Building a Ward Log Home

Whether you build your own home or have it built by a contractor, a Ward Cedar Log Home typically takes less time and is easier to construct that a comparable frame house. Our building system is designed to be easily understood by either professional builders or homeowners. Most materials arrive precision cut to minimize the amount of labor required on site. Each component is also clearly labeled for easy identification and to help speed construction. The builder only needs ordinary carpentry tools.

Want to build your Ward Cedar Log Home yourself? You'll find that Ward offers the industry's most complete and detailed construction guide. With more than 100 pages, this easy-to-follow manual covers all aspects of construction and provides step-by-step illustrated instructions. This, along with detailed working drawings and extensive pre-cutting, makes your Ward home exceptionally easy to build.

Your Ward Representative will work with you every step of the way — from planning out the dreams you have for your log home all the way through to completion of your new log home. And Ward will be there for a one year inspection to make sure that you're satisfied with your Ward Cedar Log Home.

Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Ward Cedar Log Home

1. Deciding to Build
Our Planning Guide offers over 40 standard pre-designed homes, camps and garage plans to choose from or design your own fully custom home dream home.

Start with any of our dozens of plans in the Premier, Cedar Valley or Camp series. Our 80-page full color Planning Guide provides you with details about homes in each series and includes:

Interior and exterior photos and floor plans
Descriptions and drawings of more than 26 home plans, four cabins and three detached garages
Complete information on our company's designs and custom services, materials included in home packages, payment and delivery policies, construction details, pricing, material lists and warranty information

Or bring us photos of home styles you love or a rough floor plan sketched on paper and your dream will be brought to life with our design experts guiding the process. Whatever type of home you envision, be assured we will take your initial ideas through to final finished drawings at no extra cost. Our design team uses advanced computer-aided design software to expedite this process and make it easy for you to visualize your new home.

2. Contacting Ward
Whether you're ready to talk possibilities or eager to transform your ideas into a working drawing, your local Ward representative is here to support you. Click here to find your local representative through this web site or call Ward today at 1-800-341-1566 to find your local Ward Representative.

If there is no representative located in the area where you are building, you will work directly with a trained professional at our home office. From design to construction, you can expect to receive a high level of personalized assistance. In fact, Ward's outstanding service is considered the "standard" of the log home industry.

3. Estimating and Budgeting
Many factors affect the completed cost of a Ward Cedar Log Home, including geographic area, special features and whether it is contractor or homeowner built. While the final cost may vary, you can estimate the completed cost of your home, excluding land, to be about the same as a stick-built home of equal quality and specifications.

Your Ward Representative will help you determine the cost of your home, even offering suggestions on how to save money with the package and design. He or she will also organize materials, labor and services for easy comparison, as well as help you obtain quotes from builders and subcontractors in your area for any or all parts of the project.

If needed, your representative will be familiar with the lenders in your area or national lenders that can help you obtain financing.

4. Reviewing/Modifying Plans
Your Ward Representative can help you design a home that meets your specific requirements. Supported by our in-house design team in Maine, they will work closely with you throughout the finalization of the complete set of working plans, which includes floor plans; foundation dimensions; floor, ceiling and roof framing plan; elevations; and related details.

5. Ordering Your Home
Your Ward Representative will work with you concerning proper payments, purchase agreements and plan approval paper work. Ward requires a minimum of 25 percent initial investment with remainder due upon delivery.

6. Finding a Contractor
Your Ward Representative may be a professional builder or may be able to recommend competent contractors in your area. He or she is there to help you get through the maze of local building codes and regulations and will work with you to make sure your project complies with all building and energy codes.

Your representative is factory trained to guide you and your crew through the unloading and construction process. We make Ward Cedar Log Homes so that the construction of your home, no matter where you build it, is easy-to-understand. Builders and contractors everywhere — even in areas where log homes are uncommon — will quickly understand how the Ward Traditional Comfort System is constructed.

7. Scheduling Delivery
Delivery typically takes places three to six weeks after you place your order. Custom designed homes may take slightly longer, depending on the time of year. Materials are carefully packaged and shipped on flatbed trucks to prevent damage during transit, and components are clearly labeled for easy identification upon delivery.

Your Ward sales representative will thoroughly explain the unloading and inventory process so that the materials can be easily found during construction.

8. Having Your Foundation Ready for Delivery
Your home plans will be engineered to provide the necessary dimensions and specifications to complete your foundation, be it a full foundation, crawl space, posts or slab.

9. Building Your Log Home
On-site technical assistance is an important part of Ward's construction service program. Your representative is factory trained to guide you and your crew through the unloading and construction process. Ward representatives will provide personal construction seminars as needed for you and/or your contractor, and, of course, provide unlimited technical assistance should any special construction concern arise. In the event a local representative is not available, Ward's direct sales office will provide you with a representative who is prepared to assist you every step of the way.

On-site technical assistance is a very detailed part of each local Ward Sales Representative's contractual agreement with Ward. If your Sales Representative does not perform the intended on-site inspections, provide the technical assistance,\ or file the required reports about your job, Ward maintains the right to appoint another Sales Representative for you who will!

Should you choose to construct your home without the help of a builder, you'll find that Ward offers the industry's most complete and detailed construction guide, designed with the "do-it-yourselfer" in mind. With more than 100 pages, this easy-to-follow manual covers all aspects of construction, providing step-by-step illustrated instructions. This, along with detailed working drawings and extensive pre-cutting, makes your Ward home exceptionally easy to build.

The log home materials package arrives on site with each log precision-cut and numbered for a perfect fit. We also pre-cut our own Northern White Cedar exterior and interior trim for all doors and windows, our log gables, and even all porch, deck, loft and stair railings. We also cut and hand-peel our own round purlins. Because we cut, plane and "care for" so much of the package, we take full responsibility for every piece, decreasing on-site labor costs and the chance for error.

Ward Cedar Log Homes utilize a conventional flooring system and studded partitions, making the installation of wiring and plumbing just as easy as in a traditionally framed house. In addition, any type of heating, ventilation or air conditioning system can be used. Interior wall switches and outlets are also installed in a conventional manner. For exterior walls, wires may be run through holes drilled in the logs and in channels that will be covered by door trim. Outlets and switches are mortised into the exterior walls.

10. Ongoing Representative Follow-Ups for Customer Satisfaction
We want you to be completely satisfied, so you can depend on your representative to keep close track of your home-building project. Up to seven different service reports will be completed and sent to our corporate office during the construction of your home. Your representative even checks in with you one full year after home completion — a valuable quality control feature built right in, even after delivery.

And our 20-year guarantee covers all log components against structural defects for 20 years and warrants that all items manufactured by Ward are free from defects in workmanship or design. Our component suppliers also extend their individual product warranties to you as a Ward customer.

11. Enjoy Your Ward Cedar Log Home!
Each Ward Cedar Log Home is unique and is manufactured expressly for each customer. Hopefully that customer will be you!