One of the great things about this business is that each project has a story, and they're all unique. Whether its the culmination of years of an owners dreams all put together, a special meaning behind a certian accent, or simply how we came to meet, its part of what makes this job fun. This project's story is a little different and I'll do my best to impress it upon you through these pictures and captions. We'll also keep adding photos as work progresses, so check back often!

We were recently contacted by the owner as he was looking for someone to help assemble his dream home in the hills of Nebraska. A few conversations on the phone, and we headed out for a little road trip, to see what was going on. He mentioned on the phone that he'd never built anything in his life, and wanted to do so before he left, so why not a log home? What we found was a delightful fellow, with a heart of gold and the determination of 10 men. Everything you see in these photos (minus the chimney)was done by the owner. EVERYTHING. By himself. Oh, did I mention he's 74 years young? From cutting the trees and harvesting them out of the forest, to peeling, cutting and installing them, hes tackled all the work you see here.

He's at the point now where its just physically impossible for one guy to keep on. So here's where we come in. With the help of John Fitzgerald, longtime friend, master craftsman and owner of River Run Builders (located near Bill's hometown in S.D.)were looking to head back out once we have a stockpile of logs and really ramp things up. The goal is to have the walls and roof assembled in 4 weeks. No plans or drawings (other than the doodles we came up with this weekend, this is old fashioned craftsmanship at its finest and right up our alley.

On the first page are photos we took from this trip. You can kind of get an idea on the size of the house (about 1500 sq/ft) and the shape. The large cinder block structre in the middle is the fireplace, the red brick portion is the safe room, and foundation for the loft.

Bill and John put their heads together and figured out how to support the roof system (SIPS panels from the guys at ICS over log super-structure) and the owner is now searching the forest for suitable trees. ONce down, drug in and peeled, we can begin the ardous task of building two log girders,and figure out how to get everything up in the air!