Every day small steps move us forward: another stone is put in place here, a new pile of gravel appears there, stacks of lumber come and go with the sound of ten noisy hammers, dust swirls, saws hum, a worker's radio blares, and the chimney creeps slowly skyward...

At the end of each day bent nails and mounds of sawdust and dozens of empty cans of soft drinks hint at the dozens of workers that have laboured there.

Like the artist's paint dabs, a log structure evolves. Everything is changeable – what looks good one day doesn't always work the next. Boards are nailed down today, only to be torn up tomorrow as spaces are reconsidered, and then reconfigured. A single hasty miscalculation can mean days of reworking.

Everything depends on the things that went before, and on the errors that may or may not lie hidden behind formed walls. Beware!

New houses harbor secrets, especially for those homeowners who mistakenly assume that they don't have to be there on a daily basis throughout the construction process.