Updated Log Home Video - Zook Cabins - Cozy Cabins

[@victoriarose3478]

Wow, what a beautiful house you have ! I love that you decided to install a closet next to your front door for your coats and such. Your support beams, decks, and everything you've done yourself is amazing ! Thank you for sharing your experience with me, and I am looking forward to seeing your fully furnished home 💖

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

Thank you. I should post a more complete video now that it’s been 2 years and we’re moved in and settled. Thx for watching.

[@jeffreygeorge219]

God bless you bro, I moved my mom in with me also, best 5 years I had watching over her..Roles got reversed..I became the parent.. Turn off the lights mom, Go to sleep..lol... I miss that.. Enjoy the time..

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

Yes. I moved my mom home from a nursing/rehab facility in 2005 after major head injury. I thought she only had a few months left. That turned into 16 years with her. I wouldn't change or trade a single minute of it. I wish she lived a bit longer to enjoy this new home.. but God had other plans and tomorrow (October 6) will be one year since she passed away. I miss her every day.

[@libbyjensen1858]

I LOVE this video! It was so nice to see a modular home come to life, so to speak! I absolutely LOVE all the changes you made to this model! You have created an awesome house! I hope you are all so happy living there!!

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

Thanks for watching. :)

[@reginaheath6131]

Your house is lovely. Great job and thanks for the info. Great video

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

Thank you so much for watching :)

[@tennesseeernest3518]

Thanks for the honest review of Zook Cabins. Have been going back and forth for retirement home and settled on Zook. Absolutely stunning in my opinion. Honestly, if the only issues you had are what you presented, I'd say that's pretty good. Have to say I am a little shocked you got a little grief from them. I know most folks don't like to mention costs, it is personal of course, but if you don't mind mentioning general numbers on cost to upgrade floor and cabinets or anything else may be of interest to most folks, that would be nice. Again, great video.

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

Overall, our experience with Zooks was excellent. During the months of construction, my mom became very ill and we were preparing for end-of-life with her. I think the stress of trying to make my mom comfortable for the few months we had left with her.. caused a little over-reaction on my part to what I now look back to be very minor issues with the home. And Zooks did make things right. So I would never tell anyone that my experience was not good... even tho it may come across that way in this video. As for cost... I prefer not to discuss it as it's personal. But I will say.. that the cost of the home with standard features and no upgrades is now roughly $100k more than we paid for our home including all the upgrades. The cost of everything has gone WAY up since we built our home. But I found that Zooks was willing to negotiate and they did work with us on pricing to help us get everything we wanted within our budget. So my suggestion would be to discuss it with your sales person (ours was Matt and he was great).

[@magnumss]

Absolutely beautiful home !! I have been looking at this model from Zook for a few months now contemplating on different styles from other manufacturers as well vs having one built on site. Those tall ceilings are awesome !! ... I'm sorry you had that problem with the staff at zooks.

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

Sorry I missed this comment and I'm now only responding a year later. lol. The staff at Zooks did take care of the issues we had. Looking back on everything.. they were minor issues and my overall experience with Zooks was probably as good as it could have been. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them.

[@Koolala75]

Outstanding tour! Wow! Curious what base price (no upgrades/basement, etceras and add ons) ?

[@Doorkicker505]

This is the exact house I want. I'm going to have to do some research & find out all the costs of making it happen. Thanks for the tour.

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

Thx for watching. Prices are way up since we built ours. Good luck.

[@jasonmckay4435]

Just be blessed to have a beautiful roof over your head 🫡

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

Always

[@jeffreygeorge219]

LOVE THE OPEN. Its perfect..

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

Thank you. I'm due for an updated interior video. We've done a few things to the inside. We finished the vacant room upstairs behind the loft. And we just installed a pellet stove.

[@karenmattingly8527]

It's a beautiful home. Would love to see it furnished. Also like to know approximate cost of home once finished.

[@edcast2569]

Very nice how much did it run you?

