Client Testimonials & Reviews

In 2012, my husband and I built our beautiful log home. At the time, we knew little about log construction, but we were assured that, with proper care, a log home would stand strong for generations. Eager to maintain it ourselves, we took on the task of staining, caulking, and chinking after watching numerous DIY videos and attending several workshops. Despite our efforts, the harsh climate of the wide-open South Dakota prairie soon began to take its toll.

Over time, moisture began to penetrate the logs, leading to areas of rot. Unbeknownst to us, the caulking had failed to adhere properly, allowing water to seep in. Eventually,  we noticed interior damage caused by water infiltration through deteriorating logs, prompting us to seek a solution.

That’s when we reached out to Northern Log Home Restoration — and they answered our call with professionalism, kindness, and patience. From the beginning, their team was reassuring and supportive. They began by sandblasting the entire home to assess the extent of the damage. At no point did they offer criticism or judgment regarding our previous work. Instead, they respectfully explained where our materials had failed to withstand the elements. Although the rot was extensive, the dedicated crew methodically replaced damaged logs with great skill and care.

hroughout the project, the team worked tirelessly — even through extreme spring conditions, with temperatures ranging from 95°F to 45°F and winds exceeding 75 mph. Despite these challenges, they remained positive and committed to the task.

The home was then recaulked and stained to beautifully showcase the natural wood grain. The craftsmanship was so precise that it is impossible to distinguish where new logs were installed.

We are incredibly grateful to Northern Log Home Restoration. Without their expertise, our original investment could have been lost beyond repair. Thank you for your dedication, hard work, and exceptional service!

Great company to work with, with wonderful employees!! Thank you very much for all your hard work! We would recommend Northern Log Home Restoration to anyone who wants quality work performed!

I can’t thank Ron and his crew from Northern Log Home Restoration enough for the excellent work returning our hand-scribed log cabin to its original beauty. The previous contractor used a poor-quality stain and did not prepare the logs correctly – so the stain failed. Ron explained how they would remedy that issue. He made several recommendations, and we discussed, at length, what the best course of action would be. Ron has such expertise and knowledge of how log homes can be restored and maintained. The work was just excellent – the attention to detail was remarkable. Every log was carefully caulked, and the new stain was beautiful. And he suggested some changes to the stain for the cedar vs. the pine logs. The contrast proved to be a wonderful enhancement to the cabin. The crew cleaned up the work site and there were no issues with the timing of getting the work done. If you need work on a log home done – do yourself a favor and hire Ron and his crew. They really go above and beyond what most contractors do. True professionals!

Thank You! We are overwhelmed! The cabin looks beautiful! I think we were shocked! We had gotten so used to it the way it was. It looks new and fresh! The caulking is excellent! It is so even and smooth! The doors blend in so well. They looked so ad before. We are both very happy that we chose your company. You did what you said you would do and you did it well! Many long hours of hard work went into it. Thank you Ron and EVERYONE! We knew from the minute you arrived that our cabin was in good hands! Everyone knew their job and went right to work. You were all so nice and friendly. We are very happy. The windows are so clear and clean and thank you for doing the skylights!! We would definitely recommend your company to others looking for a log restoration!

Utilizing their extraordinary talents (teamwork, meticulous attention to detail, knowledge of stains, paints and wood), Ron and his crew transformed our log home into a better-than-new showpiece. Ron himself is brilliant: creative, thoughtful, deliberate and a solid leader of his team. His understanding of colors, his vision for the end product and his ideas for efficiently accomplishing what we agreed to for this project enabled him to deliver a product that exceeded our dreams. The crew is delightful and very caring. We highly recommend Northern Log Home Restoration, Inc.

Ron and his crew at Northern Log Home Restoration did a great job restoring the finish of our log cabin near Cook, Minnesota. We purchased a hand-scribed log cabin only to learn later that the former owners had not cared for the exterior of the cabin as was needed. The old latex stain they used had failed and was causing log rot and an unsightly black appearance. Northern Log Home came in and did a complete exterior restoration, restoring our cabin to a like-new appearance with an oil-based stain. Two years after the restoration, they came out and re-stained as was recommended. The logs are now really beautiful and shedding water well. Ron really knows his stuff and I’d highly recommend him and his crew to anyone who needs log restoration or maintenance. They did a great job for us and we will continue to use them for all our future log maintenance needs.

