Making a Living Building Log Cabins

By Trooper Tom Emonds
Published on November 1, 1986
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You have to saw and peel a lot of trees to make a log house ... especially one like Troop's 4,500-square-foot masterpiece.
You have to saw and peel a lot of trees to make a log house ... especially one like Troop's 4,500-square-foot masterpiece.
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Diagram of log mansion directions for building a log cabin.
Diagram of log mansion directions for building a log cabin.
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Diagram chart of costs for log cabin building.
Diagram chart of costs for log cabin building.

How I built eight houses and became financially independent building log cabins.(See the image gallery for diagrams of log cabin building directions and building costs).

Making a Living Building Log Cabins

My situation was this: I’d just gotten home from spending 1968, ’69, and ’70 with a band of marines in a crazy Asian war. It wasn’t easy to drop back into America in the early ’70s. Vietnam wasn’t a real popular thing to have done, and a high and tight haircut was a real turnoff to most people.

They say busy hands are happy hands, so I decided to spend some time with myself–building. I’d saved a little money (not much), but getting a construction loan proved to be impossible. Low-interest loan programs for low-income housing weren’t available to veterans, because we were eligible for veteran loans . . . at six times the interest rate.

The real problem, though, proved to be my job: After the three-year Asian interlude, I’d gone back to smoke jumping for $4 per hour before taxes. Parachuting into forest fires is seasonal work and is considered high-risk. People behind desks decided that my government job was too undependable to merit a vet loan. Banks in the area pretty much laughed at me: no “real” job, little money, no conventional plans.

It was a cinch that I was the only one who was going to bankroll my therapy of building log cabins. Despite my lack of funds, I did have a couple of valuable assets:

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