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Can I build a log home (turnkey) in the $100,000. price range?

I have properties in northern lower Michigan and the Smokey Mountain areas. I would like to build log homes at both locations with the home in Michigan a secondary and modest residence. I know I can get a stick built home for this price but would much prefer a log home. I have a well, septic and electric so that doesn't need to be considered in the price. The land is paid for as well.

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Permalink Reply by tom brodeur on October 7, 2008 at 12:20am: Dee,

I actually had some conversations with Koski log homes in the somewhat recent past. I would love to have a handcrafted home but I don't think my limited budget is within range. As much as I would like to take on part of this project, my problem is I really don't have the time to devote to do it properly. I think if I were to do that the building of the shell and roof is where I would be most adept. I am not skilled enough to do the detail work. As Terry points out there is a huge consideration to account for with settling. I would rather leave that in the hands of the pro's. I can watch and make sure they do it right. :-)

Good luck with your project and thanks for the reply. Let me know how things turn out.

Tom; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Dee on October 30, 2008 at 6:24pm: Tom, we are about 1.5 - 2 years out before we start building. We are estimated about 250K - but we haven't done a budget yet. Just flying by the skin of our logs. :-)

Escrow just closed on our property - YIPPEE - and we are going to do the septic system this spring. Then we'll proceed from there.

We have some land and time shares to sell - so depends on how that goes will depend on when our next loan can begin.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Al Zupan on November 21, 2008 at 10:39pm: Hi!
Most definitely...if you are willing to do some of the work yourself. At the very least, you should be the "general contractor" and hire subs to do the work. There are many log mills that do not advertise and they produce great machined logs. If you stay with a one floor plan or a raised first floor with garages and rec room/extra BR and bath on the ground floor, the price would be cheaper per sq ft than with an actual 2nd floor, first floor and a basement. I have built a strip mall out of logs as well as eight log homes. Wish I still had the property around Harbor Springs, Michigan area...would build a spec log home there. Good luck. Feel free to ask questions. Will oblige with an answer.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by tom brodeur on November 24, 2008 at 2:57am: Al,

I have considered being my own GC and have done some reading on it. I think the hardest part is the scheduling of contractors. I know there are a lot of things I could do but I am handicapped by living 250 miles from my building site. My property is not far from Walloon Lake if you know where that is. Where is the strip mall? I was always under the impression building up was cheaper than building out.

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Permalink Reply by John Petrey on February 9, 2009 at 7:35am: Dear Al, and anyone else with great wisdom,

complete newbie here. I have so many questions, but will start with

1. Are there some reputable Log home package dealers/sellers out there that are fair and honest in materials, product, pricing, and not priced just for Millionaires.

2, in response to your note above. How do you go about finding log mills that do not advertise? and how do you know if the logs are really in fact GREAT?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by MishyP on November 30, 2008 at 2:58pm: Tom best thing going is you will build two homes and learn alot from the first. It might be tough to hit 100K turnkey without alot of hands on. We built our log home as our primary residence within 1 hour of Townsend in the last two years. I often think about how much we could save building another home with our experience from the first still using subs. The primary savings being the cost of a package vs. going to a mill/other direct supplier and getting all the material on our own. Since I had the complete material list from our project I went online and priced just about every material in the package from one of the log home companies who advertise in the large magazines. Wow we could have paid retail prices to others and still came in about 50% of our material package cost of about 90K. I have plenty of facts and figures and our home was less than 2K sq ft, 1K sqft wrap around covered porch farmhouse style with the exposed beam roof system. There is some definite savings if you leave the comfort zone of dealing with a big company, especially in East TN/Western NC where there are many suppliers/experienced constructors. Good Luck.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by tom brodeur on December 1, 2008 at 1:33am: MishyP,

My hopes is to build 2 log homes. One in northern Michigan and the other in Townsend. The home I build in Townsend will be the more elaborate and will be considered our main residence. Your home description sounds similar to what we would be looking to build in Tennessee. I find it intriguing, you are saying if I buy the materials myself I can save a considerable sum? By the time I get ready to build in Townsend I may be in a better position to do more hands on. Thanks for the comments.

Tom; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by MishyP on December 2, 2008 at 6:46pm: Yes if you don't buy a full package and buy the pieces seperately. If you stay with a straight forward design like ours more reason. You might be able to find a package for much less. You will have costs for things like plans, not sure about warranty, you would have to cut out windows/doors (vs. numbered pieces cut to spec) but all this to me is worth a big savings especially if you want to stay under 100K.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by tom brodeur on December 3, 2008 at 2:13am: MishyP,

Who did you work with and what style of log did you choose ( saddle, butt and pass, dovetail, full log, D shape ...)? In that area what type of wood is used? Did you do any of the work yourself? Did you attend any seminars? Sorry for all the questions. I think this dialogue can only help any others who are following this string.

Thanks,
Tom; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Dave on December 3, 2008 at 10:57am: I second all those questions...we love the look of the full log, but our company advised us that the cost will increase a little due to the increased difficulty by the contractor for connecting walls, etc. D shape is apparently easier. I think we are settled on the saddle logs also. Good luck!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by MishyP on December 3, 2008 at 7:55pm: Tom here are the answers I am willing to share extreme details but I will remain somewhat vague in this public forum on the company name so as not to the overly bias you and others. I think their product was good just better/cheaper ways to do it Log home magazines etc are great but seem to not address the lower tier market/suppliers below the big boys. We got the bug and moved kind of quickly and probably paid a higher price. I think diligence is the answer and with 100K budget you seem willing to do the work I wasn't.
1. company is HQ within 100 mi of knoxville
2. log style 8x8 D with dovetail corners(dovetail looks great glad I listened to hubby)
3.white pine logs, doug fir for all heavy structural roof flooring components(some companys in the radius or smaller/cheaper versions use all white pine )
4. We did some small amounts ourselves but used the company to GC us through mechanical complete and the GC even kept helping us get subs after officially being done. I will say the turnkey estimate the log home company gave us so we could get our loan turned out to be real close to our final cost even with us doing some ourselves. My husband was on site every day keeping things moving.
5. I attended a seminar by this company and it was excellent on details. Especially for a do it yourselfer, no buying pressure, and even folks not buying their product were there soaking up the details on how to build themselves.

Keep asking I'll keep answering.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Shelley Martinez on December 3, 2008 at 11:29am: Hi Tom,
You might want to give Randy Rich / Rich Construction a call. 989-350-1327. He's located in Gaylord. He can answer some pricing questions and he was able to keep us under budget. He has been around a while and has great connections w/ the flooring, roofing,custom cabinetry and the tongue & groove wood we used in our cabin. (I think I told you we just got the shell and had him get the other items to save $) I think on our next one we will GC it ourselves to save more dollars and we would buy more of the materials direct.; ▶ Reply to This