New Year's Sales Promotion - ENDED

ENDED - IT'S OVER

2015-2016 New Year's Sales Promotion

on Log & Timber Frame Homes

50% off on shipping with a minimum $1000 deposit by January 31, 2016 ... 

and the Material Package delivery is taken by June 30, 2016. 

Plus ...

Locks in current price structure until November 30, 2016. 

This Promotion ends January 31 2016. 

Price change February 1, 2016. 

See "News from Jack" at www.LogHomesByJack.com
for more info. 

Contact Jack@LogHomesByJack.com at 800 767-4916
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This information is brought to you by LogHomesByJack.com. Serving Virginia, North Carolina, West Virginia, Florida and the Southeast plus any under-served area from Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia and North Carolina from the Piedmont Triad. Offering a very good combination of price, quality of materials and service. To ease your doubt, give Jack a shout. 800 767-4916. 

Luxury Log Cabins

Cabins to Castles

Luxury Log Cabin Mansions

Click on the links below and then review the text, video and slide show. [wsj.com] 6/27/13. 

You will be impressed. 

Thanks go out to my network associate Harry Ballard for telling me about this Wall Street Journal article. 

To begin your journey toward owning a luxury log cabin, timber frame home or hybrid home, contact Jack Hutslar at LogHomesByJack.com. 800 767-4916

http://online.wsj.com/public/page/real-estate-luxury.html?mg=inert-wsj

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323893504578559872245501026.html

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This information is brought to you by LogHomesByJack.com. Serving Virginia, North Carolina, West Virginia, Florida and the Southeast from Smith Mountain Lake and North Carolina from the Piedmont Triad. Offering a very good combination of price, quality of materials and service. To ease your doubt, give Jack a shout. 800 767-4916.

What is a Log Home Buyer Workshop?

By Jack Hutslar, Owner

LogHomesByJack.com

November 22, 2014

DOLLARS & SENSE

When I first became a log home dealer in 2001, it seemed like a natural idea for me to offer seminars for clients who are interested in purchasing log homes and timber frame homes. So I did. They were soon re-labeled Log Home Buyer Workshops.

Why was this natural for me? Well, I was a teacher and coach. That is what I did for a living. I enjoyed teaching. I always liked students and imparting new information to those “students” who were interested in learning.

How are these Workshops structured, you ask?

It is pretty simple. I present a schedule [i.e. curriculum, lesson plan] to take attendees through The Process of building a home. It is not radically different from building a conventional home but there are some differences. We cover that.

An interesting feature of “my” Workshops is that you can ask questions as we go. Novice teachers do not like questions ... that comes from lack of knowledge. In my "classes," if you do not ask questions, then I will just talk and talk. Either way, attendees will find my workshops informative and entertaining. I always received high marks from my students.

Below are some of the “prompts” that I pose to stimulate questions and discussions.

Home Buyers Must Make Decisions:

What? Where? When? Why? How? How much?

What are Material Packages, sometime called Kits, and how do they compare among the 750 kit providers …

• Log Homes
• Timber Frame Homes
• Hybrid Homes
• Recreational Cabins
• Additions

Other topics that prompt discussions are …

Land for your home – or - Home for your land
Differences between log homes and timber frame homes
Species. Size. Style. Where.

Photo above is the Highlander at 1320 sf, a flexible design.
Floor plan designs: Ours. Yours. Others.
Basements. Garages. Breezeways. Additions. Guest cottages.

Shell [dry-in] construction and turnkey construction
Stains for log homes in particular
Maintenance and repair of log homes

Budgets and estimating costs. Financing. Insurance.
Q & A as we go

Naturally, we offer handouts for those to attend. They include:

• Plan & Idea Books
• More handouts
• Sample material package cost "quotes" that we call “initial estimates”
• Refreshments

The fee for a Workshop is $20 per couple paid in advance or $25 per couple at the door.

* * *

Our current series of 7 Workshop events is being held once a month, September 2015 thru March 2015.

Location is Kitchen & Bath Ideas in Lynchburg, Virginia.

For more information about this series of events, see “News from Jack” on my web site. www.LogHomesByJack.com.

See “News from Jack” for future dates and much more.

* * *

At LogHomesByJack.com, please visit ...

• News from Jack, the blog
• Photo Gallery button
• Floor plan catalog button
• Learn more. Follow Jack Hutslar on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest. 

* * *

Our Showroom is located at Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia. This is near Roanoke and Lynchburg. I share space in the Alpaca By Jaca Showroom. We are usually open Monday thru Saturday from 11am to 5pm. You are welcome to drop in but I may not be there. To reduce your level of aggravation, Please Call First, 800 767-4916.

