Great Lakes Custom Home Builder Has A New Website

If you are interested in building a custom home or cottage or renovating an existing one and you are on the Bruce Peninsula then you should check out our new website.

Great Lakes Custom Homes has a new website, it is still being tweaked and added to over the next couple of months, but it does explain the area that we service, what we do and has photos of past work that we have completed.

We build and renovate on the Bruce Peninsula with an eye to high quality and open transparency while we are building and renovating.

Check out the new website at https://greatlakescustomhomes.ca

Or email us at greatlakescustomhomes@gmail.com

Rob Abbott
Great Lakes Custom Homes Inc.

Build A Custom Cottage It's Worth It

Looking to build a cottage on the Bruce Peninsula, then you should set your standards higher then just having a cottage built, you should think of your cottage as a new custom home and not a cottage.

What is the difference between just a cottage and a custom home? A cottage is somewhere to go to enjoy yourself during the warmer months of the year, some place to eat, drink and sleep. The focus is entirely on the outside, the lake and other summer/warm weather activities.

A custom home is a place that you can live in all year round, its a place that is more comfortable inside then whatever the weather is doing outside. It can accommodate many people and can be easily used by anybody that comes up to stay.

What you should think about when you want to build a new cottage is to have a custom home that is your cottage or a custom cottage.

A custom cottage is something that takes time and planning, but its a place that is designed for all the fun that comes with being at the cottage in the summer, all parties and the great memories. But a custom cottage is properly insulated and climate controlled so that sleeping at the cottage no matter where you are in the building is also an enjoyable experience.

A custom cottage has the modern conveniences that allow the dishes to be cleaned quicker, that a load of laundry can be done if required and that no matter if its cold or rainy out everybody can be warm and entertained inside.

A custom cottage is built in a way to help keep the energy bills down and to allow you to come up anytime of the year and enjoy the place.

One bonus for building a custom cottage that can be used all year around is that it allows you the option of renting the cottage out to people in parts of the year that you would never be using it, like in the winter to cross country skiers or snowmobilers.

Its good to think about saving money on energy and the availability to have rental income, a custom cottage will cost a little more then a regular cottage, one of the big differences between building a custom cottage and just a regular one is the real sale of a custom cottage is a lot higher.

Custom cottages retain their value and sell for a lot more then a normal run of the mill cottage, there's more and more people looking to buy already built cottages and a lot of people wan their cottage to be as much like their home in the city as possible.

If you are thinking of building a cottage email me and we can talk about you building a custom cottage, something that is a better investment and also something that your whole family will really enjoy!

greatlakescustomhomes@gmail.com

Rob Abbott
Great Lakes Custom Homes Inc.

Just Bought That Piece Of Waterfront Property, Now What Do You Do?

You have just found that perfect piece of heaven in the Bruce Peninsula, a wonderful waterfront lot that you can see yourself enjoying with your family for years to come. It's a vacant piece of land without a cottage on it, now what do you do?

Well you need a cottage don't you. First things first, you will need a set of plans.

There are many different places to get a set of plans;

1. You can go to an architect or an architectural technologist or a draftsmen to have your plans created. The costs vary depending on the level of service that you require. These plans will have a BCIN number on them that the municipal building department requires for the plans to be valid. 
2. You can buy your plans from a place like Beaver Homes and Cottages which are sold through most Home Hardwares. The plans are not free but are pre-drawn and so the cost is relatively inexpensive. They are not a true custom home but you are able to change them a little to get what you want.
3. You can buy your plans from the internet. Some websites are good for this and other websites are not as a lot of the homes you will find on the internet are drawn for the US only and will not work in Canada.

Once you have found your plans you need to find a builder. This will be probably the hardest thing  you will have to do. 

There are not a lot of good quality custom home builders on the Bruce Peninsula and the ones that do work there are extremely busy. You will have to make your mind up on the builder that you want early in the fall as most builders are booking up the entire spring by late fall. 

The only way for you to get proper pricing for your cottage build is to have your full set of drawings to send to the builders. That is the only way they will be able to price it for you.

If you find a builder that you trust then you shouldn't worry about the cost so much as most custom home builders build the same way which is time and material with a management fee. This means that most of the builders will end up being the same price. It is more important that you find a builder that you can work with then one that is really cheap.

If you are planning to build in the Bruce Peninsula in the spring find your builder this fall or it could be too late.

Rob Abbott

Great Lakes Custom Homes Inc.