I can answer one part of your questions. My husband and I have no experience with any type of construction but we are currently building a log home. We even logged the trees out ourselves and although the process was long and hard, we were able to do it.
We have had many people doubt us and tell us we were crazy but we kept on going and now we will be raising our walls within a couple of weeks.
Don't let anyone tell you that you can't do something. The only reason they tell you that is because they can't do it and they want to bring you down to thier level.
Have you taken the class? There are alot of people who took the class that would come and help you with your project or be available to give advice on any aspect of it.
You can do anything you set your mind to!

I completely understand your concerns about taking the class. My husband and I had all of the same thoughts and I researched many many classes. I also did some extensive research on kit homes because I wasn't confident enough to build my own (even though it is something I have always wanted to do).
The classes that are two weeks or so in length basically do a couple day introduction where they go through everything you need to know to build your own log cabin and then you spend the rest of the time actually building one. That sounded fun to me except that I was thinking that if I was going to spend two weeks building a log home, I wanted to be getting paid for it!!!
Skip's class is very intense and you learn alot in the two days. They basically go through building a home from beginning to end. When I took the class, I had to take notes of what they were saying but now they have a manual that they hand out with all of the diagrams and information. I still go back to my notes to remind myself of something or I post a question on this forum.
Building a log home is really not as difficult as everyone thinks. Especially considering that the logs make up just about the whole structure and those can be raised in a matter of days. Plus you can see all of the peoples sites who have taken the class and had success building their own homes with the knowledge they learned from it.
The class is very informative, but it also gives you the drive and the feeling that you really can build your own log home. More then anything, we gained confidence from learning the building technique and having such a large support group.
There is actually a kit home that went up down the road from where we're building. We were depressed because the thing went up in one day while we were still peeling our logs. But then we went down and inspected the structure and were reminded of why we didn't do a kit home. The place looks like a doll house. The logs are all small and perfectly round. Theres a lot of little pieces of log throughout that are just for looks when they really should be there for structural support. I couldn't figure out what was even holding the roof up. We see problems all the time with log homes out here. We looked at alot when we thought we would just buy them and the leakage problems, sagging roofs and floors just really turned me off. Then the kit homes will have all of these special bolts that you have to tighten all the time to keep your roof from sagging and your floors from caving in.
Anyways, I'll quit rambling on about it.
Just know that everyone here understands your reluctantness about the class. I think we all had them at some point or another.
Oh yeah, and the reason that you can't take pictures is because the class is held in a log home that was used on a tv show so theres some kind of exclusive rights thing going on with that.

I was on another forum where a very similar question was posted. I found that those who had been to the class, as myself, had nothing but good things to say about Skip & Company and those who had not taken the class said "it is a sham". It was funny that the biggest critics had never been to the class were builders of log homes. I took the class and found that it was fast and jam packed with info but the most important thing you will get out of the class is that "You Can Do It". With just a little thought and a whole lot of hard work you can do it. The system taught in class is a very simple sound construction technique. It in many ways is nothing more than the technique our forefathers used to build their log homes. Its a traditional style of building that can be customized to your taste. I was very happy that I made the trip to Seattle except for the hill (if you take the class you will know what I am talking about). Good Luck to you. Chris.

LOL, I liked the hill, but then, I was always the first to the top. Gets the blood pumping for the rest of the day! :P And, I did so the day after hiking to the top of middle Wallace Falls (6 miles round trip, 1500 ft elevation to climb in 2 1/4 hrs) Beautiful hike but I'm an East coast flat-lander, so my lower legs were sore for about a week. :lol:

Skips been teaching the class for 30 some years and the web is full of students who have successfully built log homes. I can't find a single student who took the class and regreted it or a single case where a student used Skips methods and it didn't work. The very few who bash it have no expereince with it and are usually kit builders.

The reason it can be taught in a weekend is the method is different then other log home building schools teach. It is a more sound building technique and more simple and renders a more stable structure.

I don't know about anyone else but I have a problem with any structure that needs to have gaps built above windows and doors and even screw jacks for lowering roofs to account for settling of logs. That is how others build and teach.

Skips method needs none of that and is proven. The flagship is Skips home itself where you will be taking the class. It is the most impressive log structure most will have the chance to ever enter. The proof is in the pudding. Take the class you will not regret it.

Blayne

You said it Dave!

And you're going to share pictures, right?

Blessings,
Jim Bob

This one is more up to date-

http://home.mindspring.com/~kahle11/log.html

AndrewHenry,

Something additional that you get from the class is the understanding around other log building methods--their strengths and weaknesses. You can put that same type of analysis to other building methods, like stick frame.

Rumble,

Many of the multi-week and multi-month log building and timber framing classes are structured in a way that you do repetitive work---which may or may not increase your ability to do it. Once you've peeled logs, you don't need further instruction on it---the important thing is to be given the correct information on how to go about doing it in the first place--many schools don't do that but instead have you peel logs in a less than desireable manner--over and over and over....

In reality, you probably are not going to be a better sriber at three months than you were at one day---it takes more time than that--experience!---so many schools actually can waste a student's learning time. I am oversimplifying, but I think you get my drift.

So, even with long term log building training programs you really need to do your research before taking them.

The LHBA class compresses the information and delivers it in a manner that the average person can understand a huge amount of information in a short time.

This is possible. And I've seen this at work more than once. I was given the opportunity to sit in on an elder hostle class taught by a music professor from Harvard/Julliard, that happen to have an undergraduate degree at the school to which I was seeking a music degree. Mind you all of the audience, save me were complete novices in the area of music. In two and one-half hours, this professor was able to bring the audience's understanding of music from a toddler's vantage point to the most advanced areas of musical anaylysis, music history and political philosophy. They essentially got a graduate level understanding of music form and history in those two hours!!!! (we students took years to get there).

The LHBA instructors have similar gifts.