep reading the forums. It won't take you too long to come to your own conclusion. We got many folks on here who've taken the class, swear by, and promote the method without compensation. I only wish there were a way to provide a sneak-peak of the member's side to non-members.

Someone want to list a few good thread titles from the other side for Jake? (not the easiest for me to manage through the phone) One interesting title over there is "Just a little weekend place.....8000 square feet" :eek:

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy using TapaTalk 2

[JakeProm]

Wow thanks for the support guys you are a friendly bunch! I feel bad about my question in regards to the method and not knowing if this is for real or not. And I among trying to get some "inside" secret by how you build these cabins. In fact I talked to my wife today about this place and she said she is interested in attending this class with me.

I showed her the pictures on the student cabins area and she saw these cabins and was like " are you sure we can do this" and my reply was " ya apparently you don't need construction experience according to what this site and people say".

I would feel awful about myself if we attended the class and wouldn't be able to do this. So again, it's in my nature to ask a lot of questions especially when it comes to making big decisions like this one. I like to have he warm and fuzzy feeling inside that I am absolutely sure that this is a good choice.

Also I live in the northwest also, I am attending perry tech in yakima, wa. I am hoping to get a job somewhere here in Washington or Oregon when I am finished.

[localfiend]

Wow thanks for the support guys you are a friendly bunch! I feel bad about my question in regards to the method and not knowing if this is for real or not. And I among trying to get some "inside" secret by how you build these cabins. In fact I talked to my wife today about this place and she said she is interested in attending this class with me.


Don't feel bad about the question, I had the exact same ones I just spent too much time scouring the internet for info on the LHBA, and did a bunch of reading on the forum here otherwise I would have asked the same thing. Some of the wording on the FAQ section, as well as the articles did make me a bit sceptical, but if you dig a bit deeper you can see that the comments aren't as far out as they seemed at the start. I've enrolled in the march class and I guess I'll find out for certain. The money back guarantee helps ease my mind as well.



Also I live in the northwest also, I am attending perry tech in yakima, wa. I am hoping to get a job somewhere here in Washington or Oregon when I am finished.

I'm in mattawa, about an hour away from you. If you sign up for the class and decide this is the way you want to build perhaps we can help each other out. Having someone close (I live in the middle of nowhere so yakima is close....) to bounce ideas off of could be helpful.

[StressMan79]

Too good to be true scams promise a lot for little. Indeed you will learn how to build ur own house, but no-one will ever tell you it will be easy.

[JakeProm]

Local friend,
Ya I feel the same about the money back guarantee. If I do end up staying in the area (depends where I get a job after schooling) then I think it would be great to talk to one another or if possible help one another.

Stress man,
I believe in the fruits of your labor and working hard to get something out of life. But sometimes I will be honest with myself when I don't think I have the skills necessary to do something. When I look T the pictures of the student cabins I don't see a beginners work, I see someone who has been making these things for years! Now this isn't necessarily true, but with my untrained mind I think "I can't make a nice looking home like that, I can't even build a great looking shed! S this must be to good to be true!"

Now I have never been afraid of hard work, I actually have issues of not being able to stop working I always feel the need to be doing something productive. I have never gotten anything in my life for free nor will I ever expect it, but this site says they can give me the knowledge to make one of these nice looking homes then I expect exactly that.

So in a nutshell can this LHBA give me this knowledge? I want to make one of these cabins before I die and pass it along to my kids and grandkids, then when I get to heaven I will build more.

[Mosseyme]

Jake,
There is no scam here,
Many folks here find this site while looking for kits to build themselves ect. We did not. We found it while looking for DIY from your own logs type of help. We were already in the process of logging our place to build our own cabin when I came across this site litterally weeks before starting the building process on our own. Without this class we would have made some very big mistakes that would have haunted us for as long as we lived in this cabin and made for maintainence nightmares. We are just getting close to being ready to stack logs in the next few months. We are in our 60's and are slow and have only minimal building experience. You sound pretty young so you have a lot going for you. The experience and answers to almost any question you might ask is on the members side. It is also common to have other member come to help on a build at certain stages if they can work it out. Also once a member you can go help at other builds to get some experience. In the NW there are usually a number of builds going on but we have quite a bit happening in the SE now days to. Good luck, hope you decide to take the leap.

[JakeProm]

Jake,
There is no scam here,
Many folks here find this site while looking for kits to build themselves ect. We did not. We found it while looking for DIY from your own logs type of help. We were already in the process of logging our place to build our own cabin when I came across this site litterally weeks before starting the building process on our own. Without this class we would have made some very big mistakes that would have haunted us for as long as we lived in this cabin and made for maintainence nightmares. We are just getting close to being ready to stack logs in the next few months after a lot more logging and a whole summer of digging our basement and getting the walls done. We are in our 60's and are slow and have only minimal building experience. You sound pretty young so you have a lot going for you. The experience and answers to almost any question you might ask is on the members side. It is also common to have other member come to help on a build at certain stages if they can work it out. Also once a member you can go help at other builds to get some experience. In the NW there are usually a number of builds going on but we have quite a bit happening in the SE now days to. Good luck, hope you decide to take the leap.

