WHAT ABOUT THE CUSTOMER?

This question usually asked in the privacy of a home. Unfortunately clients are on the bottom of the chain what comes to returning any money, which is owed to them. This means that what ever money client has pre-paid is very unlikely that any of it is paid back. Show me the money.

It is probably needless to point out that the unexpected loss of the house manufacturer also means a serious dent into the construction schedule. In a situation such as that one is bound to pay more attention to double checking the background of the supplier so expect slow progress. Give me a minute.

WHAT TO DO NOW?

Every builder has checked at least two manufacturers while shopping the supplier. Now it is time to continue the project with the company that came second. Good luck.

First thing about the D-log is that in Finland this style of log has very limited market and it is almost solely made to export markets. Consequently this means that production volumes compared to round or planed or laminated logs are very small. This tends to keep the D-log profile prices higher than other profiles. What about the companies that do manufacture D-logs…

FINNISH COMPANIES THAT MANUFACTURE D-LOGS

Ikihirsi is one of the companies that manufactures D-logs. I don’t know much about this company, but they do have factory and relatively large output. Recent years their turnover has been few million euros. They have a lot of complexity with the products that they manufacture, so it might be a good alternative.

Hirsiset is another company in Finland that manufactures D-logs. They are located in Northern Finland near the city of Oulu. This company has reasonably long history, but the financial drought has treated the company very harshly and it has been losing money and its turnover has plummeted. Be careful about downpayments if you plan to make any.

Honkatalot has D-log in their product slate. From this crew of three I would lift Honkatalot as the most profilic manufacturer with reasonably big turnover. They have very extensive product slate and very wide sales network. This is also their achilles heel as the company doesn’t have all the necessary resources to keep all the product lines going constantly. Nothing wrong with that, but when you over extend your reach there is a real danger that you are not able to reach full potential. This fact is the same for people and companies alike. Honkatalot has a long and winding history with different ownership arrangements, but now their situation seems to be relatively stable.

Honkamajat is a new addition to the list. I got a comment from them in November 2010 confirming the fact that they provide D-logs. This information cannot be found on their website. Check the comments to find their remarks.

IT ALL STARTED FROM A COMPANY CALLED THE PELLOPUU

Pellopuu was started as a family company way back in 1952 to manufacture and sell wooden products. It took tens of years before the company had any significant growth but in the end they managed to grow up into a sizeable log house manufacturer. However the company fell into a financial trouble and eventially into a bankruptcy in 1999. After several different developments the Pellopuu is now part of Armas Kristo company and sells log houses under the name of Lapin Punahonka.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ORIGINAL OWNERS OF THE PELLOPUU?

LP House was started by one of the owning brothers of the Pellopuu company. There was quite a bit of commotion involving the bankruptcy and the brothers who used to own the company. In the end the brothers were cleared of any wrong-doing. However the damage had been done and the LP House name had a bad ring to it already. Therefore the shift into a Revontulitalot Oy to obtain a clean slate.

REVONTULITALOT OY

Nothing special about this company. To my understanding they have no actual manufacturing instead they subcontract the log frame and other wooden material for their deliveries. This gives them extraordinary flexibility in the manner of delivery contents. They have managed to ramp up their turnover in few short years… Anyway, this is my understanding of the situation, if you want to know more, visit their location and find out more. Be sure to tell us too…

Massive timber frame structure remains visible from inside giving a strong character to the building.

TIMBER FRAME TODAY
Today the situation is considerably different. Conservation efforts and environmentalism set strict ground rules for forestry and the price for skilled wood workers has soared, because of limited availability of professionals. For these reasons automated and computer guided manufacturing has been combined with advanced digital planning. These methods mean that one can automatically manufacture a very complex timber frame house design with a push of a button. Computer assisted 3-D designing minimises the material usage by optimising the customer wishes and structural requirements while making it easy for the customer to take part into the process with the help of 3-D models.

