A brief history of T&B Log Homes

John Tanner, a civil engineer who had operated with great success in the construction of some of South Africa’s most challenging railways, retired to the pleasant South Cape village of Knysna with its famous lagoon, fynbos-covered hillsides, and extensive pine commercial forests in 1984.

In 1985 he took over and grew the T&B Log Homes construction company. This was one of the first companies in the Southern Hemisphere to recognise that timber house construction was on the increase worldwide (a substantial percentage of timber homes in the USA and Canada are built with solid logs) and that the demand would shift upmarket to quality, long-lasting products with the durability, thermal characteristics and aesthetic appeal equal, if not better, to that of the best brick and mortar homes.

Tanner completely transformed the T&B system by inventing and patenting (in 51 countries) a new method of compacting the Heavy Solid Logs through strong downward pressure. This was a world first and, in the opinion of T&B’s management, has never yet been bettered or even equalled elsewhere.