If you’re thinking about building a log cabin home for the first time, some mistakes can be made. From not having a plan or not knowing what to expect to forgetting about financing and overestimating how long building will take—these are all common rookie mistakes when it comes to building your own log cabin. But don’t worry! We’ve got your back with these tips on how to avoid them:
Not working with a company that provides a turn-key experience.
It’s not always the easiest thing to do, but working with a company that provides a turn-key experience makes your life much easier. A turn-key experience means that they will take care of all the hard parts for you and leave you with nothing to worry about.
You can just enjoy the process of building your log home while they take care of everything else.
If you have never built anything yourself before, this is especially important because it will give you peace of mind knowing that everything is being taken care of by professionals who have done this many times.
Not building in an area that meets your needs.
Before you sign on the dotted line for your new log cabin, you should consider a few things. First of all, you need to find an area that meets your needs. A good location will be close to work, family, friends, and other amenities like grocery stores and restaurants. As with any home purchase, you don’t want to spend more time in traffic than necessary! If possible, look into the size of the property itself; if there’s lots of room on it, feel free to think big when it comes time for building plans! But if space is limited, then think small but cute!
Forgetting to include the cost of transportation.
One of the most overlooked expenses is transportation, which is important for moving materials on site and when it comes time to move your log home from the construction site. If you’re building log cabin homes from scratch, you’ll need to consider how you’ll transport all those logs.
Some people build their log homes using solid beams instead of pre-cut and rough-sawn logs (which means they haven’t been planned). This can be more expensive than purchasing logs that have already been cut and smoothed out. However, if you want your home built with a traditional look, then this choice might be right for you.
Either way, transporting materials off-site can get expensive—especially if they’re heavy or bulky! Remember that transportation costs will increase exponentially due to distance traveled and fuel consumption if they need to go far away.
Underestimating the time it takes to build a home.
The time required to build a cabin will vary based on the size of your home and the number of people working on it. The more people you have involved, the faster it can be built. But even with a small crew and good weather, you’re still looking at several weeks or months—and that’s if everything goes perfectly!
If your cabin site isn’t accessible by road, you’ll also need to factor in travel time. If steep grades are leading up to the location of your cabin (or down), then that will take extra time too. It all adds up quickly: days turned into weeks, turned into months, and added together, quickly become an entire year spent in what feels like perpetual construction mode.
Building without financing in mind.
If you are building a log cabin home for the first time, it can be easy to get caught up in all of the excitement and forget to plan for financing. While there is nothing wrong with using your own savings to pay for a project like this, it’s important to ensure that you are prepared for what might come next.
The truth is that financing is different for each project. For example, getting a construction loan may be necessary if you want to build something from scratch. But getting mortgage financing might be more appropriate if you’re renovating an old house or buying an existing property as-is.
Either way, do not rush into making any decisions about funding until after your plans are finalized!
Conclusion
Building a log cabin home is a big project, so it’s important to ensure you’re ready for the journey. Make sure you have enough capital on hand to cover all of your expenses and work with an experienced team that can help guide you through each step of the process.
