For those of you who are interested in learning the craft of building with logs I write this article to tell of my experience while attending a 12 week course at the Lasko School of Log Building. The "school" is run by an individual named William M. Lasko who likes to go by Bill. From Bill's website that is set up to advertise his "school," I was under the assumption that what was advertised there was a clear depiction of what was going on at the "school" in actuality. Under the spell of his advertising and from talking to him on the phone, I thought that I would be going to get the best possible education in the craft of log building. From reading over his website and the course contents page I thought that I would be learning a well rounded approach in how to build with logs from the ground up. From setting up a temporary building foundation, to the sill logs, on up to the roof structure, and everything else in between. I was told that the 12 week course covers everything in his listed course contents or syllabus. What I found going on there was something other than what I paid $4,450 for.
His "school" is nothing more than a front for him to get free labor for his building business called Hoosier Heavy Log and Timber Works. All of the projects that the students learn on are contracted through his other business with no regard towards the students getting the most out of their money or time spent there. The "school" is set up and ran to serve Hoosier Heavy Log and Timber Works rather than the paying student. In reality there is no planned course curriculum that is followed and what needs to be done next on what ever house is in the yard when the student happens to be there is what becomes part of the so-called curriculum.
Upon arriving at the "school" I found it strange that there were no fresh logs in the yard waiting to be peeled. There were three uncompleted log shell structures on the property. One was a small unfinished dilapidated cabin with the sill logs bowing from lack of support which was heavily weathered. The second biggest log shell was over 1,000 sq ft. and had about four rounds left on it before getting to the roof work. The third log shell was close to being complete and was well over 3,000 sq ft. Most of my time there was spent working on the biggest shell that had at the least two other 12 week "classes" that worked on it, if not more. A home that big is not suited for a student to learn on unless it is under an apprenticeship program that is much longer in length than 12 weeks and ones labor is compensated for. When it comes to learning this craft on the limited time of 12 weeks and there are 3 or more 12 week classes working on such a big structure; it is equivalent to the story of the blind men trying to describe the elephant.
Bill is the kind of guy who likes to tell stories, of course with a self-preservationist slant. He talked while being there of 4 students who were angry about having to peel logs (with the retort of "why do you think there is a draw knife on the tool list") and he also reproduced it on his website at the bottom of the course contents page on behalf of me since I have been trying to contact people who may be able to stop him from ripping other students off. I am hoping that this article/blog gets people interested to think twice before signing his contract and sending him any money. Bill doesn't tell the whole story though, only the information that he wants you to hear to protect himself. There is more to be considered though, so getting back to the 4 students, I can make an educated guess here and say that those 4 students were most likely (and I could be wrong) the "lucky winners" who got to peel the logs for that huge house that my 12 week class ended up finishing. Again, that house is over 3,000 sq ft. That is a lot of logs to peel. So one "lucky" class got to spend 1-2 weeks, if not more, of their 12 weeks time and tuition spent peeling logs for that house. That is not how you run a school by making it serve your other building business and one's gluttonous self. A school is a place where a student goes to learn something. That something is fitted into a curriculum that is designed to impart that something to the students in the best possible manner. What bill lasko has is not a school. It is a double dipping front where he gets paid to have students come work for him on his Hoosier Heavy Log and Timber Works contracts. It's as simple as that. But I will go on to make this scam as clear as water...