[@eleanorrkuntzi6422]

This was so informative; you obviously know what you are doing and that's wonderful when it comes to construction specifics as to what to watch for & negotiate with the builder. Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful home! Congratulations.

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

Thx for watching. I'd love to say "I know what I'm doing", but this was my first time building and it was a major learning process. Thankfully, my wife's uncle is a builder and he helped us a lot. Believe it or not.. I relied a lot on KZbin videos for some things.. like building the decks etc. Anyway.. thanks again for watching and I'd love if you subscribed to my channel.

[@danalewis9240]

I don’t suppose you would share the price. With and without the stuff you had to do. This is amazing.

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

You’d be better off contacting Zook Canins for pricing. Costs have increased quite a bit since we built ours.

[@ellenmahaffey4439]

Very beautiful. I love the light color on the walls.

[@PN-sk3ve]

Nice log cabin, the basement is very nice. 🙂👍

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

Thank you. Yes, its a large, wide open basement space. The possibilities for using that space are endless.

[@tammyblock1333]

Thank you. Because of your videos, I'm seriously planning on using this company. You did an amazing job. Sorry to hear about your loss to.

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

Thank you. Zooks was pretty easy to work with. If you decide to contact them, please use me as a reference (Joe Scopa). I "think" they may have a referral incentive lol.

[@tammyblock1333]

Are you still happy with your purchase? Have you experienced any problems since you moved in?

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

@@tammyblock1333 Sorry for the delay in responding. I didn't see your comment. We have been moved into our home for 2 years now. We've been very happy here. No issues.

[@minalbhadaliya4830]

Nice work indeed ! Pls show us the loft again upon being done , so that we also get idea .

[@loraandreahinds4330]

Thank you for your honesty & transparency..... That's well needed information. I was thinking of using them? Ballpark figure how much did they charge you to purchase that house?

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

Our overall experience with Zook Cabins was positive and looking back on the complaints I had during this video.. they were all relatively small and Zook Cabins took care of everything. So they do stand behind their work. I’d 100% recommend them and we're very happy with our home. As for pricing, you’d really need to contact Zook Cabins. There are a lot of factors that go into pricing - location being a big one. Also, pricing has increased substantially since we built our home. I suspect it would cost 25-35% more today than what we actually spent in 2021.

[@bigbadjohnpesek9894]

That is one beutiful home. Im looking at one now already built.

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

Are you looking at a Zooks home? We love ours.

[@bigbadjohnpesek9894]

@@randomstuffwithjoe I don't know who built it yet. I'm just looking. But this one has a huge stone fireplace. Right now my wife and I are waiting on a settlement. If it comes in soon we will definitely be considering the log home. Oh I almost forgot its sitting on five acres.

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

@@bigbadjohnpesek9894 Best of luck with it. Log home living is like a perm vacation. :)

[@stiffchocolate7546]

I made it through 25 minutes of your rambling I like it how much was the final cost

[@evalinawarne1337]

I went to live with my mom her last year of life. We didn't know. I THANK GOD HE BLESSED US. I AM BLESSED BECAUSE YOU ARE HAVING MOM LIVE WITH YOU. YOU'LL LOVE IT. YOU HAVE A BEAUTIFUL ❤️🌟❤️🀄✝️🛐❤️🐦 HOME. THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOUR HEART WITH US. CHOW FROM SE MICHIGAN ✝️

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

Thx. Unfortunately, my mom passed away 2 weeks ago, only 3 weeks after moving in to the new home. But I was blessed to be holding her hand till her last breath. ❤️

[@jeffreygeorge219]

I moved my mom in with me also, best 5 years I had watching over her..Roles got reversed..I became the parent.. Turn off the lights mom, Go to sleep..lol... I miss that.. Enjoy the time..

[@eddiejclayton1]

Nice house!

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

Thank you.

[@chrisvan9430]

Beautiful, I just found this model on the web and your video. One question, HVAC, does it come with and you decided to do it yourself? If the builder does not offer HVAC that is a big, expensive surprise.

