Here's the low-down on how to save tons of money when building your log home. It all boils down to preparation. For example, if you decide one day to go buy a piece of property and start building a log home, you are going to be paying retail for almost all of the building materials and tools that you need.
We spend a significant portion of our class discussing methods for finding dirt-cheap or free building materials, tools, logs, etc. You would be utterly shocked to see what's available completely for free if you just know where to look. And no, we aren't talking about "dumpster diving" either. There are plenty of perfectly respectable businesses and people out there just waiting to give away items that aren't suitable for their own uses (such as constructing stick-built houses) but are excellent materials for building a log home.
As a specific example, let's talk about insulation. Your log home will need lots of insulation on the roof and lower floor. You can build your log home and then go out to The Home Depot and pay retail for the insulation you need, or you can find it through alternative methods. We had one student who picked up loads of very expensive, brand new roofing insulation for free. By making one tiny tweak to his log home plans (to accommodate the new style of insulation) he estimated that he saved over $4000 just on his insulation needs.
Windows and doors are another area where it pays to prepare in advance. Anyone can build a house and then go down to the fancy window store and buy windows for $500 each. But if you plan in advance and buy your windows before you start building, you can design your log home plans around whatever windows you happen to find. It is extremely common to find matching sets of beautiful, modern, brand new windows for pennies on the dollar, if you know where to look. But you can't just throw them into any old house. You have to build the house around your windows.
During our class you will hear probably dozens or hundreds of these money-saving tips. By using just a few of them it should be no problem to save up to 50% when building a log home. And don't worry -- we'll tell you all of the best places to look for your building materials and tools.
Ideally, you will start collecting your tools and building materials roughly two years before you start to build to get the best deal on these items. If you are lucky enough to have a large storage space for these items, you can assemble everything you need to build your new log home in a garage and then go out and construct the log home. We highly recommend taking our class as soon as you start thinking about building a log home. This way you will have time to start shopping for the gear you will need.
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