New Home Builders in Houston, TX

Houston Log Home Builders

Log homes may have their origins in the tradition of the rustic log cabin, but modern log homes have long since moved beyond this simple home structure. Of course, log cabins or simple log homes still make great summer or vacation homes, but there's no reason a beautiful log home can't be the year-round home of your dreams. No modern amenity is incompatible with the modern log home. In fact, many of today's log homes surpass conventional homes in nearly every aspect of luxurious living.

Log Homes
Though Houston is called Space City, trees play just as central a role in the city's culture, especially in surrounding areas such as The Woodlands and Kingston. This attracts Houston homeowners to the idea of log homes and makes log homes attractive as part of the Houston real estate landscape. Unfortunately, one of the biggest obstacles in Houston log home construction is the weather. Rain frequently delays construction, and given that projects can last five months or longer, rain is inevitable. One way to get around this is to have your log home built off-site in factory-controlled conditions. Not only will construction be more efficient, but you'll also reduce the risk of mold and mildew problems done the road. If you have the financial resources, nothing is impossible, but handcrafted log homes built on-site can be two to four times as expensive as an efficiently built modular log home.

Construction
Log homes have three main types of construction methods: timber-frame, milled logs, and handcrafted logs. Timber frame houses use lumber as the building material for a more traditional post-and-beam construction. Because the timber frames can bear all the weight of the structure, wide-open spaces and cathedral ceilings are frequently incorporated into the house design.

Milled logs use machinery to create pre-milled logs at a log yard. This enables much, or nearly all, of the construction to be done off-site. It also enables handy-minded homeowners to do much of the installation work themselves. Most milled logs, however, have length restrictions, which translates into fewer house design options.

Handcrafted logs use the same techniques from one hundred years ago, and use tools such as axes, chainsaws, and wood chisels. These full-length logs eliminate the need for vertical butt joints, increase the homeowner's ability to customize their house plan, and result in truly stunning, luxury homes.

Cost of Hiring a Home Builder
The cost of your Houston log home will run parallel to its construction method and is notoriously difficult to estimate without knowing the exact specifications of your home. DIY milled log kits for a small home can cost less than one hundred thousand dollars. Large, handcrafted log homes will run several hundred thousand dollars to well over a million. Of course, there any number of middle-of-the-road options that tend to run comparable to more conventional home building methods. If you like the look of a log home, chances are there's a log home design to fit your budgetary resources. You may need to blow the budget up to create the awe-inspiring curb appeal of a luxury custom log home, but beautiful, practical log homes are possible for more than just the extremely wealthy.

Construction Times
Also with cost, log home construction times vary more widely than traditional home construction. Modular homes can be built in a shorter time frame. Hand-crafted log homes will almost surely take longer. DIY log home kits will save you money, but it usually takes even a handy, well-organized homeowner longer than a professional Houston log home builder. The majority of log home projects, however, fall into the same five to eight month project length as more conventional home building.

While there is no time of the year immune from the wet Houston weather, it may be a good idea to begin construction some time in late October or November to minimize exposure to the tropical storm season. Of course, this tip is hardly a secret among Houston log home builders and their clients. If choosing a modular log home meets your needs, you may able to get a discount by hiring a Houston modular log home builder during the off-season.