I have received hundreds of phone calls over the years asking me to come repair a “log cabin kit home”. And, I have witnessed some real disasters with these structures just a year or two after they were built.
I have turned them all down.
But, I am embarrassed to admit, that I once built a log cabin kit home, just once. I so regret it. I would never do it again.
That cabin was made by a well-known firm in that genre that “handmade their cabins one at a time”.
By the time I was halfway through the project I regretted ever having played a part in putting something up like this structure. It is today an eyesore on the landscape. Of all things… it won “Log Cabin of the Year” by Log Cabin Living magazine.
And no, I will share a photo of it. I’m not even certain I saved an image of it. To this day I still turn my head when I drive down that road. It’s a good thing that private individuals in this country are not allowed to own grenade launchers. If so, that cabin would be gone.
Isn’t that interesting? That the one log cabin that I most regret building was chosen as the greatest by the trade’s leading publication?
So, why did I do it? Why did I accept the offer to build this home? I did it because I saw that it was inevitable, these clients were going to build this home regardless of whether I took it on, or if it went to someone else. I thought that throughout the building process that perhaps I could steer the project towards something more vernacular… I was wrong.
After that project I would do my best to supply folks with alternatives. I found that I could easily compete with the price of a kit…. which sort of shocked me… That I could create a cabin using their “odd plans” (one had five corners) and old barn logs that I would acquire, and then create something much more attractive and durable.
I only did this three times, but I felt like I had done penance for my sin.
Originally posted 2015-04-01 16:27:01.