Hybrid Log Homes

What is a hybrid home? Simply put, it is a house made of different kinds of building styles or materials. In the case of a hybrid log home or timber frame home, it is usually a mix of regular 2 by 4 framing and log or timber accents. It may be a regular framed home with timber trusses and posts incorporated. Wood accent pieces can be built into the design of your new home or they can be added to an existing home that you would like to update.
Log and timber frame accent pieces can include structural and/or non-structural log trusses, posts, rafters, floor joists, log siding, stairs, purlins, structural decks, handrails, mantles...and the list goes on.
Sitka Log Homes has provided the wood accents for various renovations of older tired looking homes that are transformed with amazing results after adding the log or timber accent pieces.

Existing buildings with log and timber accents added

Recently there has been a noticeable trend towards incorporating log or timber accents into the design of new homes. In this way people can enjoy the rustic feel of log and timber in their home without having a full log home. The contrast between regular frame walls and the wood pieces is usually dramatic. Often a home finished with log siding looks to most people like a full log home…until they go in and see the inside walls are drywall.

Log siding on outside of regular framed home with log accents

The home featured on the cover of Log Home Living (October 2008 issue) is a hybrid log home that Sitka Log Homes provided the log work for. It was designed by AllenGuerra Design Build of Colorado.

Click here for more pictures of this home.

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Small Log Cabins

The romantic vision of a cozy log cabin in the woods is what inspired many people to dream of owning a log home. Cozy log cabins as vacation homes are often found around lakes and at the base of ski resorts, but they are not so small anymore and aren’t always just vacation homes. Large elaborate log homes began to replace the simple plans.
More and more architects are designing really large complicated designs for log homes now. This has often been exciting for us. It has pushed us to expand and learn new techniques. Building some of these complicated designs has been challenging but invigorating. The end results are always something to be proud of and they show very well. This is why most of our projects on our web site are of large custom homes. They simply photograph well.
Those homes are great, but the small cozy log cabin has not been forgotten and is still very popular. Small designs often incorporate clever ways to get the most out of a small space.
This is the case with the 14 small cabins that we built in Whistler, BC for the Riverside RV Resort and Campground. A Kitchen, living room, bathroom, bedroom and even a loft for the kids to sleep in, all amazingly fit into only 400 sq.ft.
This is one example of a very small cabin, but as custom builders we are able to accommodate any design that will work best for you.
Click here to download the floor plan for the Whistler cabin.
Email us if you are interested in pricing or if you would like us to offer you a quote on your own small log cabin design.

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DIY Log Homes

A few years ago we had a call from a woman named Karen in Georgia wanting us to quote on a log home plan. She explained that she and her husband had decided they would build their dream log home themselves with all of the timber they had on their large tract of land. They began harvesting the timber and hand peeling it all themselves. Her husband had found a video on how to scribe and notch the logs and he studied it carefully. They began building the large home one log at a time and, after many months, had gotten only a few rounds up in one section of the home when they began to run into problems. Their logs all had various degrees of taper to them and the grain wasn’t always straight. They just weren’t fitting together very well and they realized they had a long way to go before they got to the roof components. At this stage, because of all the hard work they had already put in, they weren’t too keen on the idea of giving up but Karen was curious to see what we would charge to do all of this hard labour for them.
We quoted on their plan and it wasn’t too long before Karen and her husband Mike called us back to say “Yes! Please build our log home for us!”

These people are two of the hardest working people we’ve met and their building knowledge is great. Although they both had full time jobs and toddlers, they still wanted to do most of the work on the home themselves. They realized that it would be far better to have us handcraft their log shell and then they could carry on with all the finishing themselves…which is still a lot of work.

We were able to build their log home shell within a few months and helped them re-erect it on their home site in Georgia. If they had continued on the way they were going they may have had some serious structural issues and been years away from a finished log home.

Mike has since become a good friend and champions our company. He has volunteered at about four of our set ups since his own log house has been built and he’s even come along to a home show to help promote our company. Such is his love of log homes.

Many people over the years have built their own log home from scratch from the timber they have on their own property…it is definitely doable. This is, however, a huge undertaking so make sure you really are up to the challenge.

We have the right equipment, the skilled labour and a huge inventory of different species of wood to choose from which is already dried and ready for building.

If you decide you are not up for the job. We would love to build your log shell for you!

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Log Homes and our Olympic Games Connection

The Olympic Games are all about pride for us. Pride in our country and pride in our elite athletes. There is nothing like the feeling of seeing your fellow countrymen and women standing on the podium while your national anthem plays. I’ve always loved watching the Olympic Games; in fact I remember watching one entire summer Olympics dressed in my gymnastic leotard when I was about 12 or so. While I watched I worked at the perfect dismount - arched back and arms up pose.

So you can imagine the thrill I felt when Sitka Log Homes was awarded the contract to build 3 log lodges for the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002 and then when the BC Government hired us to build a log house, BC Canada Place, for the Torino Winter Olympics in 2006.
Both projects began with a true sense of Olympic competition as we were bidding against other qualified builders. BC Canada Place began as a design/build competition through an RFP (Request for Proposal) and had certain criteria (read: hurdles) and a time deadline to make. Both Olympic projects could not be late…the Games have a start date and nothing can change that.

Our 3 lodges for the Salt Lake Games were on Snowbasin Resort where the Men’s downhill and Super G events were held. The 45,000 sq.ft main day lodge was followed by one 11,000 sq.ft and one 19,000 sq.ft lodge located at about 9,000 ft on the steep side of a mountain. The 3 lodges required 38 semi-loads of large diameter logs delivered to the base of the mountain and then D-7 Caterpillars pulled the logs on a wagon up the steep incline to where the buildings were constructed. Making the job work in such limited space and with a limited time frame was a real challenge.