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

HVAC does NOT come with the home. You can get it with basic electric baseboard heat.. but thats not ideal for most situations. But you can design the house with a duct chase (we did) to get the heat up to the second floor. We got a wide range of prices for our HVAC and it cost somewhere in the $16k range. But there was a $4000 state rebate for high efficiency heat pumps.. so it ended up costing around $12k in the end.

[@chrisvan9430]

@@randomstuffwithjoe thanks, I'm not ready to build now but love the layout and especially the ceiling in the great room

[@carolannesparkman6938]

Absolutely Gorgeous! 😊👍

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

Thank you. Its been a tough week over there tho. We designed and built this house especially with my elderly mom in mind.. planning to keep her home thru the end of life. Unfortunately, she passed last week, only a few weeks after moving into our new home. :(

[@carolannesparkman6938]

@@randomstuffwithjoe Awww, I’m so sorry to hear that. We did the same thing. We moved here to give my mother a better place to live out her days. Thankfully, she did get to spend a little time here before she passed. She was 97.

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

@@carolannesparkman6938 My mom was 88. She was still doing pretty well when we started building, but last December, she got very sick and we took her home on hospice. We were able to graduate her out of Hospice in April.. but in September, she got very sick again and fought a good fight, but I'm thankful I was with her till her last breath.

[@carolannesparkman6938]

@@randomstuffwithjoe I’m sorry to hear of her passing, but happy that you were with her. God Bless you and your family. ❤️😊

[@RMPANDA964]

I got to say great video. I watched all 25 minutes of it! I was looking at Cozy Cabins for a while for a summer home build just outside of Pittsburgh for some land we bought 2 years ago. I will have to see if Zooks would do my area. I always wanted to see what a 3 +1 bedroom plan looked like (their website only shows a walkthrough of a 2+1) and you done a nice walkthrough. And I was always trying to figure out how an HVAC setup would work as we are in Florida. And I like how you utilized a half bedroom for that big loft landing. It was also nice to see what additional work you have to do. How did the flooring end up working out after the HVAC system? And since you mentioned potentially going net 0, are you considering battery backup? I assume you are with solar. Would that system go in your basement?

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

Hi. Thx for watching. Our overall experience with Zooks has been good. When we initially contacted them, they were very patient as we were still looking for land. They arranged for us to view a home they built near us in Massachusetts, and the owners raved about their experience. That prompted us to take a road trip to PA and visit their model homes. The HVAC was the most difficult item to get done. We knew we wanted to go with a heat pump.. and we got several outrageously high quotes ($35-40k) before finding a more reasonable installer ($16k). Also, the plumbers who were giving us quotes to do the final plumbing work kept trying to talk us out of a heat pump and into a propane system. We did make a lot of changes to the original floor plan and the final result is a 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath. The floors were the most frustrating part of the process as we had some issues with them. But Zooks has honored their warranty and taken care of it. If you're serious about building, I'd suggest you visit their model homes and meet with Matt at Zooks. If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch with me.

[@jeffwarehime5808]

Great Video, I was wondering what the square footage is

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

The total square footage including the finished bedroom and half bath on the upper level behind the loft is around 2350sf. Thx for watching. 😀

[@prendergastpete5397]

Love your videos Joe, looking into buying one myself, just curious, how brutal was the tax assessment? Also How customizable are these homes, do they offer any extras such as extra rooms, etc?

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

The accessor was just out a few weeks ago so I haven’t seen the final yet. The houses are pretty customizable. We made quite a few changes to the standard design.

[@melissaalbers2774]

Awesome❤

[@cindyriley2906]

Beautiful Home! I have a question though. I don't know ANYTHING about insulation so that being said, is there a reason why you didn't use the foam insulation in the basement ceiling as well? Is what you used better?

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

So in the basement, we did use the spray foam insulation around the outer band/rim (above the foundation walls).. and then used batt insulation between the joists. The reason is mostly for access to pipes, electrical wiring, etc. For example, we can easily remove the batt insulation if we ever need to make a repair to a leaking plumbing pipe.. and then just put it back when we're done. I hope this explanation helps? Thx for watching. :)

[@cindyriley2906]

@@randomstuffwithjoe Yes, thank you. Makes sense.

