Zach: You don't get this opportunity much in life, to be able to have such a hands-on
approach.
And that is what makes it special to build your own home.
That's why it's so great to be doing what we're doing.
Narrator: On this episode of, “Building My Dream Home”, Zach begins his journey
towards building his custom, one of a kind home.
We'll take you behind the scenes of Golden Eagle Log and Timber Homes and show you how
the building process begins.
Join us as this picturesque lot is transformed from dream to reality.
Narrator: It's a crisp, fall day in central Wisconsin and at Golden Eagle Log and Timber
Homes, it's business as usual, as custom homes are being designed, engineered and manufactured.
Narrator: A family owned business since the very beginning, Walter and Marlace Parmeter
got their start in 1966, first as a building supply company.
Then in 1986 the business expanded into a one stop custom log and timber home manufacturer.
Today, the second generation continues to run the company with brothers Jay and Tod
at the helm.
It's been a part of their lives since childhood.
Tod: He had me driving the forklift by age probably 11 to where I could go out and unload
a semi, bringing in some lumber.
I was already helping some of our customers out in the lumber yard side of things.
Jay: You know here we are 13 year old and 10 year old kids waiting on customers.
So, it worked but some of the customers didn't believe us.
Narrator: With over 5,000 homes sold since 1966, family remains an integral part of the
business.
Jay: We’re actually talking to the fourth generation.
He's three years old and he really likes forklifts.
He does draw some house plans with me too.
So, he's a maybe the fourth generation.
Speaker 5: What is this?
Jay: This is the deck.
Speaker 5: But how’s it going to set down though?
Jay: Oh, it’ll set down just fine.
What’s on the wall, tongue and groove?
Speaker 5: Tongue and groove I think.
Jay: Tongue and groove or half log?
Speaker 5: Half log.
Narrator: While Golden Eagle sells around 100 homes per year, one in particular is in
the very early stages of development.
A home that is inspired by its family heritage.
Zach: My name is Zach Parmeter and I'm part of the third generation here at Golden Eagle
Log and Timber Homes.
My sisters and I, my cousins we've been working here since we were little kids.
We pretty much grew up here and it's always been just a natural part of us.
Narrator: Instilled in him from a young age, Zach has more than his share design ideas.
Now, it's time to build something for himself.
Zach: For me, it is so much about the detail being done just the absolute best way.
I mean that is-- that gives me goosebumps and that is what makes it special to build
your own home.
That's what makes it so cool to do this whole process that it makes it all worthwhile.
And that's why you're building a new home, you're not living in someone else's home.
And you get the chance to do it the perfect way for you.
It's not going to be perfect for someone else, but it can be perfect for you.
And that is what’s really cool, that's why it's so great to be doing what we're doing.
Zach: Now, one of the very first steps is to figure out how much you can spend.
So that's why you have to go to the bank.
The appraiser is going to tell you how much they're willing to loan you and you're going
to have that figure.
Zach: And then you need to make the decision, well, how much do I actually want to spend?
Zach: Once you know what you want to spend, then we need to start filling in the puzzle
pieces: how much is your land going to cost?, how much do you plan to spend on the actual
house itself as well as any amenities?
Narrator: Golden Eagle’s Clearwater floor plan was selected as a starting point for
Zach's home.
Zach: Everything about this plan seems pretty spot on, but there were some tweaks I wanted
to make.
I mean it's a good starting point and all of our customers are doing that, they're always
customizing it just for themselves.
So once I had a general idea on what I was going to build, then I can get that floor
plan to builders.
And they would tell me you know what they would probably charge for something like that.
We don’t have contracts yet, nothing set in stone.
I don't even have the floor plan fully figured out; there's still things I want to change.
But it helped me get a sense on this is where price is probably going to come in at.
And that was really helpful for me because then I was able to enter the design process
with an idea on where can I make changes to the house and still stay within budget?
Zach: The design process is really fun because this is when you start to really visualize
how the home is going to sit on your land, how you’re going to use that land and where
you're going to clear the trees and excavate.
I actually went out there, and I ribboned off where my driveway will be and I got an
idea for okay well this house this would sit perfectly here and I’m actually going to
orient it a little bit more this way and that way I get more natural-- I get the morning
sun flowing through the house and I get the evening sun also coming through the house.
It's all about facing the windows the right direction.
A lot of our customers actually do that and I see why they do.
Zach: Now that have everything marked off, we’ll be able to tell the excavator where
to clear the trees, then we get going on things once the snow melts.
It's really fun to be out there doing that.
And it helps you make decisions on maybe you need to move where the garage was going to
be so that you get a better view or add more glass to a certain wall.
Zach: What I'm doing here is I'm actually filling out the driveway approach permit.
This is so that I have an address for my build site location.
This way, we can have deliveries sent there and they actually know where they're going.
So, it's kind of cool, you start to see it some more concrete things become reality here.
What we're looking at here is from this point to this point is 260 feet.
So, that's right here.
We’re actually looking at it from this perspective, so that's 260 feet.
My driveway itself will be 14 feet.
And then from this distance to this will be 33 feet.
It was really easy for me, I already had a natural clearing in the tree line, really
made the decision making pretty easy on that.
Zach: My next step is to meet with the excavator to walk the land to get an idea on okay, these
are the trees I’m going to clear out.
I wanted to clear about forty feet around the house.
I mean really you want room for the builder to be able to work, you need to be able to
set material somewhere.
I’ve had plenty of customers that are building in mountains or are on narrow lake lots, they
don't quite get that luxury and they just work around it.
But, you know that's important and that was important for my builder to know that he would
have that flexibility.
Narrator: With summer on the horizon, and the snow long gone, it's time for the trees
to be cleared from the lot.
Zach: It was so cool to finally see some trees getting cleared.
It was amazing, it's already happening.
You spend so much time thinking about it and planning and then all of sudden you start
to see some action.
Oh, it's just unbelievable.
Narrator: Zach is one step closer to living in his dream home.
Subscribe and follow along as this log and timber home becomes reality.