One of the most common questions we get is how to find good logs cheaply for building a log home. Rest assured, we spend hours in the seminar discussing log selection and where to get logs. Here are a few ideas to get you started.
It used to be possible for the average American to walk into the local US National Forest Service office and get free (or dirt cheap) trees or logs. They don't exactly do that anymore, so we don't recommend that you try barging into a Forest Service office demanding free trees. They will probably laugh at you and ask you to leave. If you don't believe us, you can read what the US National Forest Service has to say about it.
However, there is a "loophole" in the law that still allows you to get cheap or free timber. We had one student who bought all the logs he needed for a beautiful log home for twenty-five cents per log (fifty cents per tree, but they were so big that he got two logs from each tree). And this was after he had visited the Forest Service and been told that they don't give away "free trees" anymore.
Over the years we've had many students use the same legal loophole to acquire their logs. We discuss this method in detail in our log home building class.
Another option, if it is available to you, is to harvest the timber from your own property. You do not need to be a logger or have any logging skills to do this. Felling your own trees is a very dangerous proposition if you don't have the proper training and safety equipment. We'll tell you how to find a logger who will do it for you inexpensively if you need outside help.
Most of our students, when they attend our seminar, have not yet purchased the land they will be building on. If this is the case, it is always good to keep an eye out for property that comes with enough timber to build your log home from.
But here's the good news -- the logs that you use to build your home are likely to be among the least expensive parts of your house. There is even a joke in the trade, "I built a free log home with a really expensive roof."
Most people pay more for the roof, septic system, well, etc. than for the logs they use to erect the home.
In other words, overpaying for your logs shouldn't be keeping you up at night because they will still probably be very affordable. Furthermore, even if you can't get your logs for free, we spend time in our class discussing the best ways to cut the cost that you do have to pay.
Many of our students want to know exactly how much their logs will cost, assuming that they have to pay for them. Unfortunately this isn't a question we can answer with any level of certainty, because the price of logs varies by the location, the time of year, the availability of good timber, etc.
So rather than give an estimate for the cost of your logs, we will show you a sure-fire, guaranteed method for determining the "going rate" for quality logs in your area. We've been teaching this method to our students for many years and to our knowledge it has never failed. Once you have this information you can use it to find the best possible deal on logs in your area and have them delivered.
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