Malakwa’s Lake Country Log Homes is on the cusp of completing its part of a 26,000 square-foot “cabin” that is expected to further the reputation of the family-owned and operated business stateside.
For close to a year now, Lake Country Log Homes has been assembling an 18,000-square-foot, custom-log structure to be shipped to a client in Colorado. Vice-president and sales manager Jamie Gervais says this is one of the company’s most ambitious projects in a while.
“It’s definitely making a statement, putting our name out there,” says Gervais. “Because where it’s going, it’s a pretty exclusive market, kind of like Whistler. And the client is interested in becoming a dealership for us down there as well.”
Gervais describes the project as a custom Western red cedar post and beam home, with logs ranging from 20-inches to 80-inches in diameter, sourced from B.C.’s West Coast.
When it’s completed, the structure will be disassembled and shipped to Colorado, where a team will put it back together in substantially less time than it took to put it together.
“We handcraft it in Malakwa, and once it’s completed, it’s tagged and labeled, and then dismantled and put onto trucks,” says Gervais. “And when it’s on site, it’s put together fairly fast – this one will take a while. For an average-sized house, it takes three or four days to erect a log package, and then the framers are ready to frame the house and get it locked up.”
Jamie Gervais stands on one of the logs chosen for the Colorado project.
Lake Country Log Homes was founded by Don Gervais, and sons Jamie and Rob, who began working together in 1989, and moved to Malakwa in roughly 2000, when they started the Lake Country brand. Jamie says that since ‘89, the family business has seen to the construction of some 3,000 log homes, the majority ranging from 1,500 to 5,000 sq.ft. In the past 10 years, the company has put together about five homes over 10,000 sq.ft., including a 20,000 sq.ft. home delivered to Pennsylvania. Word of mouth and a growing reputation as a family business have been key drivers in the company’s success, with clients in the Philippines, Korea, Japan, Germany and the U.S. (as well as Canada). Jamie adds the slowdown in the economy had an impact on the business, but things appear to be turning around.
“With Log Cabin Homes typically being a secondary residence or a chalet cottage for holidays, it is typically a bit of a slower return so in this case what we have already seen and have scheduled is a very good sign for things to come,” says Gervais.
For more information about Lake Country Log Homes, visit http://lakecountrylog.com.
