New Garage Sizes For 2017

We have been offering two and three car garages and larger for years and we have built smaller garages as well but we never have had them on our site....until now! The following garages have basically the same features as our two car garages except the walls are 9' instead of  10' and the doors are 7' tall instead of 8'. Naturally we can upgrade the doors if desired.  One personnel door and two 3 x 3 windows are also included as well as the concrete slab.

                                      12 x 20 Single car or small SUV: $12,995

 

 

 

 

                                   12 x 24 Single car or full size pickup: $14,400

 

 

 

 

14 x 24 Single car or full size four door pickup: $15,895

 

 

 

 

 

                          16 x 24 Single car or full size four door pickup: $18,495

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                             20 x 20 Two small cars or two small SUVs: $18,995
 

 "He that hath a garage in Alaska hath a good thing for he can fill it with many things and the cars dwell outside."
(Ancient Alaska proverb)

Planning your dream!

Many people come to me and ask what size cabin or home do you think is best for me? The only way to answer this is by asking a few questions.

• What is your budget
• Do you plan on living there full time?
• How many are in your family?
• Do you have frequent visitors?
• Are you or members of your family able to climb stairs?
• How are you planning to heat ?
• How long to you plan to own it, do you plan to sell it within a few years to upgrade?
• Do you plan to add on in the future?

There are many other considerations as well but you have to start somewhere. Most folks already have a good idea of what they want and what they can afford before they meet with us.
Size is a very important issue when determining what you are going to build. Naturally, every square foot cost money so the larger you build the more it will cost. Modern houses on average are much larger today than they were even in the 1950's and 1960's and there are many more features as well. If you are building a remote cabin, chances are it will be smaller than a home in the city or on the road system.
With the  "tiny home" movement we have seen all the features of a 1500 square foot home compacted into 200 square foot much like motorhomes and campers have done for years.
For planning purposes, if you can give us a basic idea of what you would like to build on a bar napkin sketch, we can start narrowing it down for you. Once we have a basic plan started, we can do the 3D walkthrough in our office, place all your furniture electronically to see if everything will fit, give you a firm cost of everything until we arrive at a final design and cost. We can normally turn drawings around in 24 hours so you have a place to start.
Send us your dreams on a simple sketch and before you know it you'll have a completed home or cabin to enjoy.
"Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do." Pope John XXIII

The Alaska Cabincast Episode 2.

Thanks for listening to our first episode of the Alaska Cabincast. We received no bombs in the mail yet so we decided to do episode #2 this week. We'll try and have a new episode every week until people tell us to stop!

“Don't be afraid! We won't make an author of you, while there's an honest trade to be learnt, or brick-making to turn to.”
― Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist

http://alaska-cabincast-episode-2.madewithopinion.com/feeds/alaska-cabincast-episode-2/rss/

The Alaska Cabincast- Our first Podcast

I have attached our first podcast. Hey, we know we are much better at building  than broadcasting so if it hurts your ears too much at least you can turn it off. We will be bringing new and better contact each week.
Feel free to leave the most negative comments. LOL

http://alaska-cabincast-episode-2.madewithopinion.com/alaska-cabincast/

Bush Shipping Part 2B Summer Transportation

In Bush Shipping Part 2A we covered the basics of summer transportation of materials. We will explore a little further in this post.
Many remote recreational lots are in areas where there were state land sales or state land disposals. Others are homesteads, remote parcels, patented mining claims, agricultural plots, manufacturing sites, open to entry sales and many other programs. In the old days you could take a dozer and blaze a trail to the site and this is still a possibility in some areas, however, things are much more regulated today for building trails, crossing streams, and private and government land. In most areas there is usually some sort of ATV trail that is suitable for hauling materials. It is important to take other users into consideration when using these trails in summer since hauling 40 loads of material over a fragile ATV trail can really tear it up and anger other users which is best to avoid if you plan on being a good neighbor. When you start cutting trees to make the trail wider you might meet with some resistance as well.
We have found in many instances if the trail is more than seven or eight miles and not improved it is sometimes more economical to use a helicopter to haul materials if there is a suitable staging area close by.

• Helicopters are expensive but they are very quick way to handle building materials, often you can get everything hauled to the lot in one day and be ready to build. You also have to consider the ferry time when you use a helicopter. You will be charged  when they leave their base of operations and the clock runs whenever the rotors are turning until they return to their base. Even at the higher cost this is a very efficient way to transport materials to a remote site.
• Float planes are a good option if you are near a suitable lake or river for landing. Dehaviland Beavers and Otters are the workhorses of the float plane world and you can move a lot of material with either of these aircraft. The important thing is you need to have a suitable spot to offload and people to help when the plane arrives.
• Boats and barges are a great choice if you are on a waterway suitable. Remember, the difficulty of getting materials and equipment from the landing spot to the site must be considered in figuring costs.
• Track Vehicles are an excellent means of transporting materials in the right area. They can haul a big load through wet and muddy areas usually right to the site. In some areas they are not practical since the trails are made for ATVs and the track rigs are too large.

There are many methods of  transporting materials to a remote building site, more than we have discussed in this blog. Remember to take into consideration transportation to the staging area, loading and unloading, and transportation from the landing area to the building site. These steps are very important and can take a lot of time and effort.

"In every day, there are 1,440 minutes. That means we have 1,440 daily opportunities to make a positive impact.” 

— Les Brown