I am not an expert on log building, hence my desire to go a school, by neither am I fool. For a school to work in a proper manner. The students should start on small practice projects making benches, picnic tables and other small projects that contain the basic building notches that will be used in building a small student designed cabin. That student cabin should be somewhere in the 500 sq ft. range to allot for the start and finish of the structure by the same class. (Could be bigger could be smaller the point is that the house/cabin should be no bigger than what can be started and finished during the allotted course time)
Bill told me that the 12 week course would cover everything listed in his course contents page. But in the note that was made on behalf of me it states, "Recently, one student 'discovered' that he would be hands-on learning on partially built log building projects at various stages of completion, and was appaulled by this." That note wasn't there on the site when I registered for the school. It is now because he is trying to cover himself in regards to me confronting him about what he is doing and trying to get the word out so he can't rip-off anyone else of their hard earned money. Consider this, if his course contents page list all that it does and you pay for the longest course he offers, then you would expect that course to cover all that is listed there. Then how is that course syllabus to be covered when you are going to work, as he states, "on partially built log building projects at various stages of completion." The fact of the matter is that you can't. If it is in the course contents and it doesn't need to be done for the Hoosier Heavy Log and Timber Works contracts, then forget it. You are not going to get that hands-on experience in regards to that particular skill or process in building. Also, it isn't good teaching or learning protocol to jump around from one building to another "at different stages of completion." When learning something like the craft of log building, which resides mainly to the left hemisphere of the brain, which is the linear, sequential and calculating part of our brains; it is best to be learnt in a linear manner. Any good teacher should know this here in the 21st century. Bill Lasko obviously doesn't.
When I arrived at the school and there were no logs to be peeled and I found out that we were going to be starting on a the half built roughly 1000 sq ft. house. I thought, OK this is how this guy runs his school, I will see where this goes. I even asked bill at one point to reassure myself that the full course contents would be covered and he said that it would. As time went on I realized that it wasn't going to be the case. At about the third week of the 12 week "course" we started on the bigger house. The first thing he had us doing on that house was to cut the key ways for the window openings. He gave us a demonstration on one key way and then sent us off to cut the rest them on the house. Cutting key ways is one of the most dangerous aspects of building with logs because of the danger of chainsaw kickback. I thought to myself that it would have been better for us all to cut one key way at a time while bill and the rest of the students stood around to watch so he could point out our strong points and weak points so we could all learn from one another. That is when I started to get frustrated with him and his unprofessional teaching habits began to rear its ugly head. I got frustrated because I was there doing something that I never done before that I know was dangerous. I had some questions for him and I didn't see him anywhere around. I paid for his guidance and for him to teach me this craft, not send me off to do something I never done before and leave me in the dark. Next we got into marking a flooring groove that that went into the second floor of the over 3000 sq ft. house. He gave us next to nothing on instruction besides a few words that assumed we knew what we were doing and sent us off to make the marks. We were in the dark both me and the other student doing this. Then it came time to cut the floor grove out. That day he sent us out there with his paid apprentice who never cut a floor grove before. He gave us no instruction, no guidance and just sent us out there to do it. I hardly ever used a chainsaw before going to this school and into the third week he has up on ladders maneuvering chainsaws in between floor joist. I just got fed up because it felt more like I was working for the guy rather than going to school at that point. I went over into the practice area that day and worked on my chainsaw skills. As soon as we started on that bigger house Bill's attitude changed. He stopped teaching at that point and I felt like a laborer more than a student. His concern was more on getting that house finished than teaching his paying students. The rest of the third week into the forth we spent standing around a bandsaw mill cutting post for this house. I don't recall there being any mention of a bandsaw on the course contents and that close to a week of school would be devoted to basically standing around it. Again this house was huge and when working with logs it takes time. I felt at this point that this house was doing nothing but eating up the time that I paid for to go to school to learn, instead I was working for him and in the dark about a lot of what we were doing.
After the flooring grove darkness set in on me I decided that I need to confront him about what was going on and his "teaching" habits. I waited for the time in the morning where everyone would gather, before going off to what we started to call work rather than school, to confront him so others could put their two cents in as well. All he could do was turn it around on me and tell me to ask questions. He danced around the bush when it came to his lack of teaching and guidance and made it all out to be my fault. Even his own girlfriend who was there agreed with me and made a comment that since he started on that house again all that he cared about was getting it done instead of taking the time to teach us properly. Later she changed her attitude towards me and bill's behavior because I am sure that bill gave her a tongue lashing later that night when they were home together. So the only option he gave me was to ask questions and he made it clear that he wasn't going to change his ways. So when he left me in the dark with things I asked questions but the thing is when you ask the guy a question he usually doesn't give you a straight answer. Most of the time he gave you a smart ass answer that made fun of the fact that you didn't know in the first place. So it gets to the point where you don't even want to ask the guy a question because of the way he belittles you with his answers.
