Log and TImber Home Industry News

Van-tastic Surprise
There's a whole lot of love in the log home industry. Some of it was showered on 2-year-old Hoyt Landis in April when his mom, Bobbi, and dad, Jeremy, were surprised with a handicap-accessible van.
Hoyt has a genetic muscular disorder that restricts him to a mobile cart, ventilator and feeding tube. Despite these challenges, Hoyt loves to see the world. But that was difficult from the family's Pontiac Grand Am.
That's why Bobbi's coworkers at Kuhns Bros Log Homes (Lewisburg, PA) launched a fund-raising effort that collected more than $30K in a mere six weeks--enough for the van, a year's worth of insurance and gasoline. The van features a television, VCR and folding bed.

"Wow. Now we really don't have any boundaries," says Bobbi Landis, after the van was revealed in an 'Extreme Makeover'-style surprise at the Kuhns facility. "Thank you all so much from the bottom of my heart."
Chris Seile, director of network development at Kuhns, says it was gratifying how fast people responded. "There was this huge outpouring of generosity. It came from our dealer network, local banks and suppliers--sometimes from people we barely knew or didn't know at all. It was a great feeling."

HBP Offers Online TV, Education
A boom in online traffic on log homes has made Home Buyer Publications (Chantilly, VA) launch new capabilities for its Web site (www.loghomeliving.com), including LogHomeTV (streaming video), education from Log Home University, a new floor-plan department and scores of product profiles.
"Twenty years ago print was the emerging medium for home buyers, then log home shows in the mid-1990s. Today, it's the Web," says Laurie Vedeler Sloan, group publisher at Home Buyer Publications, a division of Active Interest Media. "These three approaches to educating and inspiring consumers complement each other and will help reach the industry's goal of doubling the number of log homes sold nationwide in five years."

Did You Hear?
Schiffer Publishing has teamed up with Kuhns Bros to produce a second edition of Log Home Lifestyles...F+W Publications (Illustrated, Country's Best) held a "log summit" at its Iola, WI, headquarters June 20–22...Cultured Log Systems has teamed with designer Ken Pieper and Mountain Living on a green-built promotional log home in Colorado...Award-winning filmmaker David Schendel is doing a documentary on Dick Neville and Neville Log Homes.

IHC Lands Alaska Development
International Homes of Cedar (Woodinville, WA) has been selected as the timber home supplier for a townhome project at a major ski resort in Girdwood, AK, located 35 miles south of Anchorage. Exploding demand for vacation and permanent residences in Girdwood over the past five years made the decision to move forward with this development project an easy one. The only question was which company to partner with on this project, says the developer, Suzan McCready. McCready is working with Rodney Robertson, IHC's president, to complete this 10-unit project.

"We were delighted to be awarded this project. Having been born and raised in Alaska, I understand the challenges of building in this remote area," says Robertson.