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(male narrator) They're totally off the grid.
(male #1) It's gonna be extremely labor-intensive.
(male narrator) Three men risk it all to carve out their homes
in some of the most unforgiving
wilderness on the planet.
(male #2) There's danger everywhere.
(male narrator) In remote Alaska, brutal forces
can crush men and machines.
(male #3) We have to work with what we have
'cause that's all we've got.
(male narrator) But with sheer determination and guts,
these men lead their teams on a mission.
(male #3) This is tough country, and we're tough men.
(male narrator) This is: Building Alaska.
[coyotes howling]
[deep blues music]
♪
Previously on Building Alaska...
(male #2) I'm having a tough time getting done.
(male narrator) With the inevitable Alaskan winter
soon to rear its fierce head,
our builders and their teams feel the pressure
to finish with each passing hour.
In Chicken, the only road out
will soon close.
(female #1) I do have a deadline of one week,
so hopefully we'll have everything done by then.
We certainly don't want
to be trapped here for the winter.
(male #3) I am not rushing you.
You're takin' an hour!
(male narrator) At Lee's build at Quiet Lake,
the frantic rush to beat Old Man Winter
nearly killed his son Aaron.
Look out, look out, look out!
(male narrator) At his build near Matanuska Glacier,
Chuck had been on target to get his build finished on time,
but with his crew nearly all gone,
all bets are off.
(Chuck) Right now we've got nothing going on,
other than me.
I'm hurtin'.
(male narrator) Today, Chuck takes stock of what he's accomplished so far
for his clients Cleve and Rebecca's
dream retirement house.
(Chuck) Since the last time we've got a lot of stuff done.
The deck is here.
The rail is on.
The heat is working.
Doors have come, and cabinetry's in.
Details, details, details.
(male narrator) But Chuck's smooth sailing
could abruptly run aground.
This is gonna be one of them customized deals.
The logs are sticking out past the side of the jam,
'cause this wall is a little bit bowed.
In order to make the trim fit,
I've gotta go cut part of the trim
off the back.
So, it's not a straight forward slap the trim up there,
let's make time, let's go kinda situation.
(male narrator) But slapping the trim up there and moving on
is exactly what Chuck needs.
Now, even minor setbacks become a big time loss
when the only worker left to finish the build
is Chuck himself.
[country rock]
♪
Okay.
We'll go put it in place, see if they work.
♪
Perfect.
Again, I try only to nail to the jam...
...and not to the log, so the logs can shrink.
♪
Much, much better.
♪
Voila, finished product.
(male narrator) Two hundred twelve miles to the northeast
in the tiny community of Chicken...
(male #5) Well, our plan for today on the house is
to get some sheeting up on the roof.
Sheet this wall over on this gable
and then start working on framing the other gable.
(male narrator) After building and disassembling
the log part of the cabin in his hometown
of Gustavus, Jim and family
began trucking it here nearly three weeks ago.
(Aaron Patrick) We're getting down to the end of our materials.
(male narrator) It's not just material, but time and money,
as Jim and his stepson Aaron are at risk
of not finishing their build.
The odds are not looking good.
(Aaron) Mike Busby was kind enough to give us some nails.
(Jim) Yeah, five pounds of 'em.
We'll make it work.
(Aaron) I shined one.
Shined. Shined a nail.
Missed a four by eight.
How do you do that?
[hammering]
(Aaron) Hey Jordan, can we get another piece, Bud?
[rock music]
♪
(male narrator) By mid-morning they have half the roof sheeted and wrapped,
which is good as snow clouds
are at their back door.
(Jim) We're about half dry, honey.
Nice view.
'Cept I can't see Fairplay.
Honey, I think we've put the house facing the wrong way,
we should've turned it just a little bit.
(male narrator) Three hundred twelve miles to the west,
Quiet Lake is just days from freezing over,
grounding all float planes in and out of here
until next spring.
Despite plummeting temperatures
and bone-chilling rain, Lee and his five men
are on a full-on sprint to finish his cabin
within a few short days.
