Assignment 4 - The Construction of a Log Cabin

Due - Sunday, August 11, 2024

This is a group assignment. Group members can be found in Assignment4Groups.docx.

Introduction

Living in a beautiful hand crafted log cabin will make a lot of homesteaders and off-grid dreams come true. In an age of pre-fabricated furniture and modular concrete homes, a log cabin provides a unique character oozing craftsmanship, rustic charm and nature. Building a log cabin does not have to take huge amounts of previous experience, skill or talent, but, it will take hard work, planning, good tools and natural resources.

In this assignment you will write a full project plan for the construction of a log cabin. Your plan will include the business justification, requirements, a scope statement, a list of deliverables and due dates, a detailed project schedule, a risk assessment, defined roles and responsibilities, resource allocation, a quality assurance plan, and a communication plan.

Assume you have a labour force of ten, including yourself. You will have to collect all tasks required (see below in bold), arrange them in order of precedence with as many parallel activities as possible, estimate the duration of the project, estimate the costs of the project, and identify as many risks as you can and how you will overcome them. At the end of the assignment, you can compare the costs of your log cabin with the cost of purchasing an already constructed one.

Videos

Research Material

• How to Build a Log Cabin (...from Scratch and by Hand)
• 8 Tips to Building a Low-Cost Log Cabin
• 8 Low-Cost Kits for a 21st-Century Log Cabin

Business Justification

The purchase of a 1500 square-foot log cabin on half an acre of land just north of the town of Penetanguishene Ontario costs $600,000CAD in total. The half-acre lot costs $250,000CAD and the log cabin $350,000CAD. Do you feel you can construct a log cabin on a similar half-acre lot in that location for a fraction of that cost? Complete the project plan to find out.

Specifications/Requirements

There have been no specifications or requirements given to you in this assignment. As you browse each section, be sure to prepare a list of specifications and/or requirements before you start the actual planning. Be sure to include Specifications/Requirements in your project plan.

Designing Your Log Cabin

For designing your log cabin, you have to consider the floor plan and details, the zoning laws/building codes, land selection, and the costs of a log cabin.

The floor plan requires one worker and takes 30 days. Determining the exact boundaries of your property by referencing the zoning laws will take one person one day. Refreshing your knowledge of the local building codes and regulations will take one person two days. Selecting the exact location on your property where your log cabin will go will take one person two days. Estimating costs will take one person one day.

The costs of your log cabin cannot be determined in detail now, however a preliminary estimate can be made. The significant costs are

• Site preparation and foundations (roughly $5,000CAD),
• Utilities and services (roughly $1,000CAD),
• Lumber - how many logs (roughly $15,000CAD),
• Insulation (roughly $2,000CAD),
• Roofing (roughly $5,000CAD),
• Windows and Doors (roughly $5,000CAD),
• Tools (roughly $15,000CAD),
• Labour ($25CAD/hour per person).

Picking and Preparing the Logs

For picking and preparing the logs, you have to consider the best tree species, a log calculation, the felling of the trees, debarking, and drying of the logs.

Choosing a tree should take one person one day. Possible choices are pine trees, cedar, spruce or oak. Next you need a log calculation to determine how many logs you need. This will take one person one day. Let's assume you will require 100 logs. This requires the felling of 100 trees!! Let's assume one person can fall 20 trees in one day, and can debark and dry 40 logs in one day.

Building the Foundation

A log cabin foundation must carry the weight and load of a log cabin. A log cabin foundation is used to transfer the load of your cabin safely into the sub-ground. A strong, durable and stable foundation should adhere to the 3-s rule;

• Subsidence - prevent subsidence when soil moves away from your cabin
• Strength - strong enough to transmit the load from your cabin
• Settlement - prevent your cabin from sinking into the ground

• The land's rock and/or soil types
• How big your log cabin is
• Land contours
• Local resources (i.e. local cement providers)

Laying the foundation will occur in three steps. First one has to pick a site for the foundation. Then one has to excavate the site (dig a hole) for the foundation. Finally, one has to pour the cement for the foundation.

