1. Choose your dream floor plan and customize it to meet your needs – U.S. Log & Timber has an extensive portfolio of pre-designed floor plans to meet any size or design criteria. However, any log home floor plan (or floor plan of any kind) can be customized or modified into a U.S. Log system plan. Our goal is to show you how to get the “most” house you can, based on your needs and budget, for less than you could get from anyone or anywhere else.
2. Research and choose the Right Log Home Package –
Let our experts help you figure out the best log home package combination that;
Fits your budget
Fits your needs
Fits your dreams
Suits the property and weather you live in
3. Seek and Establish Good Financing – Interest rates are at historic lows. If there was ever a time to make a decision to build a home, it’s now. We can work with you to put a log package and work with your building plan that together will pull a great appraisal. That’s a long and short term equity benefit to you and your family.
Ask for U.S. Log’s Financing tips white paper. This document may help your bank or lending provider understand your project in greater detail and make your project move forward more quickly.
4. Hire a General Contractor with a proven track record – usually a log home contractor is a specialty builder and NOT a general contractor. In most states, you must have a licensed general contractor in order to get building permits, hire subcontractors, etc. Of course as a property owner YOU can act as your own general contractor, if you so desire. Either way you decide to go, you should talk this over with your log home provider since not all general contractors are familiar with log home packages.
5. Work to Prepare Your Property – If you already have water & sewage from a local municipality and a useable access road, your property just needs a foundation (crawlspace or walkout basement) in order to get started. If your property is still raw land, you will have to install a septic tank and well or arrange for connections to city water/sewage.
NOTE: The foundation must be built and dried BEFORE any log construction can begin. Any electric power hookups are optional – but always welcome and will make your log home project go that much faster and more efficiently.
6. Order Your Log Home Package – We require a 50% down payment on all packages before work at the mill can begin. This protects you and our partners. Once we receive your payment, the mill crew will check your blueprint and select the best logs available, debark them and hand cut each log for a perfect fit. Once it is checked for quality is it completely disassembled, labeled and stored for shipment.
7. The Log Home Package Delivery – Once your log home has been handcrafted at one of our mills, it is readied for shipment via a flat bed and tractor trailer truck. As the home owner you must pay U.S. Log & Timber the remaining 50% plus all freight and transportation costs from the mill to a state road nearest your property. Depending on where your land is situated, the delivery truck might be able to drive up directly to the job site, off-load your package and turn around to return to home. But if your property is very remote or the access road is not wide enough nor has big enough turn-around area for a fully loaded big rig, your log package must be off-loaded at “a state road nearest your property”. The General Contractor of your choice is responsible for delivering your package from the state road to your job site.
8. The Log Home Setup & Erection Process – Here is where a good General Contractor will shine. Your General Contractor is responsible for erecting the logs that form the walls to your home from subfloor (foundation) to roof line. Log construction is very fast in comparison to traditional home building. This means that if you have a reputable roofing company already lined up, your house can go from foundation to “dried in” within weeks or months.
Note: US log and timber will provide a general contractor engineered stamped blueprints in the comprehensive construction manual. U.S. Log and Timber is available to consult with your contractor should questions arise. If you would like the U.S. Log specialist to be on site and available please contact us for availability and fees.
9. Final Log Home Construction – Once your log package is erected, it is ready for dry-in-installation of windows, doors, roof, etc., so that your home is weathertight. After this, your General Contractor and subcontractors will be working on the inside finish per the blue print. Once completed and the landscaping is finished please take a selfie’ and send it to us!
10. Enjoy your finished U.S. Log & Timber home for all the memories to come …and tell your friends about US!