TIMBER FRAME STYLE
Timber frame houses are very flexible with additional building methods, styles and materials. You can fit your timber frame house into an urban environment among tile clad buildings and nobody could tell the difference from outside if you would use similar tiles as the exterior material for your house. Inside style doesn’t have to follow the outside, instead it can be drastically different and include oriental style or you can keep the massive timber frames visible and add to the rustic look or maybe you would like to aim that famous Scandinavian Design style… possibilities are limited only by imagination.

INITIAL CONSULTING
Buying a timber frame house from Finland is very easy. Just send us your architect drawings or your own ideas and we take it from there. First we consult you about your specific wishes for your timber frame house and general requirements for the project so that we are able to give you overall guidance and tips about the project. Then we will together agree about the next step. Initial consulting is just the first step down the long road of house building process. We will continue by giving you approximate costs for the coming project and related time tables. At this point you will have the information for deciding if you want to continue with the project or not.

PLANNING CONTRACT
If you, like many others, decide that you want to move forward with your house order then we will sign a planning contract for custom designing your timber frame house. We do this because our accurate 3-D design process has to be done down to manufacturing detail level from the first line drawn. Unlike normal architectural designing – which is merely a guidance for builders or manufacturers – our plans can be manufactured for delivery immediately after the client has approved them. If for some reason you don’t want to continue with us we will give the finished drawings for you to continue the project with someone else.

PLANNING PROCESS
We can design a beautiful house for you no matter your starting point. The process runs in cycles as we hand you over the various versions for the outside look and the floor plan of the house. Every cycle will show you the house with more detail and closer to your dream house. Drawings will be modified according your requests and slowly the finished plans are ready for your building license applications and for our manufacturing process.

ORGANIC MATERIAL, TRADITIONAL METHODS AND MODERN MANUFACTURING
Wood in general is one of the most convenient building materials and probably the best organic building material in the world. Wood is light weight and strong and it also has a long history as a building material so it is familiar to most builders. When wood is combined with timber framing, which is among the oldest building systems, you can rest assured that the starting point for your project is very favorable. When

WOOD AS A RAW MATERIAL
Wood grows in layers and there is air tied in between these layers, which makes even structural wood a natural insulation material. When compared to modern industrial materials like steel and concrete wood has a superior insulating value and this doesn’t yet include the thermal mass of the wood. Because of its mass, wood is able to store and release heat and humidity together these qualities transform massive timber frame into a battery, which stores extra energy and releases it when needed.

Massive timber frame wood will have visible cracks on its surface due to the drying. Engineered wood will retain the smoothness through the years giving uncomparable style and quality.

ENGINEERED WOOD
The kiln-dried and glue-laminated wood that we manufacture to be used as raw material for the massive timber frame houses has even better structural properties than normal wood. Glue-laminated and kiln-dried wood doesn’t crack or bend as much as normal wood does and the frame has a cleaner look plus it withstands elements better. The glue, which is used in the process is environmentally safe as it has been made from lignins that are extracted from trees.

OUR TIMBER FRAME DIMENSIONS
We offer several dimension specifications for our timber frames, but normally we offer three choice of sizes 134x134mm, 164x164mm and 200x200mm. In case such a dimension is not enough from structural point of view, we have the technology to manufacture glue-laminated beams that are over 500mm high and can carry enormous loads.

INDUSTRIAL MANUFACTURING
We use fully automated manufacturing line that comprises of several wood processing units. We can produce the timber frame pieces for a large house in a day while similar house could take months to finish by a team of timber frame hand-crafters. All of the mortise and tenon cuts are placed accurately according the original 3-D design and cutting quality remains the same throughout the frame. The most important work left for human eyes and hands is the quality control.

