Motorists traveling British Columbia's highway 97 get a spectacular view on the approach to Williams Lake. Massive stacks of logs, large cranes and builders form a fascinating panorama. So many drivers pull over that there has been talk of widening the shoulder to accommodate all the vehicles.

This hive of activity is Pioneer Log Homes of British Columbia Ltd. Bryan Reid, Sr. formed the company in 1973 and was joined in 1986 by his brother Andre Chevigny as a partner and general manager. After 31 years in business, Pioneer Log Homes remains a family operation. Employing 105 workers in Williams Lake and a network of 15 staff in the United States, Pioneer is upheld as a excellent example in the value-added sector of British Columbia's forestry industry.

The log structures range from small 16'x20' cabins to massive state-of-the-art homes. The largest ever built by Pioneer was 114,000 square feet, a home shipped to Colorado, and it is still recognized as the largest handcrafted log structure in the Western Hemisphere. Two recently finished homes of 16,000 square feet were also delivered to Colorado, but the average log home is in the 3,000 square foot range.

It takes approx. three months to handcraft a structure at Pioneer's building site and the home is then shipped to the customers building site where it is reassembled and ready for finishing.

In any year, Pioneer builds about 85 structures, representing about a quarter million square feet of log construction. Most of Pioneer's log homes are for customers in Europe � primarily Switzerland and Germany � and in the United States, particularly Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and California.

General Manager Andre Chevigny says, "Our builders are motivated by the architectural designs that are inspired by the dreams and ideas of our customers. Each new project challenges our builders to push the known limits of logitecture." With immense pride Chevigny boasts he is delighted to inform log home customer, "We have the best crew in the world."

The builders are keen to take on intricate design challenges, like making 50-foot clear span trusses and finding just the right 14 foot tree trunk harvested from old growth forests for a centre span. One project required two feature trees each 47 feet tall to hold up a lookout tower. A magnificent log spiral staircase to the top wrapped around the tree.

It's a point of pride that these log homes are built by hand using old-fashioned tools employing old world carpentry methods of log peeling, sawing and joinery. The work is very labour-intensive, resulting in a hand crafted structure that shows superb care and craftsmanship that goes into each Pioneer Log Home.