A suitable site having been found, search is made for trees fit to make the five principal timbers which constitute the qoġán tsáȼi, or house frame. There is no standard of length, as there is no standard of size for the completed dwelling, but commonly piñon trees 8 to 10 inches in diameter and 10 to 12 feet long are selected. Three of the five timbers must terminate in spreading forks, as shown in figure 230, but this is not necessary for the other two, which are intended for the doorway and are selected for their straightness.
When suitable trees have been found, and sometimes they are a considerable distance from the site selected, they are cut down and trimmed, stripped of bark, and roughly dressed. They are then carried or dragged to the site of the hogán and there laid on the ground with their forked ends together somewhat in the form of a T, extreme care being taken to have the butt of one log point to the south, one to the west, and one to the north. The two straight timbers are then laid down with the small ends close to the forks of the north and south timbers and with their butt ends pointing to the east. They must be spread apart about the width of the doorway which they will form.
When all the timbers have been laid out on the ground, the position of each one of the five butts is marked by a stone or in some other convenient way, but great care must be exercised to have the doorway timbers point exactly to the east. Sometimes measurements are made without placing the timbers on the site, their positions and lengths being determined by the use of a long sapling. The interior area being thus approximated, all the timbers are removed, and, guided only by the eye, a rough circle is laid out, well within the area previously marked. The ground within this circle is then scraped and dug out until a fairly level floor is obtained, leaving a low bench of earth entirely or partly around the interior. This bench is sometimes as much as a foot and a half high on the high side of a slightly sloping site, but ordinarily it is less than a foot. The object of this excavation is twofold—to make a level floor with a corresponding increase in the height of the structure, and to afford a bench on which the many small articles constituting the domestic paraphernalia can be set aside and thus avoid littering the floor.
The north and south timbers are the first to be placed, and each is handled by a number of men, usually four or five, who set the butt ends firmly in the ground on opposite sides at the points previously marked and lower the timbers to a slanting position until the forks lock together. While some of the men hold these timbers in place others set the west timber on the western side of the circle, placing it in such a position and in such a manner that its fork receives the other two and the whole structure is bound together at the top. The forked apex of the frame is 6 to 8 feet above the ground in ordinary hogáns, but on the high plateaus and among the pine forests in the mountain districts hogáns of this type, but intended for ceremonial purposes, are sometimes constructed with an interior height of 10 or 11 feet, and inclose an area 25 to 30 feet in diameter. Following is a list of measurements of four typical hogáns:
Measurements of typical hogáns
| Door frame | Interior | Height under apex | Smoke hole | Space between doorway timbers | |||||
| Height | Width | North and south | East and west | Width at apex | Width at base | Length | At apex | At base | |
| Ft. in. | Ft. in. | Ft. in. | Ft. in. | Ft. in. | Ft. in. | Ft. in. | Ft. in. | Ft. in. | Ft. in. |
| 3 8 | 3 8 | 17 10 | 18 0 | 7 9 | 1 10 | 3 0 | 3 10 | 1 10 | 3 8 |
| 4 0 | 1 8 | 12 8 | 12 0 | 6 6 | Very irregular | 2 0 | 3 0 | ||
| 4 0 | 1 6 | 14 9 | 15 0 | 7 0 | 1 2 | 2 4 | 3 0 | 1 2 | 3 0 |
| 3 6 | 1 9 | 14 5 | 14 0 | 6 9 | 1 10 | 2 10 | 3 0 | 1 10 | 3 5 |
In the large hogáns mentioned a crowd of workers are engaged in the construction and ropes and other mechanical aids are employed to lift the heavy timbers of the frame in position.
At this stage in the construction the house shows only the three principal timbers of the frame, securely locked at the apex by the interlacing forks (as shown in figure 231) and firmly planted in the ground. The two doorway timbers are next placed in position, with their smaller ends resting on the forked apex of the frame, from 1½ to 2 feet apart, and with the butt ends resting on the ground about 3½ feet apart. The whole frame, comprising five timbers, is known as tsáȼí, but each timber has its own specific name, as follows:
South timber, caȼaáȼe naaí.