The simple, timeless principles of Town & Country Cedar Homes’ founders, Bernie Kondrat and Ben Organek, are evident today in the still strong foundations of this 60 year Northern Michigan company.  “We owe our success to our entire team that produces extraordinary homes and products using creative design, unparalleled craftsmanship, and a passion for Northern White Cedar,” explains Stephan R. Biggs, Chairman. The company, founded as Boyne Falls Log Homes in 1947, was established on the basis of hard work and two market predictions.  First, Kondrat and Organek believed that eventually greater numbers of people would build vacation and retirement homes “Up North”, and secondly, that these home buyers would find cedar log homes an attractive alternative to conventional building materials.

Boyne Falls Log Home’s  first cedar cabins, built from timbers cut on Kondrat’s own land, still stand along with many others as a reminder of the early days when this fledgling company’s carpenters would build anything from picnic tables to picket fences just to keep up with needed cash flow.  With the arrival of successful entrepreneur Everett Kircher, the small log home company began supplying large amounts of lumber which would ultimately create the Boyne Mountain Ski Resort.   With the downturn in the Michigan economy, some might wonder how Town & Country stays on top of their game.  “It’s pretty simple”, states new Town & Country President, Stephanie Baldwin, “It’s all about quality and customer satisfaction – our building process makes it easy for clients to build with Town & Country.”

The process starts in the dead of winter. Armed with harvesters, chainsaws and waders, curtters jangle their way through the UP or Canada, in search of Northern White Cedar. Growing in swamps and bogs, northern white cedar is one of the most difficult trees to harvest but well worth the effort.   Town & Country’s Cedar Products Division harvests trees in a method that promotes natural regeneration. The harvested logs are dried in the yard at Town & Country’s Boyne Falls sawmill. The core of the operation, is the saw itself which was designed and manufactured by craftsmen for craftsmen — and specifically for handling of full size Northern White Cedar Logs. Sawyer Nelson Strong, a master at his craft, operates the massive saw from a protective booth, commanding the  steel arms of the saw to turn the cedar logs like they were toothpics. Strong’s job is to strip the outer sapwood (undesirable wood) from the log, and then slice the heartwood (decay resistant center of the log) into raw lumber. From this core wood, the heartwood of the cedar tree, is formed the first quality milled lumber that becomes a Town & Country Cedar Home.

The raw lumber is then kiln dried in one of two Town & Country wood kilns. Using their Equilibrium Moisture Content System, two 70,000 board feet kilns dry the cedar products down to 11% - the lowest level in the industry.  “The dryer the cedar product,” explains Mill Manager Bob Kinney, “the better craftsmanship you will have in the log home. Our dry Cedar Products ensures that, as time goes on, the wood will not expand and contract as others would. And while competitive lumber will sag or crack due to moisture, our kiln-dried heartwood cedar will not.”

In the mill, an entrepreneurial spirit and a dedication to craftsmanship are apparent every day. Like Bernie and Ben sketching their ideas, mill workers sketched out their ideal sawmill for cedar logs and Town & Country manufactured it. Mill workers described their ideal kiln drier — a unique system designed to dry an entire log evenly throughout, eliminating the chance for shrinkage or expansion in a home — and Town & Country carried it through. The results of the teams input was a 2004 sawmill renovation with state-of-the-art milling machinery. This computerized system now runs at full capacity utilizing new molders, ban saws, sanders, defect removing machinery, end matching,  and a peeling line – all custom machinery manufactured specifically for the Town & Country Sawmill operations. With installation of the computerized line, Town & Country Mill Manager, Bob Kinney, increased production by 300% utilizing only 1/3 of the manpower previously needed to produce an equal amount of lumber. 

Amid hard hats and the buzz of state-of-the-art mill crafting machinery, the mill workers personally inspect every notch and groove of their handiwork for quality. The scent of the prized white cedar being molded and kiln dried fills the air.   As one builder notes, “You have to look hard to find fault with cedar harvested and dried by Town & Country.” The end result is a constant $3 million in first grade inventory maintained by Town & Country’s Cedar Products division. This inventory is utilized in part to fulfill the month’s new home orders as well as the cedar building products sold through the company’s new  ‘internet based lumber yard’, known as Town & Country Cedar Products.

Despite the enormous temptation to farm out elements of the building process, every member of Town & Country’s staff strives to follow in the founders’ footsteps by concentrating on details, details and more details. Take any unit of the company and you’ll hear the echoes of the founders’ principles. Naturally, the choice of wood strikes the dominant chord. “White cedar — because of its durability and rich grained beauty — is often the most revered of woods,” says Chairman, Stephen Biggs. “It’s very unique and is one of the main reasons our homes are shipped all over the world.”