Milled in Chico, California
Log Home Kits in Washington
Sierra Log & Timber mills red cedar log home packages in Chico, California, and ships them directly to jobsites across the continental United States, Washington included. A Washington build has two questions to settle before the plans are drawn: the snow load the county or city publishes for the site, and whether the parcel is mapped as high or very high wildfire hazard, where counties, cities and towns apply the state's wildland-urban interface code.
Checked 11 November 2026
How a package reaches a Washington site
Sierra ships complete building material packages directly to jobsites across the continental United States, Washington included, by direct-to-parcel freight delivery from the mill in Chico, California.
A package is not a rigid precut kit. Sierra's Smart Cut™ system pairs panel layout drawings with timbers labeled with exact lengths and notch locations, so the builder gets factory accuracy and the flexibility to adapt on the ground.
Every component is engineered in the Sierra facility before it ships, and the builder receives a complete, labeled shell package.
It is a type of precut… but different. The concept was built around builder speed, limiting butt joints, increased log efficiency and the ability to stage “just in time” trucks.
What Washington building departments publish about snow load
The roof, the spans and the log sizes are designed to the snow load for the site, and that load comes from the rule in force where the house is built, not from the mill. The table lists what each Washington rule on file says, in its publisher's own words, with the page it was read from and the date it was read.
The rules on file are county and city rules. City rules are listed after the county rules, each marked with the town it applies inside. Where a department sets the load site by site, the parcel's figure comes from that department.
| Where | What the rule says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Chelan County | Chelan County Community Development – Building Division does not publish one figure for every site; ask the building department at (509) 667-6225 for your parcel. In its words: “Snow loads are site-specific and can vary drastically per site. The County will provide you with both the ground and roof snow loads.” | Building Division FAQ – Chelan CountyRead 2 November 2026 |
| Kittitas County | Kittitas County Community Development Services – Building does not publish one figure for every site; ask the building department for your parcel. Its minimum roof snow load is 30 psf. In its words: “Case study (min. 30 psf roof)1 ... 1 All snow loads are site specific and shall be determined by the Building Official.” | Kittitas County Code Title 14 Buildings and ConstructionRead 4 November 2026 |
| Okanogan County | Okanogan County Building Department does not publish one figure for every site; ask the building department at (509) 422-7110 for your parcel. In its words: “LIVE ROOF SNOW LOADS FOR OKANOGAN COUNTY FROM 30LB. TO 85 LB. PLEASE CONTACT OUR OFFICE AT (509) 422-7110 FOR MORE INFORMATION.” | Design Criteria (2021 IRC) – Okanogan County Building DepartmentRead 4 November 2026 |
| Spokane County | Spokane County Building & Planning does not publish one figure for every site; ask the building department at (509) 477-3675 for your parcel. Its minimum roof snow load is 30 psf. In its words: “The basic minimum roof snow load for Spokane County is 30 pounds per foot. However, areas within Spokane County have snow loads as high as 150 pounds per foot. The Scout mapping system available on the County website has snow load maps” | FAQs – Building & Planning, Spokane CountyRead 2 November 2026 |
| Stevens County | Stevens County Land Services – Building Division does not publish one figure for every site; ask the building department for your parcel. Its minimum roof snow load is 40 psf. In its words: “SNOW LOAD: BUILDINGS MUST BE DESIGNED USING A MINIMUM ROOF LIVE LOAD OF 40 POUNDS. GREATER LIVE LOADS IN HIGHER SNOW ACCUMULATION AREAS MAY BE USED AS REFERENCED IN “SNOW LOAD ANALYSIS FOR WASHINGTON” AS PUBLISHED BY STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS ASSOC.” | Stevens County Construction Design Data (January 2014)Read 4 November 2026 |
| Inside Leavenworth, Chelan County | City of Leavenworth Development Services publishes a ground snow load of 115 psf. Its minimum roof snow load is 85 psf. In its words: “Design Requirements – Climate and Geographic Design Criteria | Roof Snow Load | Ground Snow Load | Wind Speed | ... | 85 PSF | 115 PSF | 85 MPH |” | Chapter 15.04: Building Codes – City of Leavenworth, WA (eCode360)Read 4 November 2026 |
Washington's wildland-urban interface code
RCW 19.27.560 makes chapter 1 and listed technical provisions of the International Wildland Urban Interface Code part of the state building code, upon the completion of a statewide wildfire hazard map and a base-level wildfire risk map for each county.
Under the same section, counties, cities and towns issuing residential building permits for parcels in areas identified as high hazard and very high hazard, on that map or on a map adopted locally, shall apply the code.
The State Building Code Council's edition is the 2021 Washington Wildland-Urban Interface Code, effective March 15, 2024.
The county or city issuing the permit says whether a parcel is in a mapped high or very high hazard area.
Sources: Revised Code of Washington 19.27.560; Washington State Building Code Council, Wildland Urban Interface Code Amendments
Who issues the permit, and how long it takes
RCW 19.27.050 has the state building code enforced by the counties and cities. A county or city that has no building department must contract with another county, city, or inspection agency it approves for enforcement within its boundaries.
Before the plans are drawn, ask the department that issues the permit what snow load it requires for the site.
This is very open ended due to a lot of factors: terrain, design and complexity and the state you are building in. So on a fast track, you can design and build within 6 months if you are not in California or states like this that have heavy permit processes. California and other heavy permit states take approx. 4-6 months to design, engineer and get a permit (and sometimes longer due to the permit process). Once that is done, the average length of time of the build is 6-12 months depending on the builder, the location and the design complexity. Yes it can take longer than that in heavy snow areas and/or areas with really extreme land developments that have to take place to build. Of course, an owner builder can take forever to build any home. Outside of California is approximately the same for building but much faster for the design to permit process.
Washington county pages
Each link opens that county's page in the Sierra Log & Timber resources directory.
- Adams County
- Asotin County
- Benton County
- Chelan County
- Clallam County
- Clark County
- Columbia County
- Cowlitz County
- Douglas County
- Ferry County
- Franklin County
- Garfield County
- Grant County
- Grays Harbor County
- Island County
- Jefferson County
- King County
- Kitsap County
- Kittitas County
- Klickitat County
- Lewis County
- Lincoln County
- Mason County
- Okanogan County
- Pacific County
- Pend Oreille County
- Pierce County
- San Juan County
- Skagit County
- Skamania County
- Snohomish County
- Spokane County
- Stevens County
- Thurston County
- Wahkiakum County
- Walla Walla County
- Whatcom County
- Whitman County
- Yakima County