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The Blakes own CRS Construction in Ontario Canada. They have been dealers for Southland Log Homes since 1992.
In a letter dated May 24, 2006 the Blakes wrote:
"In 1985 the first Southland Log Home was shipped to Parry Sound, Ontario, Canada. I was hired to wire this new log home, a Lee II. At that time, I had worked on numerous log homes of various makes all around the Georgian Bay area where we live, they included Pana Bode, Four Seasons, Confederation, True North as well as hand-crafted log and timber frame homes. I had a lot of experience with all the above since the late 1960’s.
This particular log home in Parry Sound was slow due to our northern conditions, therefore allowing me to help in the actual building process, which I found intriguing and exciting at seeing the beauty of the whole package come together.
The Southland Log Home impressed me right away, “Quality” kiln-dried, timber treated and especially the grain of the yellow pine. This log home went up very well, all cuts were accurate. The finished look is what set the hook in me. We had always longed for a log home and dreamed of living in one someday, this really was the one that I could see myself and my family enjoying.
I placed a call to Southland Log Homes and talked to Colin Smoke in October 1985.
Although we continued our search for our Log Home, we kept going back to the Lee II. We looked at 20 or 30 different manufacturers, styles, and types of Log Homes in Canada and the U.S. We spent a lot of time going around to Log Home open houses, and stopping at different ones under construction, buying a lot of magazines and trying to decide which one was the right one.
My wife was hesitant about making the trip across the border and going so far south to see what Southland Log Homes, Irmo had for us to see, that was in 1992 when we did finally head south. We were a day early and it gave us a chance to look at the sales office, talk to the mill workers and were driven around to see the ones that were finished and already had happy families living in them. We were totally satisfied on all aspects of the SLH and proceeded to purchase our own custom High Hampton with no regrets.
Our Home was delivered on June 30, 1992. We have gone from temperatures of 95F to –47F,
100 mph winds, and this log home just sits strong just like the day it was finished in Oct. 1992. We had a lot of interest as the home was being built; this resulted in a 5,000 sq. ft. addition for a Toronto family who cottaged on an island and built by our oldest son Vince; also one whole island on Georgian Bay has three SLH cottages on it, and numerous others in the surrounding areas.
The people at SLH were always helpful in getting sales, we are so thankful for Don Lybrand and Larry Langley and also Jill Longshore and many others who have been exceptional. The SLH dealership has given our oldest son a great living. What is so nice about these finished homes is the owners are extremely happy with their purchase, you can see the happiness and pride of living and owning their SLH, they tend to remind us of what we went through a number of years back, and to this day people latterly stop and take 5. Some people who come through our home call it a large cabin, we chuckle because if they lived here they sure would refer to it as HOME.
Sincerely,
Trudy and Rick Blake"
Phone 1-888-PINE-LOG
Fax (705) 756-4502