Our logs are dry - done moving, so when you stack them up, they are tight, light (no moisture), fully checked, trimmed, notched in the corners (and on the ends sometimes, depending on your design, with a special “cuda” notch), and this makes the build enjoyable and easy to finish.

 

Montana has low humidity, and with high elevation, and long winters, the logs are the finest you can get, anywhere. It can be 100 degrees in the Summer, and 30 below in the winter, and on the higher alpine slopes, the wind blows, so they are much stronger than a fast growth, valley floor log of the same species, from the same area! Our forest has many types of fir, larch, cedar and hardwoods we can buy for a lot less per ton, but with extensive testing, we have found that the memory of the dry logs to not change by movement, the strength, the stain-ability, the beauty and color, and dimensional stability, and especially the deflection (bending) of our logs to be better than any we have tested.

 

Lodgepole pine, when high elevation, is the best we have found in every way, for a log home’s walls and joists. They sag less over time, deflect less under load, are more stable, and have the best color. We use massive Englemann Spruce and giant Lodgepole Pine posts and beams for all our character logs within our homes.

 

Englemann Spruce is also used for the larger diameter log walls, as they react, look, and settle the same as lodgepole, and go hand in hand. Cedar is punky wood, porous, prone to center rot, and the only advantage – the natural oil in cedar wood, is now useless compared to the modern penetrating preservative oils of much better quality and longevity. Cedar is less money for a truckload, but with no advantages, and lots of advantages in Lodgepole, even if higher priced, and a better log, we get less waste (lower taper), and we can sell the chips for biofuel to local mills for their kilns (they love the dry chips to mix with their green sawdust) – to make a better burn.

We spin our logs on the largest, fastest and most accurate production lathe, and have modified it to be even more accurate and faster than any in the world. We cope the bottom of the log with a Swedish cope to mate it to the log you are stacking it on, cut flat cuts where needed, notch the log with accurate machinery (no inaccurate hand notching- don’t be fooled, nobody can hand notch as good as this!), and then we peel the sides of the log you see so they still look natural and hand hewn. This is the best of both worlds. On the natural, massive posts, ridge logs and stair posts, we drawknife, as the log has not been turned (if not within the wall, it does not need to be turned). Our logs feature lots of natural color, not just plain blonde like a log that has been kiln dried, as they were either killed by a fire (bark only), or have died standing, and that is the reason the color is so prevalent. Killing and then kiln drying does not produce the natural color. The logs are far more beautiful than any you have seen in color and character, our specialty. When you stack them and ship them, you will appreciate how light they are, the bad moisture is gone!
 

We are a debt free company, both our mill (Lazarus Log Mills, LLC, DBA Glacier Log Mill), and our log home company (Lazarus, Inc., DBA Lazarus Log Homes). We are one of the fastest growing log home (or log cabin) companies in the US, and with our efficient design to build and wholesale to the public approach, are leading the industry. We are not too large so we still do one home at a time, custom to each customer. Many travel to our mill and pick special character posts that can only be found in our yard, no extra charge, others speak with our mill staff so they can remotely select for size, character, color, etc. and pick these big “trees” for the centerpiece of their new log home.
 

We don’t have huge overhead. Our raw material and component suppliers are tried and true. Our offices in Montana and Idaho are efficiently run from home offices, handling huge volumes, and with our direct ship approach, custom design and at no charge, we deliver! Instead of a fancy demo home, huge offices and sample homes, we have a mill, and a sales office you can see on appointment that represent what we do, and most of the time a local lived-in demo model log home or two can be viewed, as an efficient business model. You can speak first hand with builders and homeowners, as well as designers, sometimes seeing homes in progress, saving you big bucks.

We treat all customers as we would like to be treated (golden rule). Our references will attest. We always strive to please everyone, and relay ideas and changes as fast as they come in. Ideas that improve our log home designs, our log home construction methods, and log home or cabin costs on the bottom line, are rewarded monetarily. We have a 30 page full color construction guide that will walk a novice or veteran log home builder through the build with the fastest, strongest, and easiest methods found. Our log home construction guide is the best in the industry. It is full color, 3D images, photos, drawings, and features easy to follow directions whether you have never built a home, or you have built many log home kits or complete log cabin packages. We have had engineers tell us they have never seen anything like it. At an international log home show, our competitors (two of them to be exact), tried to steal it out of our booth! They knew what they saw. We know what you need to know, and how to help you get the right stuff to the banks and mortgage companies to speed up the process, saving days and weeks of your precious time. We can give you what you need to work with local builders to help you negotiate prices, and know you are getting the right price, even having them call us, and answer questions, whether a general contractor or sub-contractor to help eliminate them over-bidding (this is a bigger deal than you think).
 

Whether you are a new couple, and this is your first home, and don’t know where to start, this is a retirement home, and you have a good idea what you want, or you are a multi-millionaire and this is just a second or third home, we can help you through the process at the speed you need. Some move fast, others take their time, no matter, we can move at your speed with no pressure. We want this to be successful, and that means moving at your speed. We can cater to the do-it-yourself log home builder, and have a toll free tech line with an ex-general contractor on the other end who has personally built many log homes! We make it easy. Lazarus Log Homes provides the best log home kits, material packages and log home components, and are the cheapest log cabin house company with the highest quality log home materials you will find, of any log home manufacturer. Call us or email us (click the contact page), just basically get us some initial ideas on what you like that is different or unique, and we can go from there. Search through our designs, read our information on the above pages (clicking on the upper or lower menu), and you will get a lot of information you need, now that the introductions are complete!