During the days when we were cutting the post for the house I just got fed up again with him because he wasn't teaching. So I decided to just not go out to work that day. I stayed in the shop and worked on some other things that was more worth my time. I mean, I paid the guy to go to school there and he wasn't teaching so I decided that I find something of worth to put my time into. You would think that this would be ok, but no! He came into the shop, where he had me alone and started to bully me. He would ask me questions and then not give me the time answer as he would give what ever answer he wanted to project onto me. All I was able to clearly get out when he asked what was going on was that I felt like I was getting fucked. That I paid him to come to his school to learn and that he had me working for him instead. I told him that with what he had us doing, how he wasn't teaching and that there was no actual course being followed that I felt that he should be paying us for our time. I didn't demand that he pay me I just stated how I felt about the situation and what he had going on there. He then, after throwing all of his projections at me and not giving me time to explain much of what I was trying to get across to him, gave me an ultimatum. That the class rules are that student participation is a must and that I had till 5 0'clock that day to make a decision if I wanted to stay or leave; and if I didn't give him an answer by 5 o'clock that he would make a decision for me. I told him that if I am leaving that I would want part of my tuition back. He then told me that I signed a contract and that I would not be getting my tuition back. So that is perfect for him, once he gets your money it doesn't matter how he performs as a teacher, that there is or isn't a course syllabus that is followed, that you are satisfied or not with what is going on at the "school," and to top it all off, class participation is a must!!! That if you don't want to participate in somethings and wait for the guy to get back into a teaching mood, that it isn't an option. It is either "participate in the class" i.e. work for the guy, not as an unpaid slave - but as a paying slave or leave with no recourse or refund when you are dissatisfied with his service!?! Because in the end he knows that most students coming to his school don't have the money or resources to pay out for a lawyer to get their money back. That it would cost more than it is worth to get the money back. To some people 4,450 isn't alot of money but to alot of others it is loss that isn't easy to take. Even if you took him to a court, the contract you sign as the registration form makes it impossible to get your money back. At the time of signing it I didn't think or even imagine that bill lasko was the type of person that he turned out to really be. He promotes himself through his website as this caring man who is into helping you fulfill your plans to build a debt-free log home, but in the end he takes your money, gives you horrible service, and then deflects the wrong he is doing back onto you through his own elaborate mental defense mechanisms.
To continue on with telling of my experience at the lasko school of log building... I decided to stay at that point after being bullied by him in the hopes that he would get back into a teaching mood and learn what I could while being out there. I made it to the middle of the seventh week and decided that I wasn't going to stay any longer in the degrading situation that I found myself in. The school started on February 23rd and was scheduled to go on till May 15 th of 2009. I left on April 9th after spending half of the seventh week standing around while the over 3,000 sq ft. log home was being dismantled to be taken to the permanent foundation it was headed for. It only takes so many people to take a log off the wall and I was the odd man out. Even if I had something to do I wouldn't of been happy about it since I was feeling raped by the whole situation at that point. I wasn't going to give him any more of my time or labor, so I packed up my things and left the next day after spending a third day standing around, cutting wedges for the logs on the trailer and being bill's fetching bitch when he needed nails moved. I left there with my enthusiasm zapped, feeling rapped and degraded.