I'm back at it! Woo-hoo!
We're losing five to six minutes of daylight
every day.
We're going into the winter.
The body is wanting to take a nap.
(male narrator) And so do their tools.
I hate you, generator.
(Lee) It's been getting harder and harder to start.
Kiss my ...
(male narrator) It's crunch time,
and Lee's power plant doesn't want to wake up.
(male #6) This generator powers everything.
It powers the little compressor,
it powers the light...
to the table saw, the chop saw.
Come on, baby.
You better start after this.
[generator roars to a start]
Yes!
We got power!
♪
(male narrator) Rain has plagued this build from the start,
and the wood is just as soaked as the men,
wreaking havoc on the saws.
(Lee) The wood is so wet, it doesn't cut real well.
It just wants to tear, you know, pull apart.
(male narrator) And to make matters worse, a path of destructive water
is headed straight for Lee's cabin.
(Lee) Diverting water, 'cause water will ruin
a site in a hurry 'cause this soil
is so soft.
Okay, we need to put something right along here.
Okay.
Maybe I should've been a farmer.
Oh well.
(male narrator) With the rain water re-routed,
the work moves back inside.
Lee has high hopes to have heat by day's end.
(Lee) Stove's gonna sit here,
the pipe's gonna go right up through there.
This came from a job that's probably
a $2500 stove.
(male narrator) First, Lee builds a wood platform for it.
Come on, work with me!
Here I am trying to put glue down on wet wood.
Come on. Stick!
In the winter time up here,
this wood would be frozen!
It'd be covered with ice.
And so, our number one tool in the winter
is a weed burner.
And we take the weed burner and we'd melt the ice off,
and while it's still hot and steaming, we glue it.
(male narrator) On top of the plywood, he uses cement board,
or Durock.
He scribes the corners to fit around the logs
and secures them.
Metal sheets serve as a decorative heat shield.
(Lee) Oh, yeah, this is gonna take a lot of wood.
We'll be able to build a fire in this tonight, right Ty?
Get the *** out!
Ouch!
It was just like somebody taking a knife
and shoving it in your hand.
I need a first aid kit!
See that nice little bump right there?
[country rock]
♪
(male narrator) Back near the Matanuska Glacier,
Chuck is in the final sprint to finish
the Steadman house.
But he's finding trouble at every turn.
It don't fit.
(male narrator) The kitchen was custom designed and every appliance
pre-measured.
So installation should be easy.
(Chuck) This is bigger than what the cabinet hole is.
But there is room around the cabinet hole.
They gotta be three quarters of an inch bigger.
(male narrator) With the looming deadline and no crew to help...
...each setback is frustrating and costly for Chuck.
When you get to the bottom line,
you gotta make things fit.
Here we are.
Okay, let's cook something.
I think we're finally ready.
There's a lot of things that are really being difficult.
Like, it should not take two hours to put
a microwave in, but it did.
♪
(male narrator) Next up, the dishwasher install.
Another quick and easy project in theory.
Nothing can be easy today.
It's too tall.
Why did they build this so tight?
(male narrator) With time running out, Chuck has no choice
but to call in another contractor,
appropriately nicknamed "Panic" to help.
We've got no space to get underneath there,
and we've got that little metal bracket in there.
As far as I can tell,
these wheels are not adjustable.
So, this is my second appliance of the day
that doesn't fit.
So, it's not been a good morning so far.
Okay, so is the wood rim, the flooring's ran
(Chuck) Yeah.
But I think even if we didn't--
if we chopped that out,
our wheels would still not let us get in.
See the--oh!
Ooh!
(male narrator) After a closer look, they discover the back wheels
are adjustable after all.
And in no time the dishwasher is in place,
and the kitchen is almost done.
Hey, that's more better!
Well, thank you Panic.
It is!
One of the rare things of beauty, it's done!
It's always frustrating when things don't go together
when you put two or three of them together;
all those things that compile together
to make it a frustrating time.
(male narrator) Meanwhile, back at Quiet Lake,
Lee's son Aaron has a few words about his dad.