TIMBER FRAME SYSTEM
Timber frame systems uses mortise and tenon connections to fix together uniquely shaped timber pieces. Our system follows this tradition and no metal pegs, plates or locks are used. Instead we use machine cut joinery in every single piece. The overall frame is designed for by using our standard pre-cuts, which ensures that there are no mistakes with the joinery. This means that after you receive the timber frame kit you are able to raise it quickly piece by piece just following our detailed installation map.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY
Environmental values and energy conservation have become increasingly important topics in housing industry. Massive timber frame houses are both very energy efficient and environmentally friendly. It is obvious that since wood grows on its own it doesn’t need much energy input to be a ready product not so with steel and concrete as well as many other building materials. An added benefit with massive wood is that it functions as a carbon dioxide storage for the time of use and can be easily recycled in the end of the life cycle, which can be even hundreds of years. You are not only building a timber frame house for yourself, you are saving the planet for all of us.

ENERGY EFFICIENT MATERIALS
Timber frame system is very flexible what comes to the materials, which are used with it. This means that you can make your house to a picture of modern design or alternatively you can strive for rustic country look. Despite your choice of appearance you are wise to use materials, which provide good insulation and durability.

UTILITIES
Flexibility has been mentioned many a time with timber frame. It is no different with the utilities and all the modern solutions can be used together with timber frame system. To emphasize the environmental nature of this building system it is recommended that you include heating system such as geo-thermal heat pump or solar panels for heating of water and creating electricity. Alternatively you might benefit from having a wind mill generating electricity. All the electricity, plumbing, ventilation and lighting designs that you have for your house will be taken into consideration so that the installation is convenient.

TIMBER FRAME KIT
The final question that must be settled before delivering the house is the contents of the timber frame kit delivery. We can deliver the frame only or any number of hardware store materials to go with the order. Our preference is that we provide you with the structure and you source the internal and external finishes, utilities and furnish the place when all is built and done.

LOG HOUSE SELLERS

Log house

These companies use huge outside images of log houses in their advertising. Clearly the message is directed to builders who want to tackle the building process by themselves or, at very least, be highly involved with the build. This segment values perks that are tied with the actual process of building the log house, therefore manufacturers offer benefits like roof tiles or foundation blocks to sweeten their offers.

Log home

LOG HOME SELLERS
Log manufacturing companies that fall into this category express themselves with wonderful photos of indoor log home cozyness. You can see the happy family doing chores or just taking it easy. Buyers are lured to sign the contract by offering household appliances, services by interior designers etc. These really appeal to convenience minded people of today.

OWNER-BUILDERS ARE A DYING BREED
There are fewer and fewer self-builders. In the future, people are buying ready log homes or custom log homes that are done to meet their requirements. Is it time for your company to rethink advertising?

AFTERTHOUGHT
Do you find it peculiar or fitting that in the Europe we talk about log houses and in the new world they talk about log homes?

Pretty much everybody have now heard about Lincoln Logs’ bankruptcy filing or Chapter 11 reorganization, as the politically correct term goes. Their attorney said intention is not to lay anyone off and to continue operations as usual while negotiating with creditors.

DOUBT
I don’t know about you guys, but if I would be in financial trouble and asked refinancing from my creditors without changing my consumption habits… well, I doubt there would be any reorganization. Personally I expect to see some jobs go or some asset sales.

SURPRISE
For me it was a surprise to see company as big as Lincoln Logs to hit the brick wall. I know that smaller log home companies have already switched from making log homes into renovations etc.

For the most part, I did expect that fervent log home lovers would have kept the industry going, at least for the big players with good brand names. Guess I was wrong, no matter how dedicated customers you have it all comes down to them also having money.

EFFECT
How would you feel if your supplier told that they are having slight difficulties with creditors? I bet that would make you feel insecure. Are you in the stage of making decision between two manufacturers and having very difficult time choosing one… If the other was Lincoln Logs, your life suddenly became lot easier.

No doubt they will lose orders because of this and if they have difficulties now, just wait few months and they really feel the bit of postponed orders or cancellations. Let’s hope they manage to pull through.

Vinyl siding, vinyl shingle roofing, vinyl roll flooring, vinyl ceiling tiles, vinyl sheet covered drywalls, plastic covered couches, vinyl record player and rubber chicken (what?). Now that is a formula for low cost but dull housing, unless you have all the colours of a rainbow, then we got hideous housing or ginger bread housing. Nobody wants to live in a ginger bread house, but that evil witch. Let’s take a look at something completely different.