BC Canada Place faced even greater challenges, the least of which was working in a distant country where the language is foreign. Throw in a truckers strike and rail strike around the time the logs were due to travel across Canada to Montreal where the ship awaited them, further delays with paper work to release the logs in the Italian port of Genoa and that was just beginning of our Olympic building marathon.

Each race was won however, and the rewards were great. We may not have a real Olympic gold medal to show for our efforts but the pride we feel for being a small part of the events makes me feel like arching my back and throwing my arms up.

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Log Home Floor Plans

We are “custom” handcrafted log home builders.
“Custom” as an adjective means “made specially for individual customers” or “doing work to order”.
There are many who come to us with sketches and plans, sometimes even full working blue prints, understanding that we can build according to their own plans.
Then there are many more that come to our site looking for a huge book of plans. We have struggled for years about whether to offer generic plans or not.

One of the biggest reasons that we resist doing so is because we don’t want to be confused with the many milled log home companies out there that offer “log home kits”. These companies usually offer a large inventory of stock plans that their milled components will work in.
Our log homes are all handcrafted. There are no pre-milled components that will fit within a variety of log homes from an assortment of different log home plans.
Each log placed in one of our handcrafted log homes is unique in shape and size and so, once positioned and fit, can only ever be used for that specific spot in that specific home. We simply rarely, if ever, build the same design twice.

However, we also realize that most people need somewhere to start…somewhere to get ideas and get their creative juices flowing. Many start with log home magazines for ideas and plans or by searching online. There are thousands of log home and non log home plans out there that can be used to get you started. Once you have a basic idea of what you would like, then you can start tweaking any plan to suit you.
With this in mind we have placed a few log house plans on our web site to help get you started. These plans are also a great way of illustrating what we offer and how our packages are priced.

We also offer a blue print service which, after all revisions are made, will get you a full set (5 copies) of working plans which include the following:

Foundation Plan: (Typical Scale: 1/4" = 1’)
Drawing showing the layout of footings, stem walls, posts & beams, etc.

Detailed Floor Plans: (Typical Scale: 1/4" = 1’)
Drawings showing the log wall layout of each floor in your log home. As well as detailed information regarding the placement of such things as interior partition walls, windows & doors, appliances, roof lines, etc. The floor plans clearly show necessary dimensions and specifications.

Exterior Elevations: (Typical Scale: 1/4" = 1’)
Drawings showing the exterior views of your log home (typically four). As well as exterior materials such as roofing, log species, windows & doors, stone, trim, etc.

Cross-Sections: (Typical Scale: 1/4"-1/2” = 1’)
Elevation drawings showing the log home as if it were sliced from the foundation to the roof. Typically three sections are provided, but it depends on the size and complexity of the building. These sections are placed at locations that display how various parts of the log home are put together.

Details: (Typical Scales: 1/2"-1” = 1’)
These drawings generally include necessary log to framing connections, settling details, window & door details, a detailed section of a log wall, etc.

All plans will begin with a detailed quotation including the base price of the finished set of plans.

For more information or if you have sketches you would like us to quote on, email or call us at 250-791-6683 or fax your sketch to 250-791-6650.

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Log Homes Cost Per Square Foot

Cost per square foot question

The first question most people ask us is how much do your log homes cost per square foot?

The reason this is so difficult to answer is because our log homes are not priced by square foot, but rather by the type of wood used, the amount of notches cut, the complexity of the design, the height of the walls, how many interior walls are log, the complexity of the roof system, etc. There are many different components to be considered when pricing your handcrafted log shell.


When it comes to the price per square foot for a finished home, the variables grow even more. Do you want a Bosch dishwasher or a Sears Kenmore? They are the same square footage, yet the price is remarkably different. Do you plan on high end finishes (flooring, appliances, built in sound systems, alarm system, wood burning stove, chandeliers, etc.) or will you choose moderately priced finishes? These are all considered when figuring out a “price per square foot”.
It would be like going into a car dealership and asking how much their cars cost per square foot.

I know your heads are going up and down, but you still want an idea of the price of a log home per square foot. When asked all we can do is offer you an estimate based on homes we have built in the past with a range from moderately priced to very high end.


Another option is to look at the prices of our sample plans which can be downloaded at: http://www.sitkaloghomes.com/plans.htm
Drop us an email asking for the price quotes and we’ll email them right away so you can get an idea of our pricing and what is included in our log shell packages.
Better yet, if you have a sketch or a plan already, we are happy to offer you a price quote on it. We’ll show a complete breakdown of everything we include. This way you can get comparative quotes and know that you are indeed comparing apples to apples.

4,000sq.ft log house

1643 sq.ft log house

The 4000 sq. ft home is less per square foot than this 1643 sq.ft home which is a more complicated design.

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Do we hire dealers to sell our log homes?

No we don’t…let me explain why.

Our company name, Sitka Log Homes, is also our reputation. We have a great deal of pride in how we have built our reputation as a quality handcrafted log home builder. We have been striving for years to make sure that when people see or hear our name that they recognize it as a trustworthy company, one that offers only high quality workmanship. It has always been important to ensure that clear communication between us and our clients is a priority. Adding a third party to the mix can result in mistakes made in this vital communication. We prefer to contract directly with the home owner.

We also believe that nobody can know our business practices as well as we do ourselves. We want to ensure that a potential client is given only precise information about our log or timber frame homes. Even clients with a good basic understanding of construction and house building will still have important questions about the process.

We prefer that we, directly, are your contact to make certain the information you receive is accurate.

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