No matter the reason you think of while building your log cabin – whether you want to spend all the warm season in it or just to have a cozy resting area for a quiet weekend – the price of such houses becomes a crucial factor. However, the truth is that finding the answer to the question of how much your Scandinavian log cabins could cost is not as easy as it may seem at first glance. Wooden cabins with special versatility in construction usually allow you to use your imagination very widely – to meet all needs and make many original solutions, on which the price of a log house directly depends.
Therefore, to define your financial capabilities better and align them with your main priorities for the wooden house, you need to share the construction vision with professionals who are well versed in the field of construction. To make the preliminary cost calculations easier, we have decided to share essential information to help you estimate the cost of specific solutions in this article.
Price of Scandinavian log cabins: area and amenities
Looking at construction practices, perhaps the main factors that most determine the price of Scandinavian log cabins for sale are the space and luxury of the house. If we focus on the area of the cottages, the simplest, rustic 50-square-meter cottage usually costs around 20,000 euros. The larger, 120-square-meter country-style house will cost around 60,000 euros if we don’t come up with many luxury decisions for the interior. Thus, we can say that the price per 1 square meter of the simple-equipped cottage in the market will range from 400 to 500 euros.
When it comes to the luxury of log cabins – the imagination, in this case, can be limitless, so it is really difficult to name the approximate price. However, it is worth emphasizing that the construction of a low-budget log cabin offers many ways to reduce costs by adjusting more complex solutions (without sacrificing basic amenities).
According to our preliminary estimates, if your budget for Scandinavian log cabins is around 20,000 euros, you can think of a log cabin of approximately 50 square meters. A one residential floor should probably be planned in such a cottage, and the construction solutions should not complicate the decoration and installation of the cottage (it usually leads to additional costs and a higher overall cost of the summer house).
If you can afford around 60,000 euros on the construction of a wooden house, there are much more opportunities for making decisions that determine comfort. In this case, the area of the wooden cottage can reach up to about 120 square meters. However, if the comfort of rest is more associated with amenities than with larger rest areas, staying with a smaller project will allow you to install a log house with far more amenities.
If a log house that costs above 100,000 euros doesn’t scare you in terms of budget, you probably shouldn’t limit yourself to either the area of the wooden house or the interior details. Design your holiday home the way you have always dreamed. You will be amazed at how much time you will spend in nature equipped with comfortable, spacious accommodation for yourself and your loved ones.
How much does a building permit cost?
Before making final decisions regarding the complexity of the cabin project and living space, it would be worthwhile to estimate the cost of the project itself and its validation work. Although the latter is usually provided on an individual basis, in general practice, it currently starts at an average of € 600. The final price of the project, as well as the price of the house itself, is greatly influenced by factors such as the size of the house, the volume (whether additional buildings will be needed), the complexity of the project, the availability of engineering networks and other additional works. Based on general price trends, the cost of individual Scandinavian log cabins projects, including all legal proceedings, usually ranges from 2,000 to 3,000 euros.
How many floors to build?
No less significant decision on which the final price of a log house depends – the number of floors. Therefore, for those looking for ways to save money, it is important to emphasize that a one-floor house doesn’t need stairs. According to common practice, the price of a staircase usually ranges from 1000 to 2,500 euros. When choosing hardwood for its production, such as oak, the price of a straight staircase will range from 900 to 2,000 euros, but the price of a winding hardwood staircase can reach more than 3,000 euros. When considering spiral staircases, it is worth noting that the price of these starts from 1800 euros, but depending on the size, design, and materials used, can rise to more than 5000 euros.
However, if the plot on which you plan to build a wooden residential house is quite small, despite the higher construction costs, a two-floor house could become a great choice for saving space in a yard.
Is it worth building Scandinavian log cabins yourself?
When it comes to the construction of a self-contained log house, we are still often asked whether Scandinavian log cabins for sale can be built independently to reduce construction costs? According to our specialists, although the technical knowledge and many years of professional experience allow us to avoid really big mistakes and save a lot of construction costs, it is possible to implement the log house project yourself. Nowadays, it is also offered to purchase a ready-made wooden project, which you will only need to assemble on your garden plot.
However, it is important to emphasize that while the price of the ready-made and planned cottage may seem significantly lower at first glance, the benefits of individually designed log homes should not be ignored. Individually designed log houses not only allow to eliminate unnecessary spaces, but also ensure the possibility to adjust the existing ones according to your needs. If you decide to choose a professional pre-prepared project, you will be able to enjoy it immediately. However, in that case, you will have to be satisfied with all the planned spaces, for which you will also have to pay.