[@southrnfirefly]

How much did this cabin cost? My husband and I are looking into this company but wanting to know about the price and how easy they are to work with

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

Hi. Unfortunately, prices have had a major increase since we signed our contract with Zooks. If we were to build the same home now.. it would probably cost us $100k more then it did. Supply and demand has really increased the cost of lumber and other building supplies. I will say that they were willing to negotiate and we made a lot of upgrades (metal roof, larger porch, upgraded flooring, upgraded cabinets, etc) and we made several changes to the floor plan. We had a budget and they were willing to work within us to get us the home we wanted within our budget. If you go to Zooks website and put in your zip code.. it'll give you the base price without having to give them any other personal info. Pricing depends on where its getting delivered. We had a pretty good experience with them. They were very patient with us as we searched for land. They never made us feel pressured to give them a deposit - unlike 2 other companies we were considering who were always trying to get a deposit before we were ready to take the leap. Overall, I'd rate them a 4.5 out of 5 stars. I'm only deducting a half star because we had a few issues with the house after delivery.. but they have stood behind their work and have corrected the issues.

[@marthabenner6528]

I was wondering if they could do the handicap accessible changes intheir designs. It is just my dad and I, and he's getting pretty old.

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

Yes, they were very accommodating when it came to making this home as safe and functional as possible for my mom. At the time we started designing it.. my mom was still walking and we were planning for future care, but by the time we finished, she had taken a major decline in her health and unfortunately, she passed away only 3 weeks after we moved her in. But I'm thankful she got to see it.. and now the house is set up perfectly for my wife and I as we age.

[@marthabenner6528]

@@randomstuffwithjoe my condolences.

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

@@marthabenner6528 thank you

[@jeffstough6043]

Awesome place. Curious on the cost of all of this.

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

You can price out a home on Zooks website by simply putting in your zip code. I don't really like discussing costs on KZbin. But keep in mind... prices are way up since Covid began. We were lucky that we locked in our pricing before the major price increases.

[@JustMeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee]

​@@randomstuffwithjoe they no longer have prices on the website. They make you fill out a form so they can contact you, but then they never do. At least that's my experience. I wanted a price for the same model you have, but the smaller one.

[@Erin-Thor]

Great job! Beautiful work too! New sub, so excuse my ignorance... Any issues with the walk out basement during heavy rains? And not to nag, but your grill should be at least 6’ to 8’ away from any wood, building or greenery. I found that out when my neighbors called the fire department and police out on me as I had a 6’ and ordinances said 8’.

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

No issues at all with the walk out. We have extremely good drainage here.

[@Erin-Thor]

@@randomstuffwithjoe - Did you install French drains under a gravel bottom to give the water a place to go? I ask because the basement sliding door looks to be a couple of inches above ground level. How did you handle water drainage?

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

@@Erin-Thor The deck above the door helps with keeping the rain out of the basement, but the soil on our lot is extremely sandy. Its practically a beach.. lol. The gravel provides for easy drainage without a need for a French drain. But we did install an underground water filtration/storage for the roof gutters. They drain underground into a huge 7 chamber storage system that allows it to recharge the soil.

[@myrnaguillermo2713]

Can I ask how much square feet your cabin is in total, and1st vs 2nd floor?

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

It’s about 2300sf total.

[@tonycaldwell8343]

If you don't mind me asking what was the total expense for this house

[@russstpierre8362]

Is Zook and Cozy cabins two different companies, you mention both of them just wondering?

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

Zook Cabins is the distributor for Cozy Cabins in my area. So I dealt mostly with the Zook Cabins team, but the home was actually built by Cozy Cabins. Hope that helps clarify things.

[@alpallypal]

Hey! Thanks for your videos! I was wondering how long the in-warehouse fabrication took?

