This family has generations involved in the running of their log home business. They started with small cabins but have been expanding their product slate into bigger log homes. This warm news article goes through family’s ideas of taking the business into the future.

This article explains how increasing living costs have in turn increased migration from expensive areas to more affordable areas. This is particularly true in case of metropolitan areas where increasing housing costs are behind moves. If you want some actual research data, check this census report.

I see this very concretely in my life. Helsinki is the only real metropolitan area (Helsinki metropolitan area is far from its international counterparts) in Finland and especially housing prices are far above rest of the country. With a price of three-bedroom apartment in Helsinki, one can get a house of 5 bedrooms and a big yard. Goodies do not end here because at countryside one has bit longer commuting trips, but there is practically no traffic so one gets to work and back in less time than in metropolitan area.

Metropolitan areas have very strict building codes and it is almost impossible to get permission for a log home. Outside metropolis it is easier to get approval for even most rustic log homes and log cabins, therefore further increasing the quality of life. Where would you like to live?

Here is an inspirational article about how one log home company got started. Expertise combined with dream has created a true one-stop-shop for log homes. They do planning, logging, milling, finishing and construction.

In relation to my previous post about energy-saving log homes, article points out this: “There is really no comparison; we have a log home under construction right now and it has received an 86% efficiency rating. This means very low utility bills.” Interesting company this Cracker Style Log Home.

I wonder how they will cope with increasing demand that they will most certainly have. Mastering the whole production chain means that while ramping up the production they need to invest into every production phase, which is expensive. Check the original article over here.

Here is a fascinating news article about the effects that DNC Registry has had in construction industry. Americans can give their name to the registry to notify that they don’t want any telemarketing calls. Now there are over 63 million names in these registries and that cuts deep into potential customer base for various construction companies. Before many windows, siding, roofing and sunroom contractors relied heavily on their active marketing push to create sales. Now they have to rely on advertising. This means that media is now swarming with tiny ads on all sorts of home improvement services. Article is a must read for anyone working in sales side of construction industry.

Logs have been considered to be on the more earth-friendly side of housing industry. Straw bale homes are now taking the lead. Can you believe it – straw! Here is a must read article about combined timber frame and straw bale building. With combined building techniques the hybrid straw house can be built high, without caring about the poor qualities of straw in weight-bearing. In this house, straw is for insulation and timber for weight-bearing. Family that is building this unique house has also some other earth-friendly solutions at use, but you can read all about it over here.

Here in Finland, we don’t have many old fashioned loggers left anymore. I suppose that is the case in the most Western countries. However, there are few horse and man units that still do logging in the old fashioned way. This sort of logging is a slowly growing trend.

This sort of logging suits perfectly on remote slots behind difficult transportation connections. Huge, modern machines can’t reach or operate at precision that is needed in projects that horse-powered (pun intended, so you can smile here, please) loggers excel. Horse team usage varies from parks to islands and construction sites that want most trees to be left standing. You can read this piece of news to get better understanding on horse teams in logging industry.

This new press release from PrecisionCraft was bit funny. Maybe it is that I don’t see the value in Log Home Living’s 8th Annual Design Contest, but I just have to ask, why to give out a press release of being a Top 10 Design and the Editor’s Choice? I can think of one reason – SEO. By publishing rather stale releases companies are tapping into media like this website to spread the word and gain visibility.

Mountain Architects, Inc., was the architecture company that designed PrecisionCraft’s Eagle’s Nest log home. They are a PrecisionCraft spin-off company, which now will expand design and planning business even further. They do beautiful custom log home projects, which is far more important news to press.

Have you noticed that with every trend arrive those organizations that bend the trend to their favour? This idea just occurred for me while I was searching for some community effort articles. Here is a link to an article that I was reading while the thought struck. Look at the picture, it is not a real log home even the article refers to log home. Timber frame building with panel siding maybe?

Not a big mistake, surely enough it looks like log home. I expect that as the information about log home types becomes more commonly available we will have more solid terminology usage for them. It will be bit like cars, which now have all sort of market segments and we actually do know what RV or SUV mean. However, the real lesson in this article is that you should insure your home. It is far cheaper for everybody than building a new one.

I wrote about Extreme Makeover, in which a struggling family got a new log home. Katahdin donated the log home in question. Now it was Katahdin’s turn to get lucky, as LHC (Log Homes Council of the National Association of Home Builders) gave Katahdin an Image Award. This award is given to any party that is able to improve the profile of log home industry. Read more about the topic over here.

This one is quite fascinating and I think you will get something out of it, especially if you have a habit of browsing through log home magazines. In The Jackson Sun article Nancy is talking about her experiences on this male dominated construction field (yes, log homes are also part of the field). She was working for various companies in the industry, but today she has her own company that specializes on kitchens, called Cottage Cabinets, which you should also check out.