Picking a site will take one person 3 days of land surveying. Excavating the site will take one person ten days but it can be done with ten people in one day. Pouring the cement for the foundation will require three people for one day (one person cannot do this job).

Laying the Logs

For laying the logs, you have to sill the logs, install the floor, and construct the log walls which includes the log cabin notches, the roof doors and windows.

Silling the logs takes one person 1 day. A sill is the horizontal piece that forms the lowest member or one of the lowest members of a framework or supporting structure. Installing the floor will take one person one day. Log cabin floors are typically very fast and easy to assemble because their construction uses a suspended lumber floor. Constructing the log walls should commence as if your cabin does not have doors, windows or openings. It should take one person ten days to put in the walls. Creating doors and windows is as simple as removing lumber in its place. It should take one person one day. As most log cabins are either square or rectangle, there should not be much difficulty in building a roof. Roofing a log cabin will take one person two days.

Log Cabin Exterior and Maintenance

Once you have built your log cabin, the final stage is to weatherproof it. Moisture in humid climates and dampness in cold climates can very quickly cause your log home to rot if left unfinished. The most important factors are to clean, seal and stain your cabin.

Cleaning your logs should take one person two days. Staining your logs should take one person one day. Sealing your cabin should take one person two days.

Risk Assessment

For each task for each phase of the project, identify the risks and how you will mitigate them. Be sure to assess each risk according to severity and likelihood.

Lessons Learned

This section is usually completed after the project is finished. Therefore there is no need to complete this section for this assignment.

The Log Cabin, a Summary

All nine steps can be found in the image:

Many tasks have been identified in the construction of your log cabin. As mentioned in the Introduction, assume you have a labour force of ten, including yourself. You will have to collect all tasks required, arrange them in order of precedence with as many parallel activities as possible (by Gantt chart), estimate the duration of the project, estimate the costs of the project, and identify as many risks as you can and how you will overcome them. At the end of the assignment, you can compare the costs of your log cabin with the cost of purchasing an already constructed one. Note that although you made a preliminary estimate of costs, you now have enough information to add in the labour costs to obtain the total cost of your log cabin.

Conclusion

At the end of your project plan, you have to answer the following questions:

1. According to the estimated costs, is the log cabin worth it?
2. Considering the risks involved, how much confidence to you have in your cost and time estimates?
3. Would you consider log cabin construction as a business? How would the mass-production of these cabins affect cost and risk?

Weekly Problems

All weekly problems are to be done in class unless otherwise specified.

Week 10 - Project Scheduling

1. Draw a gantt chart for this project.
2. Determine the earliest start time (EST) and latest finish time (LFT) for each activity.
3. Determine the critical path and the minimum time to complete the project.
4. If Activity 4 is delayed by 7 days, what will be the delay in the total project?

Week 11 - The Project Plan

1. Cite three features of the PERT approach that are not present for Gantt charting. When and why are these features significant?
2. A minimal Project Plan usually has a business justification, requirements, design, implementation, quality assurance, risk assessment, and lessons learned. For the development of an accounting webpage, what additional elements might you add to the project plan? Which parts of your project plan might you spend more work on?

Week 12 - Risk Assessment

1. In the construction of an accounting webpage, identify and discuss three areas of significant cost risk. What might be done to mitigate these risks?
2. In the construction of an accounting webpage, identify and discuss three areas of significant schedule risk. What might be done to mitigate these risks?

Marking Rubric

Assignment 4 is worth 15% of your final grade and as such is marked out of 15 as follows:

Submission

Please email any source code and documentation to: ali.sanaee@senecapolytechnic.ca

Late Policy

You will be docked 10% if your assignment is submitted 1-2 days late.
You will be docked 20% if your assignment is submitted 3-4 days late.
You will be docked 30% if your assignment is submitted 5-6 days late.
You will be docked 40% if your assignment is submitted 7 days late.
You will be docked 50% if your assignment is submitted over 7 days late.