(Aaron Raymond) People don't understand how much work
goes into these places.
I think it's been a dream for my dad's for a long time.
It's gonna be, you know, such a fun place to go to.
(male narrator) Lee Raymond's designs are indeed unique
from his cabin's octagon shape
to the materials he's using to enclose it.
(Lee) This is gonna be my soffit material,
and it'll give me ribs up there,
so it'll look like I put planks up there.
So, it'll be fast, inexpensive,
and it'll get me finished.
(male narrator) While the guys work under the roof,
Lee heads to the top of it to install
the roof flashing around the chimney pipe.
Once in, he'll be able to finally start
a fire inside.
(Lee) I've opened up the roof,
and now it's raining like cats and dogs
and water's coming into the roof.
So I'm in a hurry.
All I did was just bump the drip edge
on the gable flashing.
Ouch!
Damn!
It was just like somebody taking a knife
and shoving it in your hand.
That hurt.
I cut it real good.
I need a first aid kit and butterflies.
There is blood just running off my hand.
Good thing it was a red roof,
you couldn't tell how bad it was.
See that nice little bump right there?
All right, I'm alive.
While he bandages himself up.
Now I gotta go up and finish it, so...
All right, all this is a hazmat area.
Stay away!
(male narrator) Temperatures are dropping, fast.
We're gonna build a fire.
You wanna come inside? Come on!
♪
We got flame on!
That's kinda nice.
I could sit here.
(male narrator) As tempting as that would be,
there's absolutely no time to kick back.
The trick with these is not to screw 'em in too hard.
I don't want you crushing...
the metal.
We're putting on a corrugated zinc-lume metal.
We actually do use this metal a lot
in wet areas along the ocean.
You know, it's a clean look, maintenance free.
(male narrator) But Aaron quickly realizes that working with it
has its drawbacks too.
This is gonna be difficult
to make 'em right around this window,
'cause technically everything has to be square
for that to work.
It's not very forgiving.
You have to cut it right the first time.
(male narrator) The pressure to finish has Lee on edge.
(Lee) Aaron, I don't want you wasting any of that.
I don't have any extra out here.
We have a limited amount of this.
I brought all this in three years ago
in the winter time, and so I have what I have.
You have a steady enough hand to do that?
(Aaron) I just cut one!
You call that straight?
Yeah, I call it straight.
Okay. Put it up there.
(Aaron) My dad's always said I never had enough patience
to be a finish carpenter.
He must see it in me, 'cause now he's got
me doing all the finish work.
He's got me, you know, when we have limited materials,
he has to rely on me to do it right the first time
without messing it up.
Fits beautiful!
Perfect cut.
We're in crunch mode right now.
We gotta get this thing done.
(Chuck) One guy's not supposed to do all that.
My body's gonna hurt...
really bad.
Good. Here it goes.
♪
(male narrator) Eighty-two miles from Anchorage
near the Chugach Mountain range,
Chuck's crew is long gone, and he's struggling to finish
the 2,600 square foot house alone.
(Chuck) One guy's not supposed to do all that.
My body's gonna hurt... really bad.
Good. Here it goes.
(female #2) He's feeling the pressure of the deadline.
As it's getting toward the end,
toward the details, you can see
he's dragging a little more.
It's been a long haul.
(Chuck) I could tell that it was the end of a long push with me.
'Cause sometimes I can let that stuff just roll off
and just... boom, just go to the next thing,
but it seemed to be mounding up.
An ending date is so hard to meet,
especially in Alaska, because we have
the added shipping, and it's just not all
available right there.
A lot of it comes from the lower 48.
One little thing can hold you up for weeks.
But here we are, welcome to Alaska.
(male narrator) But watching someone go the long haul alone
is not the Alaskan way, and Chuck's client Cleve
is a true Alaskan.
(Chuck) He's taken me on
as the guy he needs to help.
He's constantly cleaning up after me.
He says, "That's a full time job."
And it is.
If it's not for him, I'm doing part of it, you know?
So it's neat to have that.
This is my profession, cleaning up after Chuck.
