Male: Well, from London to something very far removed a Log Homes, new twist on that business, no trees are necessary. Mike Hegedus now tells us how.
Mike: This is concrete and this is a tree, and this is a house made out of logs. But what are the logs made out of?
Male: Get all the grain detail, the knots, everything that you need here. But what's unique about this is it's not made out of wood, it's made out of concrete.
Mike: Hard to believe isn't it? They look real enough to have bugs crawling out of them. Actually that won't happen and they won't catch on fire either.
Pat: You get a much better fire rating out of a concrete log structure than out of the natural wood log structure.
Mike: Well, there is nothing new about concrete forming it using a reverse molding process to look like real wood logs and using those to build houses is new. Stewart Hansen is president and co-founder of Cultured Log Systems in Missoula, Montana. Using their patented system they built their first home just three years ago. The toughest part was that first conversation with the potential buyer.
Stewart: when we're telling people, "Hey, we're building homes and it looks like wood but it's made of concrete." And the first question is "What's the stuff look like?"
Mike: In the last three years, they built 30 custom concrete log homes "a very small slice of the overall log home market, 25,000 to 30,000 are built annually, making up a $3.5 billion to $4 billion segment of the home building industry. But because they are high-end custom homes, the overall housing slowdown has had a lessened impact on their business"a business that has attracted attention from every sector of the building industry.
Pat: It's a much more durable material than wood. It's going to last a lot longer.
Mike: Basically, it's formed concrete, so it can't be rocket science.
Male: No, no, fast business is a pretty simple little business is.
Mike: Simple as concrete. For CNBC's High Net Worth, I'm Mike Hegedus.
Male: His high-end log homes made out of concrete, they're being built all over the country now with prices ranging from a half a million dollars to over.
Mike: This is concrete and this is a tree, and this is a house made out of logs. But what are the logs made out of?
Male: Get all the grain detail, the knots, everything that you need here. But what's unique about this is it's not made out of wood, it's made out of concrete.
Mike: Hard to believe isn't it? They look real enough to have bugs crawling out of them. Actually that won't happen and they won't catch on fire either.
Pat: You get a much better fire rating out of a concrete log structure than out of the natural wood log structure.
Mike: Well, there is nothing new about concrete forming it using a reverse molding process to look like real wood logs and using those to build houses is new. Stewart Hansen is president and co-founder of Cultured Log Systems in Missoula, Montana. Using their patented system they built their first home just three years ago. The toughest part was that first conversation with the potential buyer.
Stewart: when we're telling people, "Hey, we're building homes and it looks like wood but it's made of concrete." And the first question is "What's the stuff look like?"
Mike: In the last three years, they built 30 custom concrete log homes "a very small slice of the overall log home market, 25,000 to 30,000 are built annually, making up a $3.5 billion to $4 billion segment of the home building industry. But because they are high-end custom homes, the overall housing slowdown has had a lessened impact on their business"a business that has attracted attention from every sector of the building industry.
Pat: It's a much more durable material than wood. It's going to last a lot longer.
Mike: Basically, it's formed concrete, so it can't be rocket science.
Male: No, no, fast business is a pretty simple little business is.
Mike: Simple as concrete. For CNBC's High Net Worth, I'm Mike Hegedus.
Male: His high-end log homes made out of concrete, they're being built all over the country now with prices ranging from a half a million dollars to over.