Buying or Building Your Cottage Part 2

This Part two-

The first part of this blog focused on buying and existing cottage, the pro's and con's of doing that in today's extremely tight real estate market on the Bruce Peninsula.

This half of the blog will focus on buying a piece of vacant land and building yourself a brand new cottage.

BUILDING A NEW COTTAGE

If you have looked around at all the older cottages for sale you have probably come to the conclusion that you don't really want to spend money on someone else's problem, the old cottages just come with to much work and unknowns for you liking and any cottage that is newer and in better shape is priced so high that you wonder if its worth it.

At the moment there is a fine line between the price of buying a newer cottage on the Bruce and just building yourself a brand new cottage on the Bruce.

Here are the Pro's and Con's of Building a Brand New Custom Cottage;

Pro's

• You get exactly what you want, not somebody else's idea of what a new cottage should look like.
• You control the budget on how much you want to spend on the project.
• You don't have to finish the entire thing if you don't want to before you start enjoying it.
• With everything new you will have a warranty encase something goes wrong.
• New cottages are more energy efficient, this will save you money in the long run.
• You will have a cottage that is built for 4 season fun not like an old cottage that has to be shut down when the colder weather arrives.
• New home means that your water will be safe to drink, you won't have to buy bottled water like in old cottages.
• New cottages don't have any rot or leakage or rodents or bugs like old cottages do.
• You will have a brand new septic system and a warranty that guarantee's that it works.
• Building permits in the Bruce Peninsula are extremely cheap compared to everywhere else.
• You can have as many bathrooms as you want, most older cottages only have one bathroom for everyone to share.
• You get to pick your lot, so you know exactly what you are getting.
• You get to position your house on the lot so you get the view you want as well.
• You will have a new driveway so that you know that it is built right.

Con's

• It takes longer to build a new home then buying an older cottage and renovating it. 
• You will be waiting a long time to use your new property unlike buying an existing cottage.
• New cottages are set farther back from the water then older cottages.
• You might find that certain properties are heavily restricted on building, limiting the size, shape and height that you can build your new cottage.
• You will have to find someone to create a proper set of drawings for you.
• You don't live up the Bruce so you will have to be ok with communicating over the phone and email with your contractor instead of being on site to see what is going on.
• Construction material is at an all time high, meaning that building cottages will cost you more then you think.
• With material rising monthly you run the risk of ending up over budget.
• Most peoples ideas surpass their budgets.
• Making all those decisions about a custom home can be very stressful, almost two stressful for a lot of people.
• You might not be able to build what you want too, you must take the time to check on what's allowed before you buy the land.

Building a new custom cottage is a big commitment, as I have informed you above there are pro's and con's to doing it. One thing that you need to understand with building a new cottage right now is that if you had to sell the place for whatever reason you would probably get all your money back even the cost of the land. The real estate market is that hot and the inventory that low especially for newer waterfront cottages.

If you are thinking about building a new cottage on the bruce peninsula email me at greatlakescustomhomes@gmail.com and lets see if we can make your dreams of a new cottage a reality.

Rob Abbott

Great Lakes Custom Homes Inc.

Hire A Contractor That Will Give You A Proper Budget On Your New Cottage Build

If your looking to build a new cottage on the Bruce Peninsula and your only worry is to find a custom builder that you can afford then you are setting yourself up for trouble.

Construction costs are all pretty much the same until you get to the type of finishