Hirsilinna hirsitalot ja hirsimökit

Which company is the best American log home manufacturer? I’m playing with an idea of representing an American log home company here in Finland. I know this is tough market, because half of world’s biggest log home companies come from Finland. Still, I believe that American rustic log homes have a suitable and distinctive style, which is hard to imitate. Log cabin rental business is growing by leaps and bounds in Lapland and rental companies need specialties to compete efficiently.

AMERICAN LOG HOMES HAVE CHARACTER
That’s true, say what you will, but American log homes are one of a kind, bit like American cars – big, bulky, powerful and cool. Unfortunately, American car manufacturers are in a bit of a trouble, markets cry for efficient cars and companies can’t deliver. Let’s hope the log home industry understands to jump the energy efficiency bandwagon and doesn’t just lull itself into thinking that people will buy those dream log homes no matter what. I’m all for dreams but if we can’t afford them, then we just have to change our dreams. Anyway, back to the topic.

LOCAL FINNISH LOG HOUSE IN LAPLAND

Now, here is a photo of competition. You will see this sort of new log homes and log cabins in ski resorts of Lapland. Good thing with this style is that it reads log home all over it. However, like most Finnish log homes, design is so Scandinavian that it starts to lack character. This kind of Scandinavian-styled log cabin will surely loose against rustic American log home. The victory prize is yet another happy family of overnight renters. So, any recommendations? Please, just type it down to comments.

I must disappoint you, because there is no specific and right way to get a log home or log cabin. However I try to demonstrate how to build a log home. I will show the process from the start to finish and explain the details and motivation. There will be pictures, video, articles and interviews that document the whole project from the idea to the finished log home.

I am able to do this, because it’s me who is going to build the log home. Time frame is staggering because I have reserved three years for the whole project, starting from the beginning of the year 2007. I don’t know how many of you will have the patience to follow the progress or the lack of it, but I publish the information here anyway.

I have noticed that many people start to chase their log home dream from the wrong side of the street. What these people do is that first they are mesmerized by some of those stunning pictures at log home magazines. The second thing they do is to start shuffling through some floor plans, because those log home magazines are all about floor plans and log home dreams.

Together those trends put people in situation where they have high hopes, possibly unrealistic budget expectations and tentative contacts with log home dealers about the price of building a log home. Inexperienced and inspired are two adjectives that make sales people think about money.

I am not saying that you shouldn’t be inspired, after all, burning desire and passion are often the last two resorts, which keep any project running while facing hardships. However, I would like you to decide between – are you a log home owner-buyer or are you a log home owner-builder?

If you envision yourself as a buyer then you don’t have to worry much, just be careful while choosing your realtor and follow normal home buying process. If you want to have the whole big log home dream of building the log home on your own land with your own hands, boy, are you in a heap of trouble…

Long gone are those days when it was possible to quickly build a half decent log home. Nowadays log homes incorporate modern utilities and technology and given the special nature of log construction – well – log homes are more difficult to build than normal timber frame or element houses. Prepare yourself! I’m going to write a series of articles that will get you started, but as you will see, it is a long road.

Log homes and log cabins can be surprisingly difficult products to understand. You get all kinds of sets and degrees of deliveries. Moreover, log homes and log cabins are image products, just open any log home magazine and it is all about emotion to have one not about money it takes to buy one or skill it takes to build one. These are the reasons why it is so easy to be lured by advertising while shopping log building.

Seth Godin had a piece about nutty pricing. I don’t know how was the case with Seth’s example, but nutty pricing can sometimes be clever pricing. Many log home companies name various delivery choices with normal buyers campaign mentality in mind. They might have four different delivery packages for certain model e.g. like this: basic, normal, deluxe and service.

The idea is to rely on our logic thinking. We automatically go and presume that service package is the best, however they set the package pricing lower than deluxe so we believe the company when it says that service package now has special pricing because of the season (it is always the season for log homes). If we go into the details and compare the delivery contents, we notice that deluxe was indeed much better, but to notice that, you have to go and have long discussions with the sales agent.

Mind about the product and the price it is not always what the label says.