Small Cabins

[fireman05]

 ???I have recently expanded my portable sawing operation to now include harvesting timber, sawing the logs, kiln drying and manufacturing the lumber into flooring, moulding, v-match paneling etc.  I am interested to see if anyone has had success in offering pre constructed finished log or timber frame small cabins?  Here in Northeast Michigan weekend "retreats" seem to be popular and I have had some people inquire as to availability.  I work full time as a firefighter/paramedic but have my oldest son and father help me with my operation.  Any info?

[Jim_Rogers]

Welcome to the forum.

We build timber frame sheds but usually we sell them and sometimes erect them for the customer.
Sometimes we enclose them and sometimes we don't.

Good luck with your business.

Jim Rogers

[sawdust]

I spend a fair bit of time helping a friend who has a mill and planer. He claims that most of his profit comes from selling the lumber into buildings. He will supply the flooring, roofing, joists and what ever else he can , often into his log cabins. He also tries to always to have a smallish building in his yard for sale. People coming and going notice them and then he has to build another one! I have tried building small buildings that I can move around without big equipmnent; dog houses playhouses sheds. I think that being visible and doing some advertising is really important. I suck as a salesman.

sawdust

[metalspinner]

There is a fella down the road from us that builds buildings right on his trailer.  When that one is done he will start another on the ground.  At some point, he will sell the one on the trailer, then start another.  He always seems to have a nice rotation going.

[Don P]

 I don't know if would be of any help or not, but it's a neat story. Or, its a neat story to me  :D.
In the early '60's my Dad was just out of the military and working as a carpenter in MA. He met a gentleman by the name of Roland Wells Robbins working as a handyman and housepainter. A self described "pick and shovel" amatuer archaeologist. Mr Robbins was a big fan of Henry David Thoreau and had immersed himself in the author's book "Walden". Mr Robbins had discovered Thoreau's original cabin site on Walden Pond and wanted to build a replica of the cabin on a piece of property he owned nearby. Dad built the replica in 1964 under Mr Robbins' detailed direction. Mr Robbins was as accurate as he could possibly be, he excavated the foundations with an old GI shovel by hand himself, even incorporating one of the bricks from his earlier excavation of the original cabin into his chimney. They travelled the surrounding towns finding similar wood, shingles, cut nails, and hewing out the exposed beams to match Thoreau's descriptions. 
What brought this to mind was a discussion they had. One idea that was never followed up on was to prefab these cabins as historically accurate backyard buildings.

I'm not sure whether the photos I'm seeing on the web are of Dad's reproduction or another. Here's one link that has a photo.
http://www.uky.edu/AS/Anthropology/PAR/thoreau.htm

The cabin is 10x15 and pretty cute, just another thought.

I think staying under 400 sf helps in some localities.

[DanG]

Woodbowl and I ran across this little jewel sitting by the road in Tennessee.  We stopped to take a gander and a few pics of it and some other stuff that was there.  It was obviously a display, but there was nobody around.



Personally, I would want the porch a little taller, but it is built to be a playhouse. The construction is of D shaped logs that may have been landscape timbers.



This would make a great little storage building after the little girl grows up. ;)



Here's the price sheet.  I think this would sell higher in most places, but this guy is located in a somewhat depressed area of Tennessee.

Maybe this will give some of you some ideas.

[solodan]

check out Tumbleweed Tiny House Company

some cool ideas, and look at what the price tag is on these things

also lots of links there too.

[woodbowl]

That cabin was cuter than a bug in the rug. The log look was made by rounding the outside of a standard 1 1/2" X 3 1/2" two by four.

Metalspinner, what kind of cabins does that fellow make on a trailer? You got any pics?

[MotorSeven]

DanG,
Where was that cabin, i am looking for something to live-in while i build the house, but 10x12'....vs....6'4me+5'11 wife..............yikes ;D  I'm thinking a 12-14'x24' w/10'walls. I just hate the idea of a trailer....'cause i have lived in a travel trailer for 3 years now :(
RD

[woodbowl]

DanG,
Where was that cabin .......

Seems like it was between Sparta and McMinnville.

[DanG]

Motorseven, it is on hwy 55 East, at Manchester, Tenn.  I'll pm you their phone #.  According to the brochure, sizes range from 8x12 to 12x20.

[metalspinner]

Woodbowl,
This guy is building nice utility buildings rather than cabins.  But in Sevierville, TN  a builder in making little buildings very similar to what DanG pictured.  The next time we are up there, I will get a couple of pics.

That pic looks alot like the little playhouse Norm abram built on the New Yankee Workshop but with the 2x4 siding rather than cedar siding.

[Don P]

Motorseven,
A gambrel, barn, roof might be something to consider, storage or sleeping in the loft.

[woodbowl]

...........  but with the 2x4 siding rather than cedar siding.

It's not siding, like sheathing would be on a subwall. It is actual dressed sized 2 X 4's nailed or screwed on edge, but with an outside roundness for the loggy look. I was sure that it was thicker than 1 1/2" untill I measured back from the jam. Looks pretty good to me to be 2 X 4's.

[thecfarm]

Welcome to the forum fireman05.When we go to PA,we see 3 flat bed trailers trucks with 3 to 6 small buildings on each one in many differant styles.There is money in those small buildings.Around here there is only a few styles. Good Luck

[fireman05]

Thanks for the info guys!  I think it I'm going to try and build one this winter and see where it goes.  Probably 10x12 and I can utilize it for an office are for my operation if all else fails ;).  Ill try and post pictures when it is complete.

[metalspinner]

I just checked Norm's book and his has a 5x8 little house with a 2x8 deck on the front with a nice dormer window on top.

[MotorSeven]

Thanks DanG & Metalspinner, I'll call 'em. Seivierville is closer to me, so keep me posted!
You would have thought that in 3 weeks vac & camping on my place i would have had time to look around locally.....not a chance :D.  So, it looks like an Oct trip to hunt around....darn those pesky leaves will be changing color and dropping all over ;D!

RD

[metalspinner]

Motorseven,
The place I saw them was on Chapman Hwy between Seymore and Sevierville.  Closer to Sevierville.  If I'm out that way, I'll take a couple of pics.