In 1993, Peter travelled from Switzerland to Alaska hoping to see Mount McKinley. Fog hid the mountain, but the return trip gave him something unexpected.
Passing through Williams Lake, British Columbia, he saw a roadside log yard where builders were shaping massive timbers by hand.
“I saw those guys working with wood and thought, ‘This is wood.’ The rest is history.”
Peter did everything he could to return on a student visa and begin working in the Cariboo. What started as a traveller’s curiosity became a Canadian career spanning more than three decades.
Peter Arnold did not set out to become a television personality. He set out to work with extraordinary timber, meet remarkable people and build structures that would matter to them.
Trained in Switzerland as a timber framer, Peter Arnold combined European precision joinery with large-scale Canadian log building in Williams Lake, BC.
Founded in 2019, Peter Arnold Log Homes Ltd. gives clients a personal, hands-on role in bringing their custom timber dream to life alongside the builders.
With 25 years at Pioneer Log Homes and over 50 episodes on HGTV’s Timber Kings, Peter brought world-class log crafting to global audiences.
Rooted in Williams Lake, Peter’s team carries the hard work, pride, and traditional timber framing culture forward to the next generation.
Peter completed his apprenticeship as a carpenter and timber framer in Switzerland in 1987. That training established a lasting respect for proportion, joinery, discipline and the responsibility a craftsperson carries when building for another family.
British Columbia added a new scale: enormous logs, demanding sites, long journeys and clients from around the world.
Peter spent 25 years with Pioneer Log Homes, helping construct one-of-a-kind buildings in Canada and around the world. His work later became familiar to television audiences through more than 50 episodes of HGTV’s Timber Kings.
Peter did not step in front of the cameras to become a celebrity. He wanted people to understand the remarkable work being done by Williams Lake craftspeople beside the highway. The worldwide response surprised him. The job itself remained the same: work hard, solve difficult problems and build something the client will treasure.
Peter founded Peter Arnold Log Homes Ltd. in 2019 to create a more direct and personal building experience. Clients can meet the people shaping their logs, visit the yard as their structure takes form and work with a team emotionally invested in the result.
“It is special when the builder is attached to the client’s dream and wants to help make it come true.”
Williams Lake is more than the location of the yard. It is the community that gave Peter the opportunity to build a life around his craft. The team carries the practical skill, humour, resilience and pride of the Cariboo into every project.
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Whether the site is a remote Canadian lake, an alpine property in Europe, a dry southwestern landscape or a tropical island, the same principle applies: build it carefully in Williams Lake, plan every step of the journey and make sure the craft arrives intact. Contact us to start building your future home!