Award Winning Log Post & Beam Home

It's all about governing design features.

We are (finally) making use of the many photos collected on projects over 26 years of log and timber building! (see link to video at the end of this article).
Every home is unique and each has it's own tale to tell; this most recent video tells the story of a post and beam project that captivated us right from the beginning and remains one of our favourite projects some 8 or 10 years later.

Here is some of what we liked (and still like) about this project:

1. The governing design feature of the building was the vanishing edge pool  - so this feature dictated the layout and design of the home.
2. The land was quite vertical - which also dictated what was possible. (We believe that constraints are where creativity is born).
3. The wood specifications were very tight and highly defined. (Western red cedar with a mositure content of between 14-16%). This feature narrowed the wood to either kiln dried or dead standing wood. Dead standing was preferred for a smoother finish. Given that the builders who were being considered for the project were all of similar calibre it might have been a harder decision for the customer if it had not been for those tight wood specs - because in the end it pretty much came down to whoever came up with the wood first was likely going to land the contract....(obviously it was Nicola LogWorks who found the wood...and with a surface moisture content of 10 - 12 %!)
4. The design was the work of Tom Hahney (Designing Change - out of Washington State). Tom is a talented designer with the bonus of also being a log builder and colleague. His specifications were informed and well purposed.
5. Tom made sure that the log builders who were competing for the contract could build to the level of quality that the customer was expecting. He narrowed the field for the customer by communicating with local log builders and giving the customer a short-list of three builders to interview prior to narowing it to two candidates.  (A much appreciated courtesy to those of us bidding the building, and despite the competetive aspect of the bidding process - we much prefer to compete against colleagues who offer similar quality and services.)
6. As a final bonus, the project was an hour and a half away from Merritt BC where our production site is located. (As much as we enjoy setting up our log homes all over the world - a job in one's own back yard is much appreciated.)
7. Oh - and we liked the customer. But that pretty much goes without saying - because we try to only build for folks we like.

This post and beam log home won a Silver Tommie Award in the Kelowna Region. You can learn more about this project by following this link: "Okanagan Lake Post and Beam".