If you decide to build a log cabin, you will need to estimate the cost to reassemble the log shell on your lot. Your two main expenses will be labor and a crane rental. Usually the cost of a crane per hour is between $150 and $2oo an hour. So the cost of the crane could be $7,000 for a 2,500 sq ft house over the course of 4 days. To keep costs down, its important to plan ahead in order to keep the crane swinging. One issue we consider is whether or not to insulate the log walls on-site or at our production yard. The answer is “it depends”.

If you have lots of room to off-load logs from the trucks or container, it is best to either insulate them on the ground at your lot or at a builders yard. You should negotiate with your log home builder where they will complete the work. If it is at your site, they are passing on some of the labor and crane costs to you.

P-gasket insulation being installed at our yard

In some cases it is necessary to insulated each log at a builders yard. Case in point, last year we  reassembled a Douglas fir log home for a client in Sunshine Valley, Canada. Because the foundation could not be backfilled on 3 sides, each log went straight from the trucks to the walls. If we insulated the logs with gasketing at our yard.  If we hadn’t the client would likely pay for an additional 20 hours of crane, truck, and labor time.