Paramount Log Homes, Making the Dream Affordable!
If you’re thinking about building a log home, we’re here to help you make that dream a reality. Paramount Log Homes offers tremendous value, great customer service, flexibility with our floor plans, and years of experience building log homes in the Billings region.
If you’ve been in the area for a while, you’ve probably seen some of our homes around, as we’ve built in most of the surrounding communities, including Shepherd, Roundup, Columbus, Red Lodge, Joliet, Roberts, Huntley, Hysham, Glasgow, Winifred, Lockwood and many more. We build with native Ponderosa Pine, and are able to offer prices that meet or beat most of the custom builders in the area, whether log, manufactured, or stick built.
Take a look around the website, we have all of our stock plans online, along with our pricing updated for 2022. We have plans for everyone, whether you’re looking for a log cabin kit, a turnkey log home, something for your recreational property on which you want to do some of the work, or anything in between. We’ve built starter homes for young families, large homes for families escaping the rush of the big city, and mid-sized homes for empty-nesters, along with a variety of cabins for weekend getaways.
Don't see a plan that works for you? Not a problem. Send us a sketch of something you have in mind and we'll give you a bid on what it would cost to make that a reality.
We continue to search for ways to keep costs down, but only so much we can do while continuing to build a quality home. Please feel free to ask for suggestions on ways to reduce costs (plan modifications and homeowner involvement can often reduce the price by thousands of dollars). Just remember, though, that bank financed projects require a home to be completed in a timely manner (no installing the carpet or interior doors in a couple of years).
I'm also including a new page on the website to help serious customers understand the building process and what you can expect as a project progresses, as well as things you can do prior to signing a contract that can help things progress smoothly and with minimal stress.
Paramount Log Homes, the source for affordable, quality-built log homes and cabins in the Billings, Montana area
2024 February Update
Updated pricing on the website as of February 23rd. This has been a smaller percentage increase than the past few years, although it's still significant. Biggest drivers are labor, allowances, and HVAC. Cost of living is a killer, and that's no different here in Montana. The crew doesn't mind the work, but when groceries, gas, and housing keep rising, that impacts everyone. I've increased the cabinet allowance again a significant amount. Since I started doing this in 2007 cabinet allowances have gone from averaging less than $7,000 per house, to now closer to $20,000. Septic costs have more than doubled as well. HVAC impacted significantly this last year, but in a mixed way. Up to early 2023 we did an 80% efficient furnace as our standard. Now, with increased regulation, those are hard to find and expensive, so we've changed to a 96% efficient unit, which will save money over time, but impacts the cost up front. Additionally, AC units increased by more than 50%, so kind of a double whammy there. Thankfully lumber prices have stayed reasonable, or else this year could have been an even bigger increase. Higher interest rates seem to be slowing things down, however we are still a good year out on being able to schedule starts for new projects. I've noticed a slow down on new customer contacts, so it is possible in 2025 that we may be back to a more typical 6-12 month lead time on starting new projects.
2023 October Update
We're just coming out of the summer season and into fall. Not a lot to update, just more of the same. We're still booked out quite a ways, at least 18 months for new projects to get started. Depending on how things proceed over the winter and into spring it could be longer. This past year we had issues obtaining timbers for our logs. A really wet spring washed out some roads that we were depending on to get product out of the mountains and that took out one of our suppliers. It's taken months to get that flow going, which put us behind. We're finally back to getting a regular flow, but it was just an unanticipated delay that made things difficult.
Costs are the same old story. Labor, fuel, shortages, etc., keep driving prices up. We're trying to find ways to keep our prices reasonable, but there's only so much we can do while still being able to make a profit. I have not gotten price updates from my suppliers, but all evidence suggests that this next year will see what has lately been a pretty typical jump in prices. The one kind of bright spot in things is that overall building is slowing down, and so most trades are a little more timely on getting to projects. Hopefully no more extended delays on getting Electricians or HVAC crews out.
2023 February Update
Just finished pricing updates for 2023. Initially I didn't expect things to be as steep this year as the last two, but after having conversations with HVAC, Plumbing, and the window supplier, and, well, 2023 isn't off to a great start. Factor in labor cost increases, and price increases for this year are, percentage wise, just a little bit less than the previous two. I did add some significant increases to the allowances, as septic prices are higher, cabinets are notably higher, flooring is up, etc. Thankfully lumber is down from a year ago (though up 30% from recent lows), or else prices would be really crazy. As is, things from a price standpoint are difficult, to say the least. Not sure what it will take outside of a housing collapse for prices to become sane again.
Schedule is still booked out 15 months. Unless several customers change their mind there won't be any starts in 2023 for folks who are not already on the books. The one thing that might impact that is if capable labor becomes available. Currently I have a good, but small crew. I've tried to find help, but there is not an abundance of folks looking for work currently. If it were just me having those struggles we could manage, but it's at pretty much all levels, so the trades are backed up, supplies are hard to come by, it's just a difficult time to be building. The net result for the time being is that projects are slow to complete. Where we used to be able to schedule a trade 3 weeks out and have them on time, now we're attempting to schedule 2 months out, and still not getting them when we're anticipating. On the bright side, truss lead times have dropped from 9 months down to about 5, and windows are around 8 weeks out instead of 13, so things are trending in a positive direction. We'll watch and see if that continues into the warmer months, or if that is just a result of a slower building schedule over the winter. Keep your fingers crossed.
2022 September Update
Times continue to be crazy in the building world. Lumber prices actually seem to be dropping, and may actually sustain at these lower levels, although it seems for every price that drops, 2 or 3 other categories see it as an opportunity to take an increase. Fuel prices are still obviously high for travel, but they also impact timber harvesting and processing, as most of that equipment is powered by diesel, along with the transportation, and so log prices are staying high. Lead times for new projects are maintaining at around 16 months from when the hold fee is paid until we're able to start on a project. I keep anticipating things will slow down and shorten up with the higher interest rates, but so far have not see it.
The biggest issue we are facing right now is unanticipated delays from sub-contractors and suppliers. In this area there is still an abundance of work and a shortage of skilled trades, so there is a lot of waiting around for work to get done. A concrete contractor I spoke with last week told me that the night previous when he got back in cell range around 9:00 P.M. he had 5 messages on his phone from folks wanting work done. He said 5 was unusually high, but 1 or 2 a day is average, and he can only complete 1-2 jobs a week. It's a similar thing with electricians, plumbers and other trades. Great time to be in the trades, bad time to be needing work done.
2022 January Update
Welcome to 2022!! For those of us hoping that 2022 would bring some relief to the increased costs, delays and inconveniences of 2021, it appears we're headed for disappointment. Over the past few weeks there's been nothing but a steady stream of disappointing news. From increasing lumber costs, supplies shortages and labor market disruption, 2022 is not showing any signs of providing a more affordable housing market. If anything, it appears it could be an even more wild ride than 2021 was. As a result, pricing on the website is by way of information and estimation only. Each project will be bid on a case by case basis, accounting for increased costs that might have occurred. 2021 was challenging, in that I would put a contract together, then wait 3 months for financing to complete, by which time materials had increased to the point that the contract amount was below market. As a result, I'm being forced to be even more cautious with my bids so as not to get underwater on things. We'll do our best to keep things affordable, but current conditions are really challenging.
As far as build schedule goes, 2022 is booked solid, and we've taken reservations for projects starting in spring of 2023. If I can find capable labor I might be able to move things along a little more quickly, but labor is proving quite a challenge. Likewise, unforeseen labor issues could slow things down.