Thomas Wood Handcrafted Log Homes offers 29 years of building experience in the Yampa Valley proving our commitment to prompt, personalized and professional service. Handcrafted integrity blended with nature's finest log materials is what makes a Thomas Wood Log Home special. We are proud of our satisfied clients.

Our location, knowledge, and experience ensures access to the finest quality logs. Full round log construction techniques start with individually selected, dry and stable, Lodgepole Pine and Engleman Spruce logs. The logs are hand-peeled to reveal their individual character and natural beauty. Our talented logsmiths then carefully scribe, cut, and notch each log to fit precisely. State of the art scribe fit and saddle notched chinked style techni- ques are available. On-site or preconstructed, our craftsmanship is consistently superior.

Our Log Home Design

All of our log homes are custom designed to meet the strict specifications of each individual owner. We offer full architectural design services or we can build from your already prepared drawings. Either the Swedish cope or the saddle notched chink style log notching techniques are available. It is also possible to incorporate conventional stick frame components (i.e. wall systems, roof systems, and floor systems) into each home. These conventional framing systems can have nonstructural logs attached to them to give the appearance of a full log wall, floor system, or roof system. This can be done to facilitate the installation of plumbing, heating, and electrical systems. Or to create a smooth finished drywall or plaster contrasting effect. We also build structural log roof systems and floor systems to be installed into conventionally framed homes. These log accents as we call them can be easily introduced into the design of your conventional home to give you a more massive and rustic charm.

The invention of flexible, latex chinkings about 35 years ago changed the nature of log homes forever. Years before, mortar and plaster crack-fillers were used and were never ideal. Today, however, with the foam backer rod, which fits snugly into the 'chink' (space) between each log, and the protection that a flexible chinking gives, there are no air leaks as in the past. And, the chinking stays flexible for years and years.

Log home construction has been gaining popularity over the last few years, with consistent features in the prestigious Architectural Digest.

It takes years of training to be able to handcraft a chinked style log home shell. The expertise comes in the 'fitting' of floor systems, roof systems, and log trusses. These are all natural features of a chinked style log home. Our typical corner is saddle notch shrink-to-fit.

Log Shell Costs

Typical bids include the following:

  • The perimeter log walls and some interior log partitioning.
  • Full log gable ends
  • Flattened log purlin roof framing systems designed to support ceiling and roof finishing package.
  • All tie logs and vertical posts
  • Porch roof framing systems in full log
  • Log dormers
  • Log truss work and customized log framing systems
  • Supervisors and assistance for log work reconstruction

A home with minimal corners and simple roofline will typically be at the lower end of $55 to $70 per square foot. A home with more complex rooflines, dormers and more corners will be at the upper end of $65 to $80 per square foot.

The delivery of the logs to the final building site will be completed by licensed trucking company. Their costs will depend on location of the project.

Finished Costs

The average turn-key costs of our homes are currently running between $300 to $500 per square foot of floor space. This includes the cost of the log shell, but does not include land, driveway utility access or major excavation work.

Garages, decks and finished basement areas should be computed at a lesser cost per square foot, but shouldn’t be overlooked in the budget.

Our more complex projects with higher-end finishing details will be in the upper part of the range. Our smaller homes with more economical detailing and simpler roofline design will often be at the lower end of the range.

Custom, handcrafted log construction will most likely cost more than conventional construction in your area.

What affects the total cost of a home:

  • Simpler roofline homes will cost less per square foot than those wih many corners and many rooflines.
  • Attention to detail, such as trim ,can vary greatly and should be discussed with the contractor.
  • The quality of windows, flooring, appliances, and cabinets vary greatly with manufacturers, and therefore the prices do too. Hardwood floors, for example, are much costlier than carpeted floors.
  • Items such as a stone fireplace can add as much as $50,000 to the cost of the home, depending on the design, and therefore can change the cost on a small home by as much as $20 to $50 per square foot.
  • The extent of outside decks, porches, driveway, sidewalks, utility access and landscaping also needs to be considered and budgeted.