The Log Home Industry Expert

Registration is now open for the 2010 Log Homes Council President’s Tour, March 29 through April 1 in Boise, Idaho. Register here.

This year’s tour is unique for several reasons. One, it’s returning after a year off. I know that I and other Log Homes Council members I’ve spoken to are really looking forward to coming back together to network, catch up and share new ideas. Also unique is that we’ll be seeing a couple of facilities that don’t make logs—we’ll get the opportunity to see how other manufacturers have decreased waste, optimized flow and found other ways to increase efficiency.

I’m proud to be host of one of our stops—my company, PrecisionCraft Log Homes and Timber Frame. Our log home facility includes two Pendu milled log lines, a handcrafted log yard and a Hundegger K-2 CNC timber frame milling line. I’m excited to get the chance to show you how we’ve incorporated lean manufacturing techniques and what we’ve learned from the process.

The other stops are:
MotivePower: This state-of-the-art facility designs, manufacturers and re-manufacturers diesel-electric locomotives. They have been using lean manufacturing techniques for several years.

Woodgrain Millwork: One of the largest millwork companies in the world, this production facility specializes in efficiently optimizing wood fiber in its end products. Woodgrain management has integrated lean manufacturing throughout their operations.

Woodgrain Door: This fully-integrated wood door manufacturing shop produces a variety of solid wood and insulated doors. You will see how lean manufacturing techniques have reduced costs in this large-volume facility.

Are you ready to get back on the bus and learn smart new ways to get lean? Let’s go! Register for the 2010 Log Homes Council President’s Tour at www.nahb.org/presidentstour. I’ll see you there!

All the best,
Jim Young
President, PrecisionCraft Log Homes & Timber Frame
Chairman, 2010 Log Homes Council President’s Tour

Handcrafted Log Yard at PrecisionCraft Log Homes

Hundegger K-2 Timber Frame Milling: PrecisionCraft Timber Frame

Pendu Milled Log Lines at PrecisionCraft’s Manufacturing Facility

An Inspired Living Story by PrecisionCraft Log Homes:

Click on the Image Below and Take a Tour of this Handcrafted Log Home Cabin:  Hear the Story, Browse the Photos, and Tour its Floor Plan

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.

Over the past few years, the log and timber home industry has taken a new turn. Today the industry sees more and more homes combining log elements with timber frame components and conventional framing.

Employing a combination of materials and building styles is referred to as “hybrid” and is often done to achieve a particular design look. Many clients enjoy the flexibility in design that a hybrid log home allows. Below are a few examples illustrating how a combinations of different materials can come together to create a truly amazing home:

• Crested Butte - A hybrid log home design of large stone, milled log walls, and customized timber frame trusses.
• Eagle’s Nest - A hybrid log & timber home; square milled log walls with dovetail corners and custom timber frame trusses.
• Upland Retreat - A handcrafted log & timber hybrid home; handcrafted wall logs and timber frame trusses, posts & roof.

Many designers will use timber and log elements in combination with conventional framing. Of course, the log & timber home purist prefers a more authentic log and timber style construction. But, decorative log and timber elements added to conventional framing can achieve a mountain flavor and sometimes save costs. This hybrid method is seen regularly in multi-unit condominiums and resort townhouses. Framing side wings in combination with a timber frame or log great room makes sense and can save in construction costs.

Log home construction, however, can be very difficult to combine with other types of construction if the log home company doesn’t utilize a non-settling system. If your goal is to decrease the cost to build your log home by mixing logs with framing or post & beam construction, remember to check out the company’s non-settling system.

With any home design, the creativity of the designer will dictate the materials to be used. Find a company that is flexible in their manufacturing so as to accommodate the creativity of your design. Providing your designer with a broad palette of materials including handcrafted log, milled log, timber, framing, glass, stone, steel and other materials creates more opportunity for a unique and creative custom home. The design must come first and the materials must then be able to accommodate.

Customers often ask me “which is the best species” for a log home. There are many good species and most are appropriate for use in log homes and timber homes. Selection of the species often comes down to which one you like to look at most. However, in my humble opinion based on 20 years of log home experience, there is one wood species that seems to perform better when it comes to log homes and timber homes – West Coast Douglas Fir.

