We design, restore, and fire‑harden mountain homes that age gracefully with the pines — drafting every board around how your family will use it for the next forty winters.
What we build
From the first topo line to the last chinking bead, our crew handles the parts of a cabin that need to be right the first time — the ones the snow, sun, and ember load will eventually test.
Hand‑drawn plans for primary residences, guest cabins, and ADUs — sized to your parcel, view corridor, and snow load.
Design process →Full scribe‑fit log homes, post‑and‑beam hybrids, and timber‑frame great rooms using beetle‑kill pine and reclaimed Douglas fir.
Timber options →Defensible‑space planning, Class‑A roofing, ember‑resistant vents, and ignition‑zone retrofits that meet the new Colorado code.
Hardening checklist →Structural rescue of 1960s–90s cabins — new foundations, chinking, window relights, and the careful saving of original fir.
Restoration work →Solar arrays sized for sub‑zero winters, rainwater cisterns, and propane backups tuned for homes above the power line.
Off‑grid specs →Annual visit programs that re‑caulk, re‑stain, and re‑grade the defensible space before fire season opens.
Care plans →When the Mesa Ridge fire jumped the ridge in late August, the Jensens watched from a parking lot in Loveland while their cabin stood inside a 30‑mph ember storm. They went home to a stained‑glass window cracked by heat, a melted porch light, and an intact roof.
The Crane Hollow build is the case study we use when clients ask what "fire‑wise" actually means in practice. It's a timber home, with real wood, on a real ridge, and it's still standing.
Read the full storyWhy our cabins last
A lot of builders can frame a pretty cabin. The work we do differently shows up twenty years in — when the chinking still seals, the roof still sheds, and the defensible space still passes inspection.
We source lodgepole, Engelmann spruce, and Douglas fir within 90 miles of the build site. Less trucking, fewer checks, and a far better carbon story than east‑coast pine.
No subcontractor roulette. The same five‑person crew that sets the bents is on site for the final chinking. That continuity is why our punch lists are short.
Every plan starts with a defensible‑space overlay, ember‑resistant detailing, and a Class‑A roof. Fire‑wise is a load path here, not a checklist.
We hand every cabin back in February, with the heating system running, the driveway plowed, and the heat tape cycled. If something fails, we find it in the cold, not in May.
How a build unfolds
Our process is slower than the industry average on purpose. We plan for the cabin to be lived in for forty years, so we take the time to get the bones, the drainage, and the defensible space right before a single stud goes up.
We visit the parcel in person, mark the trees, read the snow drift lines, and shoot the topography ourselves.
Hand‑drawn plans, a real budget, and a timeline you can take to a lender. No allowances that surprise you later.
Wildfire‑construction docs, snow‑load calcs, and septic coordination — all stamped and ready for the county.
Framing, timber, mechanicals, and finishes. You get a Saturday‑morning walk every week with the site lead.
A printed owner's manual, a labeled mechanical room, and a 90‑day check‑in during your first real storm.
Owners on the record
The best part of our week is the call from a past client the first time the snow shuts the highway down and they're already inside, woodstove lit, watching the storm come over the ridge.
"We toured eight builders before Pinery. They were the only ones who walked the lot with a wildfire map in hand and asked where the ember drift would land in a 50‑mph wind. That question saved our house."
"The crew rebuilt our 1972 cabin without losing the smell of the old fir in the loft. The new chinking is better, the foundation is real, and the woodstove finally heats the whole place. They treated it like a church."
"We are a same‑sex couple and we never once had to explain ourselves to a subcontractor on this site. The crew was professional, kind, and deeply proud of the work. The cabin reflects all of that."
From the journal
We write the things we wish someone had handed us on day one — the small details that decide whether a cabin is still fun in February of its 25th year.
A plain‑English read of the 2024 ignition‑zone update, with a checklist you can walk your own lot with this weekend.
Read the note →A short, slightly opinionated essay on mortar joints, log movement, and the cabin we visited last week that proved the point.
Read the note →Notes from a small home that's been lived in through three winters — what worked, what got moved, and what we'd spec differently.
Read the note →