Log walls (pine), pine wood shingle roofing, pine wood flooring, pine wood panel ceiling, pine wood panel drywalls, log stairs (pine), log railings (pine), wooden cabinets (pine), wooden doors (pine), wood frame windows (pine)… this isn’t that much different, is it? We got high cost but dull housing solution, but show some paint and rainbow colours you shall have.

That was bit harsh, wasn’t it? It is so easy to go overboard with this log dream that I often have to present some eye opening questions to my customers. If you are thinking to build a log home, no matter what everybody say, you have more options than… wood. One especially bad but common advice is that you can use textiles and other decorative items to make it your own. Please do think about materials first and after that decide on decoration. You’ll thank yourself later.

Brilliant news from Southland Log Homes and DonGardner. Southland is going to start offering floor plans from Donald A. Gardner Architects. The beauty of this alliance comes from combining these two companies’ unique strengths.

Southland’s sales channel has massive reach and they have solid manufacturing, however they have never been the strongest player in custom floor plan log homes, but that’s just the trade-off company has to do with production volumes and time consuming custom floor plans.

Donald A. Gardner delivers floor plans and boy do they have plenty! Company has massive slate of different floor plans and even they might come out as somewhat corporative in their company culture, they sure compensate your trouble with abundant slate of floor plans and good pricing. They do have custom services, but those cost extra.

SOUTHLAND BENEFITS

• Southland doesn’t have to invest heavily on architects, structural designers and floor plan designers.

• Southland gets better slate of floor plans to attract customers from new niches and sales go up (word on the street is that they already have almost overly aggressive sales channel, so watch out when shopping around).

• New floor plans are available almost instantly removing long development plans, making this a swift move over competition.

• Corporate culture in these two companies is very similar and cooperation should be straight forward.

It will be interesting to follow how this affects Southland Log Homes market position. What do you think?

Erlund is a log home manufacturer from Finland. A family company with an interesting enough product to be featured on a fantastic TV-series Grand Designs. Erlund has developed a fascinating panel-insulation-log wall that can keep up with rising European standards for energy efficiency of housing.

HOW TO GET IN
With Erlund House, I chose a fairly simple, classic model named Taru with two entrances, one from the side of the building and one from the terrace end of the log home. Side entrance has been planned as the main entrance so let’s go in through that.

INSIDE
In front of us we have a narrow corridor that curves to the right. No cabinets or space for clothes and outdoors gear. For families with kids, I can imagine this to be congested to the max. Corridor is lined with bedrooms and a bathroom, nothing much to comment but very efficient use of space. All the rooms are simple rectangles so there are no in-built closets.

AT THE END OF THE…
Not rainbow, but corridor and it opens to combined kitchen and living room (named lounge, but in my opinion it’s not lounge quality so I’ll just call it living room). Definitive plus here is that this open area just bathes in sun light thanks to those big windows.

WHAT ELSE?
Somewhat – was that it – experience, but one can’t expect much more from house of this size. Space has been utilized fairly well, even the hall area continues all the way through the house.

However, one thing especially troubles me, the only storage room in the house has entry from kitchen only. Given the severe space limitation, this storage room is bound to turn into utility room. Awkward positioning indeed and hampers the functionality (yes, I’m from Finland and here we are all for functionality) of the floor plan.

SUMMARY
Taru floor plan makes good use of the given floor area. Floor plan is slightly on the dull side, because of straight line designing, which also keeps the floor plan clean and simple.

Storage room area is desperately needed. Bedrooms are not that big and if you have to fill them up with closets, you have very little space left for log home living.

Definite plus in this plan are two toilets and their positioning. One can access them easily. However, in order to free that much needed storage space, I would be willing to give up the toilet or rearrange the workroom and bathroom/wc combo.

Like with any floor plans, one little change here creates many little changes here and there. It is often better to redraw the whole floor plan from the start for best results.

Now to what kind of family would this house be suitable? What do you think about it?