Do I need a reality check?

[Crump]

We are in the middle of purchasing our property and were planning on buying a kit home to get us by as we build our "dream" home. Then I stumbled across the LHBANA website and got excited about building our "starter". Reading posts about how people put up the "shell" in a matter of weeks sounded great so we registered for a class, etc.

Now as I've gone back and read more and more of this forum it sounds like this process is could take a year or more ie , find all the tools ,develop plans, cut and peel logs, etc-- (I haven't taken the class yet so I don't know the full ins and outs). Are we nuts to think we can take the class, "borrow" or buy some plans that have already been successfully used (I read something on the website about how members are usually more than willing to share their plans), chop down some of the trees on our land, and put up a modest log home in the course of the summer? We do have some resources at our disposal so we can buy the tools and contract out a finish things.

Is there places you can buy the logs pre-peeled? Can a home be put up and more or less done in a June-October timeframe (well and septic are already in). Nothing too fancy 1500-2500 sqft. 3BR, 2.5 BA.

Also, our land slopes. Will the class show us a way to make the foundation compensate for that?

Thanks for all input.

[jeffro]

You can build much faster than the methods proposed in class. You just have to throw a lot more money at the project, hire out more portions of the building process simultaneously once you are close to under roof, and have a decent amount of people actually working on their projects.

Your foundation questions will be answered in full.

Jeff

[adubar]

Crump,

Think of building a log home like sending a package.

The faster you want it to arrive, the more it will cost you.

Most of your time "building" should be spent in sourcing tools, materials and any contracted labor you need (get the best deals).

In reality, I can't imagine even paying a contractor to build the whole thing if I thought I wanted a log home one day and expect to have it delivered three months to the day after I had the first thought about it.

What I'm saying is, by the time you have found a contractor, plans and land, you could have spent the same amount of time actually getting the land, tools and materials, logs and any "expert" labor secured you would need to do the build.


The time most new home customers spend sitting around thinking about what kind of home they want, search for a builder , planning and contracting and sitting around waiting for the thing to be built, is the time you would employ to be able to do most everything yourself and at a far less cost.

As far as the physical build itself, some members have taken as little as three months to do it.

Regards,

A

[RockEngineer]

The LHBA also has some standard simple plans available to members for a modest price once you have taken the class. They give you a lot of options without getting too difficult for a first or 2nd time builder.

Whether you can get your house done in 3 months depends on how much time you are willing to put in in that time and if you have several people to help you. Three to 5 people is probably the ideal crew size if you are tying to get it done quickly and not stumble over each other. If you rent equipment to handle the logs and help with the more strenuous labor you also can cut time but your costs go up.

It depends on whether you have more time or money and what you are physically able to do.

[Vern Street]

Our 2 cents worth from recent experience...
People ask us all the time, "how long is it going to take to build?" The answer is, "until we get done!" There is no way to know - there are just too many variables even from day to day.

Here are some things we've learned:
When you have son-in-laws and/or grandsons helping, you get alot more done in a day! But, inexperienced hands can actually slow you down for a while as you bring them up to speed on what to do.

We're building on a fairly busy rural highway, so on the days with the nicest weather - more curious people stop to ask questions. (sometimes really stupid questions, too!) But, we answer them patiently. Vern never gets tired of telling people about what we're doing! One frequently asked question is: are you doing a log home construction business because I would love to own one but could never do it myself? Hmmmm....

We had our foundation done last summer when we thought we had a deal on logs. That deal fell through, so the piers sat for several months. Logs were delivered the last week of December and we peeled bark around the ice storms in January. The first log went up on Feb. 12th. As we figured out what we were doing, we were fairly pleased to discover that just the two of us (age 67 and 53) could do a round of 4 logs in a day! However, that changes as you go higher! It takes longer to go up and down the ladders! And we also discovered, that we could do that one or two days, but then we had to rest and recuperate! We can't maintain that level of intensity - downside of old age I guess! We are not driving rebar by hand either - that would take considerably longer - at least for us! We're using a Harbor Freight demolition hammer with a modified rebar bit.

We have a John Deere tractor to pull logs over to the site, and an old Massey-Ferguson front-end loader that we have lifted all the logs with. Unfortunately, the front-end loader has maxed out on it's lifting ability, so we're regrouping for the last 4 rounds. That slows you down, too!

Each step presents it's own challenges and takes time to figure out how to make it work the best. Even though we've gone to class and feel more than prepared, we've never actually "done" these things hands-on, so we don't know how to answer "how long?" questions. We don't think it's unrealistic to hope to be in our home by Christmas, but time will tell! The weather is a huge factor. It's pouring down rain today which means no work! (That's why I'm writing all of this!) And, depending on how long it keeps raining, the mud may take a day or two to dry up enough to get back to work.

Rainy days also give you time to figure out the next phase AND to update the website! So, you can watch us grow at www.vernstreet.com :D

As my new same-name friend, Sara Amberian, always says - the most important thing is to work safe! Never take anything for granted! Logs are a whole different ballgame...

One more thing... we debated about Vern going to class alone, or both of us going. I am so glad that we decided for both of us to go! Even though I can't physically do some things that he can, I make a good gopher! I try to be one step ahead of him with tools, equipment, and a glass of water. In any situation, two sets of eyes and ears are better than one. We both took notes in class, but it's amazing the difference in what we wrote down from the same class!

Good luck in your venture!
Sara and Vern Street