[laughing]
♪
Yup!
♪
(Chuck) Good.
Set her up right.
Yeah.
(Chuck) Hey, don't run out of steam yet.
Can't begin to put that stove in there by yourself.
That big refrigerator?
Might have been able to do it,
but the walls might not look the same, so...
Refrigerator's in, it's in one piece,
and Cleve's been a big help.
(male narrator) But the Steadmans aren't the only ones helping Chuck.
Not wanting to see their dad fail,
Chuck's 10-year-old son Zac
and 17-year-old daughter Tiffany return
to help in any way they can.
Now, put it in the hole.
Down a little bit.
Up a little bit.
To you about a half inch, Zac.
I've really appreciated Tiffany coming
and helping out as much as she has.
I think some of it is she realizes
how far behind I am and she's helping dad.
And that's neat in and of itself,
but then it seems like she's got the desire
to come and help and to learn,
and she's a pretty neat young lady.
Tiffany--oh man! Your last one!
Yeah!
You'll be good to get to school
then on time?
Yup.
(Chuck) So give me a call again at the end of school and see,
I might have more for you to do.
Okay! Sounds good!
Yeah!
I've been coming over in the morning
and helping my dad.
I don't know, I really like
spending time with my dad.
I don't really mind getting up early that much,
especially if I have something to do.
(Chuck) You know, all this stuff some day is gonna burn up.
We try to build for a long time and everything,
but it's not-- it's not what matters,
it's the people, it's relationships.
And it's neat to be building those with the kids,
with Cleve and Rebecca.
So, it's been really good to have that.
(male narrator) If Chuck thinks he's behind on his build,
in remote Chicken, builder Jim Wagner
has faced a litany of major setbacks,
including a full two weeks' loss
before a cement truck could get down
a rain-soaked road so he could lay
his foundation.
(Jim) You can plan as much as you'd like,
but you never know what's gonna be
thrown at you.
(male narrator) At this point, the best they can do
is get the cabin weathered in
to survive the brutal winter,
which will arrive any hour now.
Well, let's see if I'm as good as I once was.
(male narrator) With the roof sealed and ready for metal,
Aaron goes to work on the windowless gable
at the back of the house.
Let's see.
What is going on here?
I think I got it.
Oh no, I'm gonna need my hammer though.
Beautiful piece of plywood
with a lot of little measurements on it,
and a couple of angles,
and I got it in one shot.
I still got it.
One little triangle on top.
(Jim) Guaranteed to fit, maybe.
Save the scariest for the last.
If you ain't dangerous, you ain't having a blast.
(male narrator) Ah, the confidence of youth.
I'm gonna stand on top of this really nice cooler
and teeter totter.
[suspenseful music]
♪
(Jordan) Yo!
Did you put some snacks in it before you handed it up?
♪
That looks perfect.
(male narrator) Jim's son Jordan has his own project.
(Jordan) These logs right here are gonna be the posts
for the porch.
We're just peeling 'em right now so they look
really nice and pretty when we're done.
(male narrator) But what's a porch without a front door?
(Jordan) Have you made a door like this before?
(Aaron) Um, not exactly.
This is a little different than normal,
but I think it will work.
[blowing]
Once these are sucked up tight,
this will be the outside of the door,
and that way nobody can take it apart
from outside.
(Jordan) Looks really nice.
(Aaron) It's gonna be one heavy door.
I think that's gonna look killer.
[drilling]
♪
It just died.
We can't cut, we can't saw,
we can't shoot nail guns,
we don't have an air compressor.
(Aaron) We're at a complete standstill.
Everybody's waiting on us to get power.
(male narrator) Seventy miles north of Anchorage at Quiet Lake,
Phase one of Lee's retirement plan
is closer to reality.
(Lee) This cabin is for me and my wife.
It's something I've always wanted:
to live in a remote area,
get off the grid.
I'm seeing my visions come together.
I am starting to see a light
at the end of the tunnel.
(male narrator) And today it's all about the finish work,
but his supply pile is pretty much depleted.
