Jessica Murdy
The Progress Newspaper
Saturday, April 21, 2007

On a good day, the flags at Chilliwack Mountain Log Homes/LogHomesCanada® are flying in full colour. They each represent a country where the company has sold a home.

Austria, Japan, United States and Israel are popular destinations for their custom cedar log houses. And on average, only one of every 20 houses the company constructs actually stays in Canada, says owner Colin Ollenberger.

Today’s lack of flags has more to do with the recent harsh winter weather than the current housing trends.

“The industry is pretty busy, it’s strong right now,” he says. “Log home starts are definitely up." Ollenberger, like many other log home builders, is a regular on the exhibition circuit. He has three coming up just in May. Beyond trade show, he says he’s found the most success on the web, marketing to customers around the world.

To figure out just why people are opting for custom made log homes in vast numbers, all around the globe, remains purely speculation. It could be comfort, aesthetics, health and environment concerns or a combination of all these things. But just why they look to B.C. for a builder is becoming common knowledge. “They are after the B.C. wood supply.” Ollenberger says. “We have cedar and Douglas fir. These are specialty woods that are high in demand.

The clients that his company deals with all have distinct needs regarding price, geography and usage. But they all are looking for that top quality B.C. cedar, he says.

“It’s all you can ship to most countries without a phytosanitary certificate,” he says, which proves exported plant items to be bug-free. You can get that certificate for other common wood products, including pine and beetle-kill pine, but it’s a sometimes difficult process that brings a cheaper product up in costs. “So, cedar is the premiere choice for all of my customers,” he says.

Each cedar tree is shaped by his crew to fit perfectly into its place among the others, taking the word custom to a new height. “Each log has about 10 man hours in it,” he says, much more than the seconds it takes to send a log through a planer in a mill. And considering a second story home is 20 logs high, that’s a lot of perfection! It could be why big wigs of finance are taking notice of the operation, which has even earned Ollenberger and the rest of his family who owns and operates the business with him, a BC Exporter of the Year award in 2003.

The owner of a popular cruise ship line has his own Chilliwack Mountain Log Home for the odd vacation time, as will the owner of a large railroad company in a few months.

His and several other homes are on the go at the company’s five-acre lot in Sardis, along with a couple of family-sized homes and a children’s community centre bound for the United States. Ollenberger says among all the states, Colorado is the busiest market.

Despite the recent resurgence in log home living, Chilliwack has relatively few building companies that are fully operational, while Abbotsford has at least one dozen, he says. But both cities will benefit from the upcoming International Log Builder’s Association AGM and conference, at the Ramada Plaza and Conference Centre April 26 to April 29. The conference brings together log builders and expert speakers from all around the world, says Vic Janzen, ILBA Chair.

The event is meant for industry professionals, and will feature a master stair building glass among other highlights.

Log builder games, a design roundtable, hands on woodcarving lessons and 21st century chainsaw carving with Mike McVay are all going to be covered, along with professional development courses on customer needs, marketing and more.

Ollenberger is hoping to go, but there are a number of houses that are nearing completion and may need to be shipped out that week. He will definitely be sending an employee to the stair building conference, saying that the close location makes it a very desirable option for training.

In addition, out of town companies may take the opportunity to visit local log building companies to gather information and see where the industry is heading.

This is the biggest conference ever, says Janzen, which has been previously held in Whistler, Idaho, Harrison Hot Springs and Quebec.

For information on registering for the ILBA conference, visit their website at www.logassociation.org.