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

Once they began the built.. it was only about 3-4 weeks. I think they started first week in March.. and it was done before the month ended. The cool part of the production was that they sent us a link and uploaded photos every evening so we could see the progress on a daily basis. And at the end.. they uploaded a video walk-thru. It was a pretty neat process...

[@alpallypal]

Thanks for the quick response! Wow that’s really fast, awesome to hear that was a cool experience. My wife and I are strongly considering one too :)

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

@@alpallypal If you ever have any questions.. feel free to get in touch. I can give you the run down on everything. There's a lot of site prep work involved. Its not as "turn key" as it seems. But overall it was still a pretty great experience and we love our home.

[@alpallypal]

@@randomstuffwithjoe do you have a website or something with a way for me to contact you? I tried giving you my e mail but I think KZbin deleted my comment haha

[@alpallypal]

​@@randomstuffwithjoe hey joe! was delivery cost included in the price or was that an additional you had to consider?

[@kevinmilam2304]

You should give you're sons room to you're mom & install a bathroom for her she's elderly

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

Unfortunately, my mom passed 3 weeks after we moved into this home. 😢

[@colinbeatty9599]

Can you state the cost of this beautiful bome?

[@krbassin2465]

How much did it cost u

[@boyhi2965]

Please tell me a rough estimate of the cost of this home.

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

Sorry, I don't typically discuss costs. There are too many factors that dictate cost. Especially location. And prices have gone waaaay up since we built this house. So any costs I incurred are probably up 30-50% now.

[@JazzyGems111]

How many square feet and how much did it cost?

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

It’s about 2300sf including the finished bedroom and 1/2 bath behind the loft.

[@dowwee3857]

What style or floor plan that you went with?

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

Thx for watching. We started with the Mountaineer Deluxe model and modified it to get some of the features that we wanted. The size is 28x56. We made quite few changes to the standard floor plan and they guys at Zooks, particularly Matt, were great at helping us get exactly what we wanted. Hope that helps. Happy New Year.

[@davidgalvin5302]

@@randomstuffwithjoe Very nice how much did it run you?

[@sarahpetcavage7202]

How many sf? How much per sf?

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

It’s about 2200sf including the upper level that we finished ourselves after it was delivered.

[@jamesoliver565]

Is there a blow in insulation option from the factory?

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

The ceiling is a combination for spray foam insulation and batt. The walls are batt. I don't think there's an option for spray foam on the walls. But our blower door test and HERS rating resulted in a super efficient home. We ended up getting a $3000 rebate from MA Save because our home was so efficient.

[@jamesoliver565]

@@randomstuffwithjoe I have been looking at this model for a while. Thanks for the update

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

@@jamesoliver565 They build to whatever codes are for the area the house is being built. We're in MA and have pretty stringent building codes.. and the house passed everything without any issue.

[@taborloynd5335]

Can they pour the foundation upon request?

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

No. They only build and deliver the house. The site work, foundation, etc. as well as septic, connecting plumbing and electric, etc is the responsibility of the homeowner. You can hire a general contractor or if you’re handy you can do some of that work yourself and hire out the aspects you can’t do.

[@jameskolbe8]

How much does it cost to build one of these

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

That question is such a difficult one to answer. There are sooooo many factors that go into cost of construction. The biggest is probably your location. We're in MA where the cost to build is generally high. Also, because this is a modular home and has to travel from PA to MA, delivery costs factor into the total cost. If you lived in PA or a neighboring state, the total cost could literally be $30-40k less. Also, we did a lot of the site work ourselves and probably saved $50k by doing the excavation work ourselves.. as well as building the decks.. and we finished the upstairs bedroom and half bath ourselves. And we did a lot of upgrades and customization from the base model offered by Zook Cabins. A lot of sweat equity in this build. If you go to Zook Cabin's website.. and find a model you like.. pick the size you think you'd like.. and just enter your zip code.. it'll give you a price for the home with the base options. Don't forget, you'll have to factor in the cost of site work on top of the price from Zooks. Hope this helps.