The Log Home Industry Expert

There is no better time to build. Over the past 18 months, log home enthusiasts are seeing an encouraging trend in the home building industry; builders are willing to compete for their business. As a result, building costs have never been lower than they are now.

Timber Frame Entry

To capitalize on this trend and to better serve their clients, PrecisionCraft has put greater emphasis on their exclusive Builder Bid Administration process. Doing much of the groundwork for their clients, PrecisionCraft researches builders, request bids, and performs thorough reviews and evaluations of the builder bids received. From construction drawings to materials selection to their exclusive builder bidding process named BidRightSM, PrecisionCraft acts as the client’s advocate, ensuring the best price, highest quality and accountability from all parties involved. With that level of assurance, building a custom log home or timber frame home is feasible. Read more about why now is a good time to build.

Timber Frame Home, Custom Design

Building Log Homes, Nationwide

PrecisionCraft launches its new Log Homes Design Build Center at PrecisionCraft.com!  With this new online resource center, people worldwide can get a complete look at PrecisionCraft’s Design Build approach to building custom log homes and timber frame homes. From creating one-of-a-kind designs through the entire construction process, PrecisionCraft’s Design Build center highlights how this unique approach utilizes streamlined processes, aggressive cost controls and cutting edge timeline management techniques to ensure the highest quality build standards at the best price. PrecisionCraft’s Design Build Approach includes:

• Conceptual Design
• A Cost Feasibility Study
• In depth, Pre-Construction Planning, and…the
• Highest Quality Construction

According to Jim Young, President of PrecisionCraft Log Homes & Timber Frame, “the primary advantage of such a unique approach in the log and timber home industry is the client’s ability to see every detail of his or her project thought through and planned for before committing to construction. This means every client has the right design for them, feels completely comfortable with its cost, and enjoys the security that comes from such in-depth planning prior to making a commitment to construction.”

Browse PrecisionCraft’s new Log Homes Design Build Center at: http://www.precisioncraft.com/DesignBuild.html.

With uncertainty engulfing our economy, why would anyone build now? We are confronted daily with customers that are uneasy about moving forward with their building project in the middle of this current economic mess. Of course, each person or family has to evaluate their own financial situation and no one should build if they can’t afford it. But let me make three points before you decide to shelve your building plans:

1. Building costs will never be lower
2. Mortgage interest rates are at an all time low
3. Inflation (or hyperinflation) is on the horizon

See Yourself in 10 Years

Will you be kicking yourself and saying “I knew I should have pulled the trigger when building costs were at an all time low?” In 2019 material and labor costs are much higher and interest rates are on the rise. There are more government regulations and hoops to jump through, which are driving construction costs up even further. Thanks to stimulus spending a decade earlier, the country is experiencing double digit inflation. The smart money locked their 30 year mortgages at interest rates near 5%, and are repaying those loans with inflated dollars. And to make matters worse, since you didn’t build your home in 2009, you missed 10 years of enjoying it.

We all wish for a crystal ball so that we could gaze into the future and make better informed decisions today. Even without a crystal ball, the signs are pretty clear. We are in a tough economic environment; entering the 17th month of the longest recession since the Great Depression. It will probably be a long and protracted recovery before we are back to more normal. Some of the most pessimistic economists are predicting the recovery could last 10 years before real estate values are back to pre-2007 levels.

The Role of Inflation Tomorrow

At some point, we are going to have to pay for the stimulus spending. I’m not going to debate the merits of stimulus spending other than the reality that we cannot continue spending trillions and trillions without paying for it at some point in the future. It either gets paid via higher taxes or, the more politically expedient way, inflation. With all the money the Fed is pumping into the economy, once the recovery starts, inflation is bound to rear its head. Once inflation takes off, you best have your money invested in hard assets that will increase or retain real value. Better yet, leveraging those assets with fixed low interest rate loans that can be repaid with inflated dollars will yield a double inflationary hedge. Whatever you are feeling about real estate and, many people are not feeling very good, real estate is still the best protection against inflation.

The Upside

New home construction is at its lowest recorded level and there are more builders and subcontractors looking for work ever than ever before. Currently, it is a buyers market with tremendous opportunity to make deals that were unthinkable just a few months ago. Plus you don’t have to wait as long to begin building your project.

If you currently own your building lot and bought it before last year, most likely, your land is not worth as much as pre-2007 levels. But, what does that really mean? If you bought your land to hold long term and build say - a retirement home or family cabin to be held for a number of years and/or passed on to your family, then the land is the land. It still has all of the characteristics, beauty and other reasons that prompted you to buy it in the first place. If your intention is to build on your land, now is the building opportunity of a lifetime.

Bottom Line

Chances are pretty good that prices will not go much lower than they are today. It is more likely there will be upward pressure as the economy improves and inflation and interest rates will rise. Bottom line, if you are going to build, it is a far smarter bet to build today than wait. This is a historic time with historic opportunity.

Creative design is at the heart of PrecisionCraft’s business. This dedication to meeting clients’ design expectations has been illustrated time and time again as PrecisionCraft and its design division, Mountain Architects, lead the industry in design awards. These design awards recognize exceptional designs across the different product lines – handcrafted & milled log homes, timber frame homes, and most recently homes designed using an eclectic mix of log & timber (known by many in the industry as log and timber hybrid homes).