What type of wooden house to choose?
It is not surprising that the price of a wooden house depends a lot on the type of house chosen. The most popular of them nowadays can be considered frame and log houses. Frame wooden houses, also known as a particularly economical housing option, provide excellent thermal insulation due to their specific construction while reducing the thermal costs inherent in a brick house. It is also worth emphasizing that frame houses open wide possibilities of interior design – when designing such a house, it is possible to leave more open spaces, large windows, make other unique interior solutions using a variety of finishing materials.
Assessing how much a particular type of house could cost, it is worth emphasizing that the exact price of this type of house depends largely on the type of wood, the size of the house being built, and the additional materials used in construction and decoration. Looking at the market these days, the construction of a frame house costs as much as a log house. It is also necessary to take into account that the parts of a frame-type house are prefabricated and installed as soon as it is delivered to the intended location of the house, so it is usually not necessary to take care of the construction site. to save.
The unique Scandinavian log houses are still built based on much more traditional technologies. In the case of such buildings, the joining of each log is usually made by a professional craftsman. Even though designing this type of wood opens up much fewer possibilities for interior design, choosing handmade logs for the construction of a log house will make your home stand out with unique beauty, preserving all that nature has given to each tree.
True, when considering a house made of natural logs, it would be appropriate to charge a slightly higher cost than in the case of a frame house. The average price of a house made of handmade logs starts from 300 euros per square meter, but choosing extra thick and long logs can increase even more. This means that a quality log house can cost between € 14,000 and € 500,000, depending on its size, type, and materials used for construction.
What kind of wood to choose for construction?
The price of a log house, no less than the best properties of a wooden house, depends on the wood chosen for use in construction. By choosing high-quality, top-quality wood for decoration or construction of the log house itself, you will be able to ensure a great microclimate in the house – it will be comfortably cool in the room in summer and warm in winter. In our country, the wood most often used in the construction of wooden houses is coniferous wood: pine, spruce, cedar or cedar pine, larch.
It is worth noting that wood from different conifers has different properties. For example, compared to pine, spruce wood has a much higher resistance to temperature differences, which is why spruce is often chosen not only for the decoration of the house but also for the production of the building’s structures. The wall price of a house built of these softwoods starts at 100 euros per m2.
Looking at the essential aspect – thermal insulation, spruce wood finish will provide at least 10% better thermal insulation than the pine finish. The decoration of the facade of a wooden house made of larch will retain even 25-30% less heat. Due to the low density and high air content in the wood structure, cedar has the lowest heat loss compared to other types of wood – due to its unique structure, it not only retains heat very well but also practically does not give in longitudinal and transverse rotation or shrinkage. However, the price of cedar per m2, depending on the type of wood, is usually at least two or three times higher than that of other conifers.
Log houses: how to build them cheaper?
We often encounter cases when customers preparing to build Scandinavian log cabins plan to save by giving up part of the quality. Therefore, we want to emphasize that drastic solutions are not the only way to reduce the construction cost of a log cabin.
First of all, if you have a limited budget for construction and the price of a summer house is relevant to you, we encourage you to think carefully about all the unnecessary architectural solutions. For example, maybe instead of a two-floor cottage, you can settle for one or a large space divided into small – is not necessary for the comfort of your rest. Also consider whether your house needs a patio with large windows and a roof, or needs ancillary facilities such as a balcony, basement, or garage. For example, the cost of installing a garage is the same as installing a living space, so a roof can be a great alternative, which will not only cost much less but will also perform the same functions perfectly in the cold season and the summer from the intense sun.
However, to save money, you can also choose ready-made Scandinavian log cabins for sale projects. Although, in this case, you will have to make some compromises when planning a residential house, when purchasing a ready-made house project, it will be possible to calculate its price most accurately.
To plan in detail and minimize the construction costs of your wooden house, it should be borne in mind that they also depend on the construction site itself, the installation of utilities, and the performance of works. Looking at the single market, it can be estimated that on average, one square meter of a cottage will cost around € 500-600 (materials and labor), but you can significantly reduce this cost by doing some of the lighter construction work yourself. The location and size of the plot are no less important choices to make the project more relevant to your financial capabilities and needs. When choosing a larger plot, do not forget to look not only at its price but also at the possibilities of bringing utilities. There are cases where remote, small, usually installed log houses are much more expensive due to the complicated delivery of utilities.