LogHomesByJack.com is ...
Always Open By Appointment. Always.

__________
LogHomesByJack.com
The Forum at Westlake on Rt 122
13699 Booker T Washington Highway, Suite 201
Moneta, Virginia 24121

800 767-4916 or Jack@LogHomesByJack.com
www.LogHomesByJack.com

SIPs - Structural Insulation Panels for sale by Jack

News From Jack - about SIPs

Jack Hutslar is an authorized dealer for Eagle Panel Systems.

These products are energy efficient SIPs or Structural Insulated Panels for roof systems and walls. Think of them as a foam sandwich with foam in the middle, OSB on the outside and OSB or tongue and groove on the inside.

They can be used in log homes, timber frame homes, conventional homes and commercial buildings.

The SIP options that we provide are:

• For ceilings
• For ceilings with applied T&G
• For walls - with our without sheetrock

[1] Nail base
[2] Semi-structural
[3] iSIPs - structural clear span with embedded 2 x XX beams

See the SIPs button at www.LogHomesByJack.com. We continue to provide log homes, timber frame homes, stain, flooring and Log Home Buyer Workshops.

Just send us your floor plan so we can get started by estimating your SIP costs.

Jack Hutslar is an authorized dealer for Eagle Panel Systems at 
800 767-4916 or Jack@LogHomesByJack.com

_ _ _
Do not mean to bug you but this information is brought to you by LogHomesByJack.com. Serving Virginia and the Southeast from Smith Mountain Lake and North Carolina from the Piedmont Triad. Offering a very good combination of price, quality of materials and service. When in doubt, give Jack a shout. 800 767-4916.

Honest Abe Plant Tour

Touring the Honest Abe Manufacturing Facility on the HQ property

Tours are conducted immediately after each Log Raising with Lunch courtesy of Honest Abe. We are proud to have you visit our production facility.

Plant tour begins with a short Fun Bus ride to the back lot.

Material Package for Travis Kidwell in WV ready for delivery.

Cants arrived and are being prepared for drying. 

We place large orders for "cants" from nearby states early in the year. No need for us to purchase from the "spot market" after your payment is made. Your home is on our yard, bought and paid for, before you place your order.

Cants stored with air drying. The Kiln is next.

Cants stored with air drying after kiln drying.

~ The Kiln ~
24 days or so of moist heat is used to dry the wood, kill bugs and crystallize the sap. It was about 160 degrees inside when I poked my head in this kiln.

Honest Abe was "green" before it was a
... critical energy factor.

Worker milling 6x8 D logs on Log Raising Day.

More material storage ready to use for your log home. This is just a small sample in this warehouse.

6x8 D Logs cut for someone's dream home.

Look for Happy Trucking heading down your road.

We delivery your dream home to your job site ... or as close as we can get to your job site. Your builder must have a forklift to offload the material package.

To add an Honest Abe Log Raising and Plant Tour to your schedule, call Jack at 800 767-4916.

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This information is brought to you by LogHomesByJack.com. Serving Virginia, North Carolina, West Virginia, Florida and the Southeast from Smith Mountain Lake and North Carolina from the Piedmont Triad. Offering a very good combination of price, quality of materials and service. To ease your doubt, give Jack a shout. 800 767-4916.

Log Home Styles by Honest Abe with LogHomesByJack.com

Log & Timber Frame Homes

with LogHomesByJack.com [dealer]

Honest Abe Headquarters in 
Moss, Tennessee
est. 1979 by Doug Smith

Jack Nicklaus 
Ranch Style Golf Club - Home *

* Note that all floor plan models can be customized

Highlander with loft at 1320 sf

Bear Creek Chalet
Big Sky one story on basement at 1900sf

Custom log home with many features and amenities

Westfield cape cod
with attached garage at 1900 sf

Swiftwater 
one story with great room at 1276 sf

Eagledale with loft BR at 1456 sf

Navajo 
with great room and loft over entry at 1810 sf

Creekside 
rambling ranch style at 960 sf

See the Floor Plan buttons and Photo Gallery at www.LogHomesByJack.com

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This information is brought to you by LogHomesByJack.com. Serving Virginia, North Carolina, West Virginia, Florida and the Southeast from Smith Mountain Lake and North Carolina from the Piedmont Triad. Offering a very good combination of price, quality of materials and service. To ease your doubt, give Jack a shout. 800 767-4916.

Is price a good way to compare material packages?

What’s in your Log Home material package?

By Jack Hutslar
Authorized Dealer
Honest Abe Log Homes
Log Home Dealer since 2001

Is price a good way to compare material packages?