West Coast Douglas Fir is grows on the Pacific side of the Cascade Mountains in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia.  Douglas Fir growing east of the Cascades is technically the same species but the high moisture and soil conditions of the Pacific Coastal Region produces much higher quality wood fiber than its inland cousin. The grain is straight with fewer knots and defect. The color of Douglas Fir varies from a yellow/white sapwood to a glowing brownish red heart wood. It takes stain and finish very well. Personally, I think Douglas Fir gives the best overall appearance.

Ask any framer that been in the business for awhile. The old salts will tell you about the good old days with most framing lumber was West Coast Douglas Fir.  It was straight, true and you could count on the quality. Today, the West Coast Douglas Fir is just too valuable to use in standard framing lumber. Most framing lumber is made from other lower quality species. The high quality Douglas Fir is reserved for timbers and finish boards.

Douglas Firs has the highest structural qualities of all of the softwoods. It is typically the species of choice by architects and engineers in structural applications. Most roof and truss members require the strength of Douglas Fir. In timber frame structures, Douglas Fir is the best choice. In a timber frame, most timber connections are structural and the timbers are typically load bearing. Using Douglas Fir in a timber frame structure gives the designer and engineer much more flexibility.

Of course, old growth Douglas Fir is protected – for good reason.  As an active member of the U.S. Green Building Council, we employ practices that are environmentally friendly such as utilizing second growth and plantation logs and timbers.

PrecisionCraft’s species of choice for log homes is West Coast Douglas Fir. We can get other species and the final decision is always up to our customers. But, if someone asks my opinion on which wood species is the best, I will always tell them that West Coast Douglas Fir is my personal preference.  

We started the Total Home Solution™ as a response to what our customers were telling us,” says Jim Young, President of PrecisionCraft Log and Timber Homes. “Our customers want a complete building solution from A to Z.” Working with their in-house architectural firm, Mountain Architects, Inc., PrecisionCraft developed a process known as the “Total Home Solution™.” “It became very clear that we had to expand our view of the product we were offering. We are not just selling logs and timber. We’ve redefined our product now as a building process from conceptual design through complete construction” Young explains. Starting with the conceptual design, the designers at Mountain Architects work with their customers to define the general parameters of the home. “The conceptual design is really a feasibility study” says Tim Schafer, lead architect for Mountain Architects, Inc. “We put a lot of effort into the design phase. Our homes are not out-of-the-box or planbook houses. Each home is custom designed to achieve the look and feel our client’s have in mind. We cater to clients that are looking for a particular design style using a combination of logs, timbers, stone, glass and other elements and features that they may visualize,” explains Schafer.

PrecisionCraft’s manufacturing and product philosophy is to let the design control the product elements. “So many companies offer one or two products. Unfortunately, this limits what can be achieved in the design. At our company, design drives manufacturing. Our manufacturing is set up as a custom shop to produce most any log or timber element that a designer can dream up,” says Young.

As part of PrecisionCraft’s Total Home Solution™, they have established a unique process for identifying and selecting builders for their customers called “Builder Due Diligence™”. “Selecting the right builder may be the most critical decision in building the home. Competency, financial ability, and references must check out before ever considering a builder,” Young explains. “Choosing between qualified builders also involve aligning the builders’ abilities with the clients expectations as to budget, timing and quality. Budget is always an issue and the conceptual design has to be in-line with realistic construction costs before the project can move forward.”

Once the conceptual design is complete and the client is satisfied with the preliminary budget analysis, Mountain Architects will prepare the full construction drawings. “Building code requirements are becoming much more complex especially when building in mountain and resort areas,” says Schafer. “We have projects in just about every major resort area in the country and we’re pretty good at knowing what is required”. All PrecisionCraft projects are engineered by independent structural engineers. “Our clients are making a substantial investment in their homes and we feel requiring engineering is good insurance to address the structural and geotechnical aspects of the home before construction starts,” explains Young. “It’s all part of our Total Home Solution™ philosophy.”

“A successful building project is about bringing all of the elements together in a smooth and orderly process to achieve a dream home for our customers,” says Young. “It requires looking at the big picture to get to the Total Home Solution™.”