As you can see from yesterday’s “preview“, the striking specialty of this home show is that every year new REAL area is developed just for this show. Any city in Finland can apply to be the host city or a town for that matter. It is THE show revolving around homes and is very much sought-after marketing opportunity.

How does it work for city?
It’s a great chance to polish up that worn old image and attract new people (tax paying people!) to live and create new activity. Businesses also notice new improved profile and might be interested in relocating or expanding activities to that part of the country, which is so appealing that even the home show is being organized there. Applicant must provide decent lots for the show and take care of setting up utilities and other communal services. The smaller the applicant the bigger the job.

What’s in it for companies?
Exposure! Quotations? Sales? Yeah, that’s how it goes, but usually visibility will bring money at least under some time frame. Companies must invest heavily though, because building one showcase house normally costs 500 000 - 1 000 000 USD. There is no guarantees that company is able to sell it later on, so it is always quite a balancing act between latest innovative products and mass market solutions that are easy to sell to people. Unfortunately easy to sell usually means hard to make headlines and vice versa.

What about people then?
The biggest benefit one can get from home show is - you guessed it - money. In order to guarantee good participation and successful show, city and companies give special offers, discounts and subsidies, which make building much more appealing than it normally would be. Home show might be the only chance for someone to build that extraordinary home and not to loose it to the bank right after completion.

Coming days I’ll walk you through some houses, which are of special interest for log home lovers.

Here in Finland a landmark legal case is brewing about forest treatment. Single forest owner is being accused of mismanaging his forest.

According to the government dictated forestry regulations, one can only cut as much as sustainable development requires. What do you think that means in practise?

It means that if the owner wants to leave the forest into natural state, owner is allowed to do that. However, if the owner wants to cut trees, owner must follow the law about forest treatment. The law states very clearly, how many trees there must be left standing and how big they should be. After this comes whole slate of different treatment measures. This bureaucratic system leads into forest cultivation, is that sustainable development?

In this case, the enforcing forestry official says that the area, which was cut, should have been cut almost to the bare bones, then treat the soil and plant pine trees instead of firs that used to be dominant tree on the location.

Government now demands 10 000 euro from the forest owner, because he cut only the biggest trees and left everything else on natural state. Owner now wonders the rigid practise, because he has been managing his forests in the same traditional manner for over fifty years and they all grow just fine.

Any cumbersome laws limiting forest management on your area?