A number of log home buying customers have told me that they are going to purchase the cheapest log home material package that they can find. Is price the best way to determine which material package to purchase.

Let us look at log home material packages in depth. For the most part that means materials, the quality of those materials and an itemized list of those materials.

- Price

- Materials

- Quality of those materials

- List of the materials = Contents

Before examining these factors, let us look at your entire home. Suppose that it takes 200 different types of materials and labor to complete your home. We can say that it comes to a total of $200,000 when your home is done. That includes basement, floors, log walls, 2nd floor system, doors, windows, roof system, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, cabinets, counter tops, driveway, sheet-rock, paint, well, septic, power, labor and on and on. Everything.

Material packages do not include all of the items needed for your home. For the purpose of this illustration, let us suppose that the material package that you purchase from Honest Abe includes 67 of these items at a total cost of $67,000. That equals 33% of your entire home turnkey cost. It takes another $133,000 to complete your home.

Now suppose you look at a material package from another company and it is priced at $57,000. Can you tell from this price alone exactly what you are going to receive for your money. Is $57,000 a better deal than $67,000. It is certainly less money but is it a better deal. How much more does it take to complete your home? $122,000? $133,000? $143,000? How much more?

Look at it this way. It takes $200,000 in material and labor to build your home. This is regardless of the cost of the material package. The less expensive material package may be short on material in which case you will add another $10,000 to the builder side of the equation. That brings the builder side up to $143,000. Have you saved any money by purchasing the less complete and lower priced package? No.

Furthermore, if the $57,000 can be attributed to less costly and perhaps substandard material, have you really saved $10,000? How long will cheap materials hold up compared to good quality materials.

If that $57,000 package includes a less desirable or less expensive truss roof systems without the insulation, then we are not comparing apples to apples. Take those types of material differences into consideration when doing your evaluations. Now make a financial comparison.

The basic question is, can you tell from price alone “What’s In Your Package?” 

The answer is a resounding NO. You cannot tell from price alone the value of your package. When you do not know what is in your package, it is guess-work to determine if the price is right or not. You may be able to figure it out but it will take some research on your part.

Materials. 

Those lower priced material packages is less expensive for a reason. First, look at the materials list. Is it itemized? Can you tell exactly what you have been asked to purchase. What is in your package? Is the subfloor included. Are all of the windows and doors included? Are wall partitions in the package? What is the quality of the windows and doors? Is there any roof insulation in the package?

Furthermore, are you being sold cheap wet or green logs or kiln dried logs? Do you know the long-term differences between various kinds of logs? Are you being sold a truss roof system or a heavy timber roof system? Are the gable ends finished with boards or matching siding. Are the interior partitions included in your package? Is the baseboard and window trim in your package? Does the package include exterior stain with a warranty? Do all companies honor warranty issues involving defective materials? The answer is NO. In fact, you may find that some dealers will not even return your calls.

The typical material package from Honest Abe Log Homes includes all the following items. They are:

- subfloor
- porch system
- deck material

- log walls [seven options]
- ceiling system [two options]
- roof system [five options]

- insulation
- gable end material with matching siding
- interior partitions

- baseboard, window and ceiling trim
- interior doors
- stairs [two options]

- windows with interior and exterior cedar trim [four options]
- exterior doors with exterior cedar trim [many options]
- stain

Quality of Materials. 

Honest Abe provides good quality materials in your package. There are no cost-cutting substandard materials in the package. For instance, the logs are kiln dried. The window and door selections are of good quality. The heavy timber support beams for the floor and roof system are made of Douglas fir, not some less strong or unstable wood. The heavy timber floor system includes 2x6 tongue and groove premium spruce as does the heavy timber roof system and porch, not Southern yellow pine? The stain is a three-coat process that is warranted for five years? Honest Abe materials are of good quality.

List of materials. 

The Honest Abe material package price quote is presented as a line item list of materials. We also provide a second list of materials for the builder. I have also prepared a third list of items that are NOT in the package. When these lists are examined, and placed side by side with the packages of other companies, it is very clear what is in the package and what is not in the package. By making these side-by-side comparisons, it is possible to see the value and worth of the Honest Abe material package.

To review, many items and months of labor go into the construction of your finished home. The material packages that companies offer vary considerably in content and quality. The inclusion of substandard materials is a way for companies to reduce the cost of their material packages. Obviously, reduced content reduces costs. However, the builders must purchase the materials that are NOT in the package. Where is the savings? Finally, companies will underestimate the turnkey cost to build your home.

Why do companies do this? It is very simple. Some people shop by price. These company representatives know that many buyers believe that all material packages are alike. It is simply not true.