Ron first worked on my log cabin two years ago. He corrected a poor initial stain job and restored my cabin to what is nothing less than amazing. Timely, courteous, fair, honest and above all knows what he is doing. Great crew. Could not recommend Northern Log Home Restoration more highly.

Northern Log Home Restoration was the only business we contacted regarding having our log home stained that even mentioned having the home media blasted before staining due to the condition of the finish on our home. We also had a few known rotted logs which was something they would be able to take care of. We decided that this was the route we needed to take to get our recently purchased home back to it’s original beauty. Ron and his crew were wonderful to work with. The guys were always very friendly (even when one of our dogs ate the lunch of one of them) and very hard workers, no matter how hot and humid it got.

Our home looks awesome and we look forward to having the maintenance of our home in the future taken care of by them.

I was very pleased with their efficiency and attention to detail. I would highly recommend them to anyone who needs a professional restoration job performed!

After running into very big problems with our log home that got treated with the wrong products for nearly twenty years, Ron and his crew restored our house to it’s original beauty; actually after Ron finished the job it looked better than new!!! It was a really big endeavor, but his crew was fantastic, friendly, reliable, punctual and very, very hardworking. Any communication with Ron was fast, easy and we always got our questions answered. Northern Log Home Restoration, Inc. went above and beyond to restore our home and we would highly recommend them to anyone. We feel lucky to have come upon such a standup company and are looking forward to a lifelong relationship with them in order to keep our home pristine. Thank you Ron and company for everything and we are looking forward to our next project with you this year!

The Northern Log Home Restoration, Inc., crew was friendly, conscientious and kept us well informed if there were any issues that needed to be addressed as the work progressed. Ron explained the process and the timeline it would take for the restoration. We were very impressed with the restoration; the results were dramatic! Northern treated our home as if it was their own and transformed our log home to a beautiful finish. We look forward to a long and rewarding relationship.

I highly recommend Northern Log Cabin Restoration. I am a perfectionist and had never hired a contractor that lived up to my expectations prior to working with Ron and his team. Their attention to detail and dedication to their craft is top notch. When we purchased our log cabin we knew the exterior was in need of help. Ron and Jayson met me on-site, walked through all the recommended repairs in great detail, and provided me with a very fair quote. We ended up staining the entire home, replacing the rotten deck rail system with a beautiful custom built log rail system, rehabing and replacing the decking, refurbishing the interior of the gazebo, and replacing the gutter system. Beyond their dedication to perfection, Ron’s entire team is great to work with. They keep you up-to-date on progress, contact you immediately when unexpected conditions are discovered, and work with you and your budget to come up with solutions. Their job site is always clean and their guys are friendly and engaging. I cannot say enough about how pleased I am with Northern Log Home Restoration. Thank you.

To Ron and the team – thank you for your professionalism, dedication an incredible hard work to get this place to look as gorgeous as it does now. You guys rock!!

So we made a great decision to have Northern Log Home Restoration, Inc. (Ron Hakkila) take care of restoring our Log Home/Cabin (built in 2005) to like NEW exterior condition!

Started sandblasting the exterior this last winter over the ice at our water access only property. Then last week, the crew came out and sanded every inch and then chinked, caulked and treated it. We wanted to maintain the natural wood grain look and we are VERY happy with the results.

We highly recommend them, give Ron a call!

Thanks Ron and team!

We had scheduled our cabin to be sandblasted for over 6 months. A week before our cabin was to be sandblasted the company cancelled our job.

We received Ron’s name from an acquaintance of ours. He told us to try calling him but it was unlikely he would be able to do our job on such a short notice. We called and Ron was very busy but said he would try and put us in his schedule. He started on our project 2 weeks after we called him.

He gave us a firm quote, answered all of our questions and made some recommendations (which we appreciated). We told Ron the color we were trying to achieve and he took it upon himself to find a color that would work. Of course, he sent us a picture for us to approve.

He prepped, sandblasted and stained our cabin in less than 3 weeks. He did everything he said he would do. He was very neat and left the job clean and tidy.

The cabin looks 100% better and we are so very happy we used Northern Log Home Restoration! Everything happens for a reason.