There was another student there from Alaska who came and paid for an 8 week course. His whole third week was spent running a tag line. He ended up leaving after being their for six weeks. The whole time he only got to scribe, cut and fit one log. The student from Alaska wasn't happy with what was going on there as well. There were two other students who were from North Dakota. They both weren't happy with the situation either but would not say anything because the uncle didn't want to step on bill's toes in hopes of keeping him as a business contact for referrals and his nephew was under his wing, they were both the type of people who didn't like to make waves. It was possible that they left early before "school" was out as well after talking to the student from Alaska.
Before moving on and bringing this account to a close. I also like to address some other misinterpretations that bill has posted on behalf of myself. Bill states (found at the bottom of the course contents page under the highlighted heading - on behalf of AJ), "Recently, a student threw a fit and demanded to be paid to learn. When that didn't work, then he left without saying he was leaving and later demanded that he be paid or reimbursed for his tuition or he would destroy what I have been doing for nearly 20 years now." Firstly I didn't demand to be paid to learn. On the contrary I paid bill to teach and teach was something he rarely did there. I asked to be paid for the labor he was getting out of me. I will state again that what he had going on there was not what was advertised on his website. Secondly, I left without saying a word to him because I frankly didn't want to talk to the bastard. I said all that I had to say to him at that point and I even told him that when he tried to talk to me a third time a few days before I left. There was nothing to say and I said all that I had to say to him by that point. What more can be said to an individual who refuses to listen and constantly interjects when you are trying to talk to him. Thirdly, I simply wrote the man an email trying to get him to come clean with me and return a portion of my tuition that I paid him because I was unhappy with his service or I would make sure that people would know about what he has going on there so he couldn't rip-off anyone else. I did not say I would destroy what he worked on for 20 years; he is doing that all by himself. He can play the blame game all that he wants and deflect the responsibility for how he runs his so called school on to students with the integrity to stand up to him, but in the end it's his own fault for not having his shit together and for advertising himself and his school as something it is not. A tree is known by its fruit, and if the fruit is bad, word eventually gets around and people stop eating from the tree, its really that simple. If bill's school falls over its because of his own doing; his lack to look at himself and what he is doing there seriously, honestly... and make the appropriate changes. I don't believe he ever will after spending 6 1/2 weeks with him, trying to communicate with him and seeing how he handles himself. I went to his "school" with the understanding that the student project would be sold at some point and/or was sold to a buyer before we even started on it. That was not a problem at all for me. It is understandable that what the students build is sold, that the logs do not go to waste and put to a useful purpose. My problem with it all was with what I have illustrated here so far.
Upon returning home I contacted the International Log Builders Association and told them of my lasko experience and that I was also looking for recommendations on another school or apprenticeship program. That my desire to learn this craft was not going to be thwarted by what happened to me, I received a few replies. One was from the president of the association who happens to be the man who taught Bill years ago. His only comment in regards to him was, "The individual you spoke about is not a member of our association." It isn't saying much in a literal way but in a way it is saying a lot. I also received two other replies, one stating, "I have heard complaints about this man for years. And I have yet to meet a student who said he had a great experience. I have never visited his 'school,' and so I have NO firsthand knowledge--all I know is what other people (his past students) have told me. So, I cannot offer a judgement myself." Another one said, "I’m sorry to say yours is not the first complaint I’ve heard about Bill."
So I am not the first and I am sure I am not the last, but if this article can reach someone looking to find a school to learn the craft of building with logs and save them from going through what I have had to endure at Bill Lasko's "school" then it would have been worth my time in writting it. When I was looking into going to the Lasko School of Log Building last year and would have stumbled onto an article like this I would have taken my money elsewhere. I would have looked a little harder and have been willing to drive a bit further to find the school that would have suited my needs. Bill claims to want to be your friend and help save you time and money in the process of learning this craft. In the end I found him to be nothing but a waste of my time and money.
But make your own decisions, do your own research and ask for student refrences. If you're looking for a log building school and are considering the Lasko School of Log Building be sure to ask for references, follow up on them and look a lot deeper before signing that contract/application.
Buyer Beware ~ Caveat Emptor