Put this all together and you may come up with the following conclusion. Without an itemized list of materials, an accurate price comparison from one company to another cannot be made. When shopping for your log home or timber frame home material package, ask questions. Do your homework. Find out the exact content of the material package. Get it in writing. Do the best you can to determine the quality of the materials in the package. Remember, good is not cheap and cheap is not good. Buyers beware.

For more information, or to compare any other material package with the Honest Abe material package, contact Jack Hutslar at 800 767-4916 or Jack@LogHomesByJack.com

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This is brought to you by LogHomesByJack.com. Serving Virginia from Smith Mountain Lake and North Carolina from the Piedmont Triad. Offering a very good combination of price, quality of materials and service. When in doubt, give Jack a shout. 800 767-4916.

July is National Log Cabin Month - Events

July is National Log Cabin Month

Celebrating July Events at Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia

• Events On Tap •

Log Home Buyer Workshop & Log Raising

Expect to hold this series of events at a Smith Mountain Lake construction site.

Log Home Buyer Workshops

May 9 • June 13th • July 25 • Aug 8 • Sept 12 • Oct 17 • Nov 14

Saturdays 10:00am to 11:30am
Lake Location to be announced when ready
Look here later at "News from Jack"

Log Raising:

on a job site in connection with July Aug Sept Oct Nov workshop dates ...

Log Raising Note:

We will hold a Log Raising Saturday morning on July 25th at the future Lake Log Home Construction site IF the site is ready.
Refreshments Provided.
Bring your own chair.
Wear sturdy shoes. It is a construction site.

Plan B: 

Call Jack any time and set up an appointment to meet. 800 767-4916

Learn more at "News from Jack" at www.LogHomesByJack.com

Contact Jack@LogHomesByJack.com at 800 767-4916

Jack is a former teacher and coach. He has been a log home dealer since 2001 and has been conducting workshops since he joined this industry. His programs are informative and entertaining.
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This information is brought to you by LogHomesByJack.com. Serving Virginia, North Carolina, West Virginia, Florida and the Southeast plus any under-served area from Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia and North Carolina from the Piedmont Triad. Offering a very good combination of price, quality of materials and service. To ease your doubt, give Jack a shout. 800 767-4916. 

Westport model log home at 2060 sf - estimate

Log & Timber Frame Homes

LogHomesByJack.com

Jack & Sally Hutslar, Owners
Sales and Project Management
Showroom at ...

13699 BTW Hwy, Suite 201  •  Moneta VA 24121

800 767-4916  •  Jack@LogHomesByJack.com

Westport Model log home at 2060sf
by Honest Abe Log Homes

** Under $194,000.00 Delivered
with Shell Const Estimate **

This rough estimate above includes:

Log Material Package. Sales Tax. Local Delivery.
plus a Dry-In construction estimate. 

** Under $208,000.00 for this same model as a Timber Frame rather than Log Home **

Quality first. Then price.

We offer material pricing options.

50 x 34 footprint plus porch and decks.
Gable window wall on view side.
Great room to deck. Kitchen.
Master BR down with WIC.
2 BR up with BA. Loft.

See other photos of the Westport and similar models, please
go to the Photo Gallery at www.LogHomesByJack.com. 
See Photo Gallery files numbered:
98 91 69 50 37 17

Other Honest Abe models that are similar to the Westport at 2060sf include:
Payson at 1660 sf
Sunnyvale at 2464 sf
Bellewood at 2500 sf
Grandfield at 2600 sf

** Delivery fee varies depending on location.

Your Material Package may be customized.

Not included:

Land. Permits. Site Prep. 
Foundation. Well. Septic. 
Finishing Materials & Labor.
Garage. Breezeway. Finished Basement.

LHBJ Notes:

• Pricing above is an estimate and may change with customizing.

• Estimate here is for an 50x8 open deck on view side.

• See Westport floor plans here at www.LogHomesByJack.com.  
• Options include: larger, smaller, garage, breezeway, types of windows, types of logs, types of roof systems, no basement, timber frame, hybrid/blended, conventional construction with log siding.

LHBJ Showroom at Smith Mountain Lake

The Forum at Westlake on Route 122

13699 Booker T Washington Highway
Moneta, Virginia 24121

Always Open By Appointment. Please Call First.

For more information and to see photos of similar log homes, contact Jack.

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This message is brought to you by LogHomesByJack.com. Serving Virginia, North Carolina, West Virginia, and any under-served area from Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia ... and in North Carolina from the Piedmont Triad. Offering a very good combination of Price, Quality of Materials and Service. Any size. Any style. Any where. When in doubt, give Jack a shout. 800 767-4916.