What I'm looking for is some metal
for wrapping those windows.
I'm trying to give the windows some accent.
(male narrator) In his junk pile, he thinks he's found
just enough red metal scraps to do the job.
(Lee) Take those, I got these.
I'll see you back over there.
(Aaron) That's some good stuff we found.
(Lee) Yes, it is.
It'll make it pretty.
(Earl) Feels good to be doing finish work
'cause that means we're almost finished.
[blues music]
Looks good.
I just need you to go faster.
(male narrator) Just as fast as Earl puts up the cedar planks,
Steven is outside staining them.
(Lee) Steven is my son-in-law.
And he's not a bad painter.
And he's been up here painting all day.
And the bugs are attracted
by the smell of paint.
I mean, it's like putting honey out for bears.
(Steven) I'm pretty sure there's a fly in my ear.
Yes, and it's still alive,
I know it 'cause I just heard it
flapping the wings.
Oh sheesh.
(male narrator) There's only one thing to do.
(Lee) This is an OlyLog screw.
It's about the size of your ear.
And we just keep screwing
till it goes all the way through
and we'll yank it out real hard.
Okay?
(Lee) Yeah!
We don't have rubbing alcohol,
we don't have hydrogen peroxide,
but we do have ***.
Yup!
Mmm.
Oh yeah, I love it.
(Lee) Be careful now, the brains are coming out.
Come on.
Oh yeah!
Look at how red that poor ear is.
I am.
I'm good.
(Lee) Get outta here!
Sounds like we're having generator problems.
This generator is 30 years old.
It's needing a service.
I think we all need a service and cleaned up.
It just died.
We can cut, we can't saw,
we can't shoot nail guns,
we don't have an air compressor.
(Aaron) We're at a complete standstill.
Everybody's waiting on us to get power.
(male narrator) Back in Chicken,
Jim and family are working
as fast as they can
to ensure the harsh winter elements
will not penetrate the cabin's exterior.
The race is on to get the metal on the roof.
First, they need to finish papering the plywood
on the backside of the cabin.
(Aaron) This is tar paper.
It's 15 pound felt.
We're only simply using it because we ran out
of other materials, and just keep the building dry.
Yup.
(male narrator) It's been 21 straight days spent without a roof
over their heads.
And Tanya is feeling every minute of it.
(Tanya) For me, the most difficult part is always being up here
and the conditions I'm living in.
It's starting to get cold up here.
It's cold at night.
Our kids are amazing.
They come up here, and they adjust, and they play.
But everybody's ready to go home now.
(Jim) Oh, I don't want to go.
Be here for another month, easy.
Yeah.
My wife wants to go home.
I think she's a real trooper for coming up here
and putting up with my dreams.
(male narrator) But they will have no choice when to pack it in.
The road in and out of Chicken will soon close
for the season.
[upbeat classic rock music]
With time dwindling fast, they begin the hardest part
of the exterior seal.
(Aaron) What I'm doing here is, uh,
making a ladder with an angle on it.
I'll hook it on the peak of the roof.
(Jim) Aaron's been working with me since...
he was that high.
And...
he's better than I am now.
He's younger, has a whole lot more
energy than I do.
♪
(Jim) Voila.
(male narrator) With half of the main roof done,
they'll tackle building the front porch roof
that will have a 12 foot overhang
requiring 11 support beams 24 inches apart.
[power tool sounds]
(Jim) Is it on it?
(male narrator) Log posts are set, and beams go up.
♪
(Aaron) Are we gonna be one shy on these?
(Jim) What can I say?
We're one board short.
(male narrator) With an 80 mile drive to the nearest town,
Jim, ever resourceful,
fabricates the needed beam himself.
♪
(Jim) Not gonna walk on the end of that, but...
theoretically, it should be okay.
(male narrator) Working into the night, the team accomplished
more today than they expected.
(Aaron) Well today,
Jim had to think a lot.
(Jim) A lot.
(Aaron) So now we even got
all the rest of the windows in
and deck roof on, and tomorrow
we'll put on the last bit of metal.