Thank you for the reply, just by listening to the people on this forum gives me great hope. I don't expect making a cabin happens overnight, anytime I worked with my grandpa he would always say "Jake Rome wasn't built in a day".

I guess right now I am in the process of figuring out how i can do this while at the same time being a father and a husband. I can tell you one thing is for sure, there is something special about these homes and for some weird reason I have ran across this website and something is churning in my deep inside...

[Matt F.]

Hi Jake,

I remember when I first found LHBA - I had no building experience, I was wowed by the student homes, it seemed too good to be true, etc. I have not built yet, but I did attend the class this past Spring and have spent a good bit of time reading posts on the members' side. So, my perspective is from there, and not the perspective of someone who has already built.

The LHBA could be considered a scam if you think they are promising that someone with no building experience can build an amazing home, with little out of pocket money, no mortgage, using tools that fit in your trunk, and have it under roof in 9 weeks. But no promises of that kind are made. When you look at the student built homes, keep in mind that what applies to one, may not apply to another. One home was under roof in 9 weeks, working only weekends. One home cost only $45,000 to build. One home appraised for double what it cost to build and was sold the following week. One home was built by two people using only tools that fit in the trunk of their car. Etc. The inexpensive one probably took a long time to build. The one that went up quickly, probably used tools that wouldn't fit in a car. See what I'm getting at?

The first tattoo shop I was ever in, had a sign that read, "Fast, Cheap, Good - pick 2" That probably applies here, too.

-Matt

[Blondie]

Hi,

I too have read the other blogs bashing Skip. I thing these folks have invested heavily in kit cabins and are very threatened by LHBA's methods because they see their massive profits circling the drain. There is one story of two women building a cabin and as they got the roof on the walls fell in. Of course using Skip's method, that could never happen. But a beginning investigator that could really rock the boat! With all that hot verbage either the guy was a crock or the real thing. I have taken the class, I have seen the student cabins....................THE GUY IS THE REAL THING.

Blondie

[blane]

The stock plans make it much easier for a novice. We worked and reworked plans and somehow just could not "make them work" so I threw in the towel and bought the stock plans. If you want to move a wall here or there no problem because nothing is load bearing. We added an exterior door that was not in the plans.
My suggestion is to go ahead and start dreaming but don't actually do anything until you have been to class. If you have debt start getting rid of it "beans and rice from now until you are living in your mortgage free house". You can do it Jake. How old are you? Im thinking younger than me. Don't rush it be patient and plan but take the class as soon as you can because they can help you dream and plan more constructively.

[localfiend]

Guess I should have paid more attention as I thought the basic plans were part of the course. How much do the pre-made plans run?

[loghousenut]

Not a part of the course but a bargain. I wish we woulda used LHBA plans. If the cost of the whole thing gets to worrying you, just ask anyone who's been through it if they think it was a fair deal. You'll be 20 steps ahead of the game once you step on the plane at Vegas and start heading home. Over the life of your build, that class money will come streaming back to you a bucketful at a time. If you never end up building your own home, you'll probably retrieve only about a half of a bucketful but it'll still seem like a fair deal. I have found that most folks who do the LHBA thing think of it as a turning point in their lives in ways that seem little related to logs, homes, and building.

[Tom Featherstone]

Not a part of the course but a bargain. I wish we woulda used LHBA plans. If the cost of the whole thing gets to worrying you, just ask anyone who's been through it if they think it was a fair deal. You'll be 20 steps ahead of the game once you step on the plane at Vegas and start heading home. Over the life of your build, that class money will come streaming back to you a bucketful at a time. If you never end up building your own home, you'll probably retrieve only about a half of a bucketful but it'll still seem like a fair deal. I have found that most folks who do the LHBA thing think of it as a turning point in their lives in ways that seem little related to logs, homes, and building.

Where's the "Like" button in this forum?

[BoFuller]

Ditto.

"Like"

[panderson03]

yeah, I agree with everything LHN said but I'm very afraid that if we 'liked' it might go to his head... :p

[loghousenut]

yeah, I agree with everything LHN said but I'm very afraid that if we 'liked' it might go to his head... :p

Go ahead... I can take it.

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t55/loghousenut/1020323_1145166290196_small_head_zpsca57e3b7.jpg

[Ellsworth]

Where's the "Like" button in this forum?

Upper left corner of every thread ;)

[LogHomeFeverDan]

Go ahead... I can take it.

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t55/loghousenut/1020323_1145166290196_small_head_zpsca57e3b7.jpg

Ok Mister!!!! You might fool some of the readers here but not me!! I'm a fully illuminated light bulb!! I saw this guy before, if this is you you're a movie star, this guy was in the "waiting room" in Beetlejuice!!