Truly Handcrafted CustomLog Homes B rad Neu knows he’s in the dream business. He knew it when he helped his business partner-to-be build his first family home out
by David MacDonald
quality of the construction that we are producing. The hand-scribing, hand-chiseling, and chainsaw work that is involved in building a hand-crafted log home is a working trade, there’s no doubt about it – practice definitely improves your performance. In the early days we weren’t really worried about how tight the log fits; we could tink it or knock it or whatever. Overtime you kind of figure out new tricks and things that work better. I would say the quality of the fits of the logs has been our biggest improvement just through experience. When you mention “hand-peeled logs” at montanaloghomes.com, are you talking about logs that are not chemically treated?
BN: I started in log construction kind of on a fluke. I was going to college to be an electrical engineer and I came home to do an apprenticeship after my first year. I realized pretty quickly that an electrical engineer’s job is not at all what I thought it was and I was in need of money. My current business partner, Jim Bathstalker had just started a company called Pioneer Log Cabins with another guy. (Jim had actually rented a home from my parents years before, so we knew each other since I was 14 or so). So I ran into him and started doing logs with them. They were very much a start-up company at that time. I went back to college for a little bit, worked off-and-on when I was in town and then their business started to get busy. That’s when I really realized that electrical engineering was not my dream field. I dropped out of college and started doing logs full-time. Pretty soon I was
driving logs and then I was running the company. It moved really fast. In 1981 I started with them and in 1985 Jim, my partner and I, partnered up and the two of us have continued ever since. Do you knowwhat motivated Jim to start Pioneer Log Cabins, Brad? BN: Jim actually started the business because of a need for a home and a lack of money. He read the book Dove and in that book the main character or storyteller builds himself a log cabin and describes how he does it. Jim did a little more research and he built his own cabin. From there, a neighbour saw what he did and said, ‘If you build me one, I’ll pay you.’ It kind of snowballed from there. By the time I started with the company, they had built at least six homes. The quality of what they were building then compared to what we are putting out now is substantially different. Things were pretty creative, let’s say, in those days. As I came on and particularly by the time, he and I partnered up we had the system down pretty good and we were rolling into bigger projects in the mid and late 80s. Is it the style of home that has changed to your advantage or is it the hand tools you use? Why do these “bigger projects” keep coming your way from all over North America? BN: I wouldn’t say it is the style of homes or the tools that have changed that much, more the
of necessity. He knew it when a few years later they were featured in Time Magazine. It’s why he’s been handcrafting custom log homes since 1975. “They’re not kits; everything we build is handcrafted, notmachined,” he explained. “We are extremely focused on each client because it is such a unique product – it’s literally their dream come to life.” Each Montana Log Home is individually crafted toyour specificationsbyBradandhis skilled log smiths using chainsaws and traditional hand tools. They work with only large diameter, dead- standing Lodgepole Pine, Engelmann Spruce, or Western Red Cedar. These full-length logs selected from the prime timber stands of Montana are then hand-peeled, cut, and carved into your dream log home package. Montana Log Homes’ design and blueprint services are supplemented by a 64-page plan guide. If your dream is a little foggy, the plan guide’s log home floor plans and photographs may clear up a few things before the Montana Log Homes team treks to your corner of North America. Brad chatted with Spotlight on Business from the company construction yard in Kalispell, Montana about the “working trade” he lives – and loves. Brad, please tell the Spotlight on Business readers a little about yourself, your years of experience in log construction, and how Montana Log Homes came to be.
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NOVEMBER 2019 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • NOVEMBER 2019
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