And I feel like we're at the--
almost about to cross the finish line.
♪ Chicken, Alaska,
a place for me ♪
♪ They got hens and roosters
for family to use ♪
♪ Our own house
gets abused ♪
[sing-song wailing]
♪
We're not sending everybody out today.
If it stays cold, there could be ice on the lake.
I hope that they're willing to come back.
(male #7) Okay, no guarantees.
No guarantees.
We could definitely get stranded.
(male narrator) Weeks ago at Quiet Lake,
Lee scheduled a float plane to come get them
on the build's final day.
That day is tomorrow,
and it's likely the last chance
to get out for the season.
(Lee) Well, today, which is our last day,
the generator dies.
(male narrator) Lee and his team are in full crisis mode.
We're almost gonna have to, like,
lift it up, like turn it over.
This is our last day.
Everything that could go wrong
is going wrong.
Looks like we got rust in the tank.
(Lee) We basically had to dump all the fuel out,
blow out the fuel lines, clean it up.
That's great, that stuff is.
(Aaron) This is rust in our gas.
That's what's clogging it.
Hopefully we'll get good gas in there,
and that should fix the problem.
(Earl) Please! Yes!
(male narrator) The generator isn't the only problem
causing panic on this build.
Ow.
That's not fun.
I need a new blade.
We might be out of them.
So what do I cut with?
♪
If you wear out, maybe this is the last one.
It's the end of the job.
We're running out of nails, screws.
These are star drive screws.
(Lee) That's the only ones we have.
Blades for cutting the metal roofing.
To get this done, I gotta cut everything
by hand now.
Which has slowed this down big time.
It really makes me angry.
It gets stressful, you kinda can't let it get to you,
because all that stress is gonna slow you down.
Don't tell me.
Where'd I put the last screw.
We're down to the wire
and we're running out of supplies.
It makes it hard to finish this.
Put the last piece of metal on the front of this building.
[drilling]
Call it a day.
Call it a year.
(Lee) I don't think we're gonna finish it by today.
And we're scheduled to fly out tomorrow morning.
And it's kind of upsetting.
I would love to have this thing finished before I go.
(male narrator) Lee makes an executive decision.
What's going on here is I'm gonna stay in
an extra day, okay?
I need to know who has to go out.
I know you have a job interview.
Yeah, you have to go.
What?
You don't get a choice.
You're staying.
I thought this was a democratic society,
not a dictatorship.
I am a dictatorship.
We are gonna finish this place.
I believe one more day is all I need
to get this thing done.
(male narrator) As scheduled, the float plan arrives
the next morning, and Lee offers the pilot
his proposition.
(Lee) Hey Bob, nice seeing ya!
(Bob) Good to see you too.
Yeah, we're not sending everybody out today.
I'd like to see you or whoever
pick us up sometime around noon,
one o'clock tomorrow, is that good?
Uh, weather permitting. We'll see.
(Lee) If it stays cold, there could be ice on the lake.
I hope that they're willing to come back.
No guarantees.
This lake was frozen this time last year.
Okay.
(male narrator) Even a thin layer of ice will prevent
a float plane from landing on Quiet Lake.
I will.
(male narrator) Aaron will make it back for his job interview.
But the rest...
(Lee) We could definitely get stranded.
♪
[soft music]
(male narrator) Back near the base of the Matanuska Glacier,
builder Chuck Gerwig is faring better
than the others.
As he gets closer to the finish line,
his client Rebecca Steadman pays tribute
to Chuck's right-hand man Ryan
who was tragically killed over the summer
in a motorcycle accident.
(Rebecca) It occurred to me when I was thinking
about pictures that had been taken of Ryan
where he was standing on the pillar
between the two garage doors,
and I thought a really great tribute
that we could do for Ryan is--
is to get that picture
and to put it on that pillar.
And he'll always be a part of the house.
♪
(Chuck) That was just a reminder
of Ryan's part in the build.
Ryan would be extremely proud
of the way it's turning out.
He'd have loved to come back around and look at it.
