OUR STORY

How We Started

What started in the West Virginia mountains over 30 years ago out of necessity has now come full circle. Like many in the Appalachian Region, Chip Caudill made his living operating large equipment in the mining industry. He then joined his father, Ned, building coal tipples to load mined coal into train cars or trucks. However, coal mining has a history of boom or bust cycles. During a downturn in mining in the late 1980s, Ned and Chip were back home in Mingo County, West Virginia, when they were asked to put their construction skills to work constructing a new building for their church. They took on the project. Shortly after completion, a contemporary Christian singer visiting the church remarked on the craftsmanship of the extensive woodwork in the building and asked to speak to the people who built it. It turns out that the singer had plans to build a log home in another area of West Virginia. The Caudill Gang made a deal to construct the singer's house, and they officially created the custom log home company that is now Overlook Homes.

With a high level of craftsmanship, they quickly became one of the premier log home builders in the industry. Over the next 25 years, The Caudill Gang has built over 350 custom log cabins, including ones valued at over $100,000,000. To make operations easier for selling across multiple states, Chip found it necessary to be more centrally located and moved to Lexington, Kentucky. A 3rd generation of The Caudill Gang joined in the building at a young age. While still in high school in the 1990s, Chip’s son Micah started helping when his schedule allowed. Sadly, Ned passed away in 2003. About that time, Micah got married to his high school sweetheart, Jessica, and needed a job to stay close to home and raise his family. That came by way of Norfolk Southern Railroad Company, where Micah settled just across the river in Eastern Kentucky.

Chip continued to build log homes, but eventually, the hills of his origin, best known as the Hatfields and McCoys area, called to him. With children, grandchildren, and family in the area, it was time to go home. The only way to do that without traveling for months on end to build cabins was to develop a way to use his skills and craftsmanship honed over decades to build smaller custom log cabins that would be deliverable upon their completion. The Little Log Cabin Company was born in 2016. And with that, Micah and Chip were back together doing what they loved, using their hands to create cabins of exceptional quality. It took some time to design log cabins that used high-quality material and were moveable yet also provided an excellent, livable floor plan for the owner.

The Little Log Cabin Company was starting to build cabins as buyers came along, but the company was looking for a larger facility where more houses could be made simultaneously. While visiting a long-since vacated warehouse in Robinson Creek, Kentucky, it came to their attention that just around the corner was probably the perfect building for their purposes. As luck would have it, the facility belonged to the Potter family, which has been involved in many industries, from coal mining to horses and everything in between, for more than 50 years. The “shop” located on the family farm would allow Chip and Micah to quadruple their building capacity.

Not only were the Potters moving one of their businesses out of the building, but they have also been involved in mountain/lake property development for 20 years, mainly in Eastern Tennessee. They were actively looking for homes to put on some lake properties. Mitch Potter said, “We don’t need million-dollar homes. Let’s find homes that allow any person with a job to be able to afford to have a home on a lake.”

After a brief introduction, Mitch gave Chip and Micah a tour of the property, and within 30 minutes, a handshake deal was made. The Little Log Cabin Company had a new home, and with that handshake, Overlook Homes was on its way to becoming a reality. A great partnership was begun, with the result being that Chip, Micah, and their team can do what they do best, build cabins of exceptional quality while remaining at home in the mountains of Appalachia amongst their family and friends.

Overlook Homes has quickly grown as we ramp up marketing and open a new sales center on Cherokee Lake in Bean Station, Tennessee. We are making these artisan built homes available affordably to a large number of people throughout the southeast. Let us help you find your Overlook Home!