Balancing Act

For any builder who has passed over a beautiful piece of ground because of the terrain, Rob Cole has a solution. He's the president of Logangate Homes, which sells the Pedestal, a post-and-beam, panelized home kit that delicately balances a lot of home on very little foundation. The main structure cantilevers 10 feet from all four sides of a small foundation, making even steep slopes or flood plains more buildable.

Often used by Frank Lloyd Wright, cantilevering employs a large beam that stretches out from a structure, supporting the mass above it with no columns or supports beneath. Logangate uses an engineered web truss system that crisscrosses 32- and 27-inch-deep trusses. Logangate provides everything needed to dry in the home, from the cantilevers up, and Cole says a home can be assembled in three weeks, not including foundation work. Panelized walls arrive already built, complete with windows, R-6 rigid foam board, oriented strand board and siding, unless the builder opts to side the home on site.

Logangate, based in Youngstown, Ohio, has built in North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Colorado, Minnesota and the Bahamas.

While each floor plan can be customized, Logangate does not build truly custom homes. Sizes range from 1,200 to 2,800 feet, and a smaller plan can be made larger by increasing the foundation size. Cole puts the cost at $28 to $32 a square foot.