Build Beyond the Grid

My Story

I build things. It’s what I’ve done for more than 25 years — and the project that changed me most was my own off-grid log cabin, here in Alaska.

I started in construction the way most people do: on the ground, learning every trade by doing it. Over the years that grew into Green Industry Construction Services, a design-build firm that has overseen more than 3 million square feet of complex commercial and industrial projects across 19 states. Big budgets, tight timelines, zero margin for error. That work taught me how to run a project right — planning, logistics, systems, and the discipline to finish what you start.

But none of that prepared me for the education of building my own cabin beyond the grid.

When there’s no power company to call, no water utility, and no road for the delivery truck, every decision lands on you: where to put the building, how to keep it warm at forty below, how to make power, move water, and handle waste — and how to get materials and people somewhere remote in the first place. I lived every one of those problems, solved them one at a time, and came out the other side with a cabin that works and a hard-earned playbook for how to do it again.

Backcountry OS is the company I wish existed when I started: turnkey off-grid cabins in Alaska, from site selection and design through construction and the off-grid systems that make it all work. No steep learning curve, no guesswork — just a clear path from land to legacy, handled by a team that’s been there.

If you’ve got the dream, I’ve got the playbook. Let’s talk about your cabin.

— Chad McCormickFounder, Backcountry OS