Technology reinvents Vermont's log home industry

Vermont Business Magazine, Apr 01, 2002 by Marcel, Joyce

Abe Lincoln would have a hard time recognizing log cabins today. Even before Lincoln became president, log homes had been a uniquely American aesthetic. When the first settlers arrived from England, before they could establish saw mills, they built their homes out of logs. That tradition, born of necessity, continued as the country moved West. And it became magnified in the huge lodges built as mountain getaways by the extremely wealthy a century ago.

Today, people still build their homes out of logs, but the technology is much advanced, and there is no way that today's sophisticated, high-end, all-wood homes could be called "log cabins" anymore.

Vermont has a booming log home industry, although it comes as a surprise to many people. That's because you don't often see these homes from the road,

"The thing with the log home, in most cases, is that people will put them back away from the road," said Jonathan French, owner of Northeastern Log Homes, Inc, "So you're not as apt to see a log home as you are a stick-built or conventional home. People buy them because they love the feel of the wood. We get a lot of people who will maybe work in Boston, or in another metropolitan area. They drive in to work and their home is out in the suburbs. I've had people say that when they get back to their log home, they're almost on vacation again. It's a warm and inviting feeling when you're surrounded by wood."

Log homes are sold in pre-cut kits, or packages.

"It's like a big puzzle," French said. "A heavy puzzle. But it's something that people could put together themselves."

Besides Northeastern, which was founded in Vermont and keeps a sales office here, but has its manufacturing plant in Maine, Vermont has two other companies that manufacture and sell their own log home kits. These homes are sold all over the country and are exported to such exotic places as Turkey and Japan. About 10-13 other companies represent, and often serve as contractors, for kits produced by manufacturers based in other states.

These log home kits, which cost an average of about $50,000, come with sills, girders, floor joists, wall and gable logs, windows and doors, basement stairs, railings, a roof system, and other materials. The finished price of a log home, excluding land, averages $149,000.

"We do not supply any masonry work like chimney or foundation, or plumbing, heating, electrical work, finished flooring on the first floor, kitchen cabinets, and any insulation that goes in the roof," French said.

Therefore, in addition to the cost of the kit, log homes offer a strong economic "spillover" effect. The home buyer also has to buy land and hardware, hire a contractor, and engage plumbers, electricians, masons, and flooring experts. The industry also supports craftsmen who make rustic furniture, cabinets and decorations that go well in log homes.

There is even a company in Guilford Vermont Slate Art - that makes slate switch and socket plates for them.

Log homes are made, naturally, of logs. The outside of the log is stripped of its bark but remains rounded. The inside, which becomes the visible interior wall, is milled flat. The variety of available home styles is endless, but high, vaulted "cathearal" ceilings are a typical feature, and many manufacturers can custom-design their homes.

"The log homes today are not rustic like people think," Foster said. "We've designed buildings that finish out at millions of dollars. We have done commercial buildings too, but primarily, we do primary residences or second homes, or, for a lot of people, third and fourth homes."

People who love the look, feel and warmth of wood are especially attracted to log homes.

"They're very energy-efficient, very green-friendly, and very homey and rustic, I guess you could say," said Jay Foster, president of Real Log Homes in Hartland. He lives in a log home located on 67 acres of land with a 70-mile view.

"If you think of your grandmother's feather bed, like it says in the John Denver song, log homes just appeal to a very warm, homey, caring, nurturing climate. They're for somebody who doesn't like stainless steel or a sterile environment."

And Tom Stanhope, owner of Champlain Valley Log Homes in Swanton, who is a representative for Lokn-Logs, Inc of New York, says of his log home, "It's warm, it's comfortable, and my house is eight years old and you can still smell the wood."

Vermont's log home companies are privately owned and closely guard their .sales figures, so it is difficult to put a dollar amount on the industry. Some log home representatives sell as few as two or three homes a year, some make and sell many more than that.

But they are all part of a booming, if little known, billiondollar-a-year national industry that represents 6.5 percent of the custom-built housing market, according to the Log Homes Council, part of the of the National Association of Home Builders in Washington, DC.

The typical log home owner is married, has a family income of more than $50,000 a year, has a college degree, and uses the home as a primary residence, according to the council. There are currently more than 400,000 log homes in the US and Canada. Annual production of log home packages has increased 41 percent since 1988.