Real Log Reps for Generations – CM Allaire and Sons

This month, to mark our 53rd Anniversary, we are featuring Real Log Homes Independent Representatives (IRs) who have been with us long enough to hand their companies down through the generations. Today, we are featuring CM Allaire and Sons which was founded by Charles “Charlie” Allaire in 1963. The company began as a conventional homebuilder, and with six sons Charlie didn’t have to look far for construction workers. After seeing a REAL LOG HOMES (then Vermont Log Buildings) display at a country fair and meeting Oscar Gooch of O.R. Gooch and Son, Charlie was impressed by the product and quickly decided to become a Real Log IR as well.

While buyers seemed skeptical of log homes at first, they quickly became a very desired home indeed. In 1971, CM Allaire’s first year working with log homes, they built six projects. Deliveries then tripled in each of the next two years and the business truly took off. From 1976 to 1980, CM Allaire built over 200 log homes.

Current owners Dan and Dave Allaire have been with the company since the start. In fact, Dave vividly remembers working on the company’s first model home in 1971 when he was only 10 years old. His job was to salvage all the nails that had fallen on the ground for reuse. “Nothing wasted,” Dave recalls. It’s a philosophy we also follow here at the Real Log Homes manufacturing plant, where our cut ends and sawdust are provided free to the community for use as fuel or woodwork projects.

Asked how the industry has changed over the years, Dave recalls that in the beginning a large percentage of the homes they sold were constructed by the owner. Today, while that is still an option, less than 10% of the homes are constructed by the owner. Also, the earliest homes were all standard models with perhaps a few options differing from home to home. “Today, most every home contains some degree of customization.”

While many people dread a trip to the dentist, Dave cites the home he built for his dentist as being one of the most memorable projects he’s worked on. This custom log home would itself be memorable, with its very bright and airy interior design. The fact that his dentist was “probably our most enthusiastic and appreciative customer” only made this project stand out even more.

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