But, for the team at PrecisionCraft and Mountain Architects, the challenge to be the best continues on and steps into a new line of homes. This week, PrecisionCraft announces the release of Mountain Accent Homes. With a Mountain Accent Home, a client can get the same great PrecisionCraft design customized to fit a specific style and layout, but at a considerably lower turnkey cost.

Designed and constructed using conventional stick framing, PrecisionCraft’s Mountain Accent Homes incorporate unique log and timber frame elements into the design. The Caribou handcrafted log home plan is a great illustration of how Mountain Architects can redesign an award-winning plan at a lower turnkey cost.

The Caribou log home plan is one of PrecisionCraft’s most popular plans. Recognized by Log Home Design and Log Home Living for its creative design, the Caribou, as a handcrafted log home, turnkeys at approximately $800,000. Keeping the same rustic appeal of the original Caribou plan, Mountain Architects redesigned the Caribou as a Mountain Accent Home™. Using conventional framing and rustic handcrafted log elements the new Caribou plan turnkeys at approximately $450,000. At PrecisionCraft.com, clients can explore an extensive floor plan gallery featuring 70+ timber and log home floor plans. Every PrecisionCraft plan can be redesigned, like the Caribou, as a Mountain Accent Home™.

Altering the log and timber product combination of a design – as illustrated above – represents only one aspect of the custom timber & log home design services provided by the team at Mountain Architects and PrecisionCraft. Adjusting design complexity, altering square footage, and choosing a variety of home finishes are other important ways to customize a home to fit a client’s aesthetic style and budget. Getting a great home all centers on custom design, something the team at Mountain Architects knows a lot about.

Most of our clients dream for years about building the log home or timber frame home of their dreams. Whether as a refuge for their family, a place to get back to nature, a custom designed log & timber home is a reward for a lifetime of accomplishment. But like everything else in life, cost is an inevitable consideration — the best way to avoid surprise and disappointment over the cost of your log & timber home is to establish a realistic turnkey budget at the outset of the conceptual design process.

Our experience in designing and producing over 2,000 log & timber homes has taught us that the critical first step in the design process is to calculate an estimated turnkey budget. Your turnkey budget is based on a number of factors: square footage of the home, complexity of the home, level of finishes in the home and geographical location being the most important factors influencing cost. The impact of square footage in the home is fairly straightforward — the bigger the house, the more building material that goes into the house. The complexity of a home’s design is probably the least understood factor impacting cost — the more corners, roof ridge lines and roof valleys, the higher the cost. On the other hand, a simple rectangular design with one roof ridge line is simpler, and therefore less expensive, to build. The level of finishes that you choose also has a dramatic impact on overall cost — granite counter tops, jacuzzi tubs, wide plank flooring, etc. are beautiful amenities, but are more expensive than formica counters, fiberglass tubs and carpet.

Lastly, the location of your land is a huge factor in turnkey costs — labor and some materials (though not the log & timber package that PrecisionCraft furnishes) are more expensive in Lake Tahoe or Aspen than in other, non-resort areas. Mountain Architects, Inc. — our architectural design firm, excels at designing beautiful homes, within your budget, whatever your budget. The last important fact to remember when going through the design and construction planning process of any log home is that, in addition to being the realization of a long-held dream, chances are good that it will also be a great investment for you and your family.

Is a log home a good investment? Investors are frustrated with the performance of investment options in the new millennium. Stocks, bonds, mutual funds and other financial investments are not performing as many would have liked. Most investors, however, have found that the best performing asset in their portfolio is their home. As a result, real estate is viewed as a safe haven for investors with appreciation far outpacing other investments. With the security and growing values of residential real estate, a growing number of homeowners are now investing in their second home.

There are a wide variety of reasons why people build or buy second homes. City dwellers may want to escape to their home in the country for weekends and holidays. Northerners may want a home in the sun where they can golf year round. Southerners may want a home in the mountains close to a ski resort. There are also the Baby Boomers…a large number are eying retirement and are building second homes anticipating it will become their main residence.

Although the primary reason for purchasing a second home is lifestyle, investment consideration comes in a strong second place. There are several reasons why owning a second home makes good financial sense.

For example, the appreciation of vacation residential property is expected to continue to rise. Our country’s changing demographics are a good predictor that second home ownership will continue to be strong for the foreseeable future.

Baby Boomers reaching retirement age have more wealth than any previous generation; surveys show that ownership of a second home consistently ranks in the top two priorities for this group.

There are also tax benefits to second home ownership. Mortgage interest is deductible for first and second homes making home ownership one of the best leveraged investments. If you move into your second home and live there for at least two years, you can avoid any tax on the sale of your property.

Homes and real estate have always been safe investments. With a growing number of reasons why second home ownership makes sense, the demand for good locations and quality homes will rise. Some experts predict that second home ownership will become nearly as common in the future, as two cars are today for most households. Investment in a second home today is undoubtedly a wise decision for the future.