We have a hand hewn log home made by
Hearthstone of Tennessee. It is made from 6" x 12" white pine logs, and built over a full basement.
This is what their website says about costs -- but these prices are turnkey. They bring everything with them, including the rocks.
One way of ballparking is the average cost per square foot--although I'd like to see the cost per cubic foot used instead since the interior volume of the home dictates more of the cost than heated floor area square footage. For average sized 2000 square foot homes, the total construction costs are currently running $175 to $250 per square foot of heated area, including our package. Smaller homes tend to be higher per square foot and larger homes tend to be smaller per square foot.
As for maintenance, our previous home was cedar. It was probably actually a little more expensive to maintain because the cedar seemed to bleach out much more quickly than the logs.
Both have had problems with carpenter bees. But, in most cases, the carpenter bees have attacked the trim. This year I had to replace a lot of our fascia boards on the eves.
This year we painted the house exterior -- yes, painted. Paint, by itself, will deter carpenter bees, but our paint was treated with a carpenter bee deterrent suggested by our pest control company. We'll see if it works. We also do have a regularly scheduled maintenance contract with a pest control company that has termite sample stations around the perimeter of the house.
Our log home is very comfortable. The large logs keep it from changing temperature very fast. The inside is a very open floor plan, with mostly all natural hand hewn logs or rough cut pine, and with hardwood floors.