He wouldn't want us to quit after he was gone.
He wouldn't want us to fumble around
for a long time.
There's that time of grieving,
but then we need to get back after it.
And it wasn't-- it wasn't easy.
I can rest assured that he's in a much better place.
I'd love to have him there working again,
but he's not.
[Native American flute music]
♪
(Lee) All right, last piece.
You ready for it?
Okay, let's get it up there, get it in place.
[upbeat chanting music]
(male narrator) There's building, and there's building
in remote Alaska with a world of difference in between.
(Jim) If you make a mistake living in Alaska,
and you're lucky enough to live through it,
don't repeat it, it could cost you your life.
(male narrator) Alaska, America's final frontier.
(Jim) Lots of people, they have this dream
of living out in the brush,
but I could count on one hand
the ones that have made it.
[joyful music]
(male narrator) But for extreme builder Jim Wagner and his family,
getting this cabin off the ground
in the middle of nowhere is a dream come true.
This is pretty exciting.
(Aaron) Feels good, huh?
(male narrator) Their final task is to finish the cabin's roof.
(Aaron) This is the last part of the roof that we have to metal.
And then some ridge cap,
and then it is going to be 100% dried in.
It's gonna be a "Jim Dandy."
(Jim) I thought it was an "Aaron Dandy."
(Tanya) This will definitely go down in the books
for the Wagner family.
Hopefully we just have enough screws.
(Tanya) Definitely gonna remember this forever.
Next time, I want too much of everything,
and I want every board to be too long.
(Jim) Good luck.
(male narrator) When they finish the ridge cap,
the cabin is finally weathered in.
[whistles]
As the days grow increasingly short
and the Alaskan skies signal the inevitable.
The few businesses in Chicken will shutter for the season.
And most people here will leave...
as the Wagners need to do.
(Tanya) We are packing up and going home.
I'm extremely proud of my family.
All of them.
♪
(Aaron) I mean, nothing's ever perfect,
but it's darn nice.
This is the summer that will
never be forgotten in my mind.
♪
(Jim) I'm glad that this cabin has got a roof on it,
the windows in, and the door on.
If you live out remote,
it is just a full time job
just to meet all your daily requirements
for food, housing.
So, any time you accomplish anything
that extends past
those immediate needs,
is a victory.
[upbeat guitar music]
(male narrator) It was the last guaranteed flight out of Quiet Lake
before sub freezing temperatures,
snow and ice are forecast to arrive.
Hopefully you guys don't get stuck.
(male narrator) Lee, Earl, and a few brave volunteers
will give the build a final 24 hours,
not knowing if they can actually get out
of Quiet Lake when they finish.
(Lee) I hope that they're willing to come back.
We could definitely get stranded.
All right, guys, daylight's a-burning.
Let's get back to work.
(Earl) All right.
(Steven) I'm part of the volunteer crew that got to stay here.
And if it was my place...
I wouldn't let anybody go home.
(male narrator) First up, for the final finish work
is to get the sanded wood sealed
as it will take many hours to dry.
(Steven) If we don't do it right now, we'll get mold.
[rock music]
♪
(male narrator) The men work hard to get it done.
Decorative trim is added to the fireplace.
Pillars are placed for the upstairs deck.
The remaining metal siding goes up.
(male #8) You guys see?
(Lee) It was raining, lights were going.
Putting on the last bit of metal,
but it had to be done.
How'd you get a bloody nose there?
I fell.
(Lee) When?
(Lee) Oh!
(male narrator) In the wee hours of the morning...
All right, last piece, you ready for it?
Let's get it up there and get it in place.
♪
This is good.
It's done?
I'm gonna go start dinner.
[acoustic guitar music]
♪
Quiet Lake.
I've always loved this area.
The views of the mountains,
being off the grid.
That's why I came to Alaska in the first place.
And now we've done it.
We've put up a beautiful cabin
where I can easily live in it, stay in it.
(male narrator) The center piece of the cabin
is the all important wood stove.
(Aaron) We got a nice stove in there.
It's gonna keep us nice and cozy warm
on those 20 below nights.
