Getting Started

Your Vision

Most of our customers have been planning and dreaming about the construction of their home for years and in some cases even decades! Here's a check list that may be of help to you as you move closer to building.

1. Do you have the land or a lot to build on?
   
   
2. Have you set a budget after talking with financial professionals?
   
   
3. Have you started to collect pictures of interior and exterior views of homes you like? Theses photos can really help you achieve the look and feel you want your home to have.
   
   
4. Do you have an idea as to the number of bedrooms you require? Would you like one or all of the bedrooms on the main floor?
   
   
5. How many full and half baths are you requiring?
   
   
6. Do you want a Great Room? Would you like cathedral ceilings?
   
   
7. The exterior material you choose to sheath the outside of your timber frame, will greatly affect the style and budget of your home. What's your preference? Stone? Brick? Wood siding? Etc.
   
   
8. Do you want a basement? Some lots are just not suitable for a basement due to site conditions i.e., bedrock. If you have a sloping lot- will you want a walk-out basement?
   
   
9. What's your time-table for construction? Planning a home that is functional and suits all of your needs can take up to a year or longer.
   
   
10. Will you enclose your frame with SIPS (structural insulated panel system) or conventional stud framing and sheathing?

The Design Process

The design process should start at least one year prior to the breaking ground stage of your project. Log Farm Building has been completing traditionally joined homes from $175.00 to $250.00 per square foot, finished. Keep in mind there're allot of factors that can greatly increase the overall cost of a project such as, kitchens, number of bathrooms, fireplaces, staircases, heating system, etc.

Either you or your architect will work with a member of our design team to determine the skeletal structure of the frame, size of the timbers involved and the type of joinery to be used.

We recommend you start saving photographs and articles of different designs and finished styles that you love.

If your going to be hiring a general contractor, during the interview process, ask three or four of them what conventional stick frame construction costs are, per square foot locally. Keep in mind timber frames where built to last centuries not decades.

Engineering Stamps and Building Departments

Contact your local building department and let them know your plans. They should have a hand out permit package on procuring a building permit. In this package you'll find useful information on restrictions and ordinances with which you'll have to comply, such as property set backs, building height restrictions, septic codes, local snow and wind loads, and zoning specifications just to name a few. You'll need to know what's involved with attaining an engineer's stamp for your plans or certificate of occupancy for your new home. Talk to your local building office well in advance and things should go smoothly.