By Charles Bevier

Pete Pyles describes himself as a card-carrying workaholic, who spent years in general construction doing commercial and industrial projects, mist recently some tilt-up pre-cast concrete commercial development. But it only took one visit to a log model with his wife Jackie to change the course of their lives andcareers. Although the couple pursue it as a part-time labor of love, they're earning package sales that would be the envy of many full-time log builders.

New Challenges? "These homes are getting larger. And it seems buyers increasingly want all kinds of bells and whistles. There are some different challenges in accomplishing what people want and what you can actually do with this system. So I have an architect friend, Alfred C. Davis, I've worked with for about 12 years and we face these challenges together."

Useful software tools? "3-D Home Architect is the strongest piece of software for the dollar value that exists today. I can have two floorplans done in about 45 minutes. You can't even imagine how effective it is unless you're using it. It took time to learn it but it's paid dividends ever since."

Advice offered? "While it's satisfying work, expect an awful lot of hard work if you plan to be successful. If you don't have a strong work ethic and you go into this business, you'll likely go right back out of it just as quickly. It definitely helps to work with a company that stands behind their product. That's a key. Appalachian does good work.