And we got big windows so we can see
the northern lights.
And it's just gonna be
awesome family time for us.
(Lee) So, on the south wall, the wall where we have
the nice burl window sill,
it's gonna be the dining room.
In one of the diagonal areas, we're gonna have a futon,
and then the loft area will be nothing
but a large sleeping area.
And boy, can I sleep a lot of people up there.
(male narrator) With all his interior and exterior walls
button down and pristine,
Lee, a true artist, will handcraft
all the interior furnishings
at his home base near Anchorage.
(Lee) Everything I put into this cabin
will be stuff I've created myself
over the next couple of months.
(male narrator) The furnishings will be pure Alaska in style,
similar to what Lee crafted for his main house.
(Lee) We will be building the table, the chairs
for the dining room area.
We will be building all of the cabinets
using local birch hardwood.
And so, everything I put into this cabin
will be stuff I've harvested,
milled down on my saw
and created myself.
♪
(male narrator) This cabin successfully completes phase one
of Lee's bigger dream to turn his two acres
into a rustic six cabin
hunting and fishing lodge.
(Lee) Wow, it's really happening.
This is gonna be my legacy.
Snow's on its way.
And it looks like we're on our way too.
All right!
Float plane's here!
I gotta go, I guess.
Time to bring out the ceremonial key.
♪
It turned out to really be a really,
really nice place.
(Rebecca) I couldn't be more pleased.
It's everything that I wanted
and so much more.
I'm very happy with it.
(male narrator) As the Alaskan winter approaches,
and the days grow shorter.
Near the majestic Matanuska Glacier,
against all odds, Chuck Gerwig
has completed his client's dream home.
(Chuck) It turned out to really be a really,
really nice place.
It has a lot of fine finishes in there.
They didn't spare a lot of money.
So, it was fun to build with all
the resource that we had.
(Rebecca) This is my dream home.
I wasn't sure it was ever gonna happen.
And this is my dream place
to have a home.
I'm very happy with it.
It's pretty and nice, and warm,
and my wife's happy,
and that's the main thing.
(Rebecca) When I look at this home
one word comes to mind,
and that's "warm."
It's cozy and warm.
[acoustic guitar music]
♪
I'm amazed at how it's all come together.
There's a lot of different wood,
but it all plays together beautifully.
I couldn't be more pleased.
It's everything that I wanted,
and so much more.
Amazing.
Just so pleased.
(Chuck) I'm pleased that they're pleased.
'Cause in the end, it doesn't matter
what I want.
It's what the customer wants.
And they're really happy.
They're happy with everything.
(Rebecca) It's beautiful, I'm definitely blessed.
♪
(Chuck) Beyond a shadow of a doubt, I couldn't have done that
without the crew that I had.
I'm extremely proud of 'em.
Sometimes I take 'em for granted way too much.
This was a big building, and we enjoyed it.
It was great to have the family work together
again in it.
But when everybody started to dwindle away,
Cleve really came around and did a lot helping.
♪
Ooh, it looks good to me.
(Rebecca) Yeah.
I think it turned out real nice.
Can't think of anything I'd change, actually.
♪
That is.
Yeah, it is.
♪
[majestic music]
♪
(Lee) It is so rewarding.
Especially when you see
something go from nothing to something.
And now we have something.
It is a very proud moment for me,
because it's kinda like raising a child.
(male narrator) It takes a unique breed of pioneers
to build in the remote, and often,
inhospitable wilds of Alaska.
(Jim) There's a freedom that comes with living
in a place like this.
(male narrator) Struggling against time, weather,
and the sheer remoteness of their builds.
Jim, Lee, and Chuck all overcame
innumerable obstacles.
From injuries--
See that nice little bump right there?
Look out, look out, look out!
(male narrator) To tragedy...
(Chuck) Ryan went home to be with the Lord.
(male narrator) To finally, ultimate victory.
Surviving the elemental contest of:
Building Alaska.
(Chuck) They say you either love it or you leave it.
But here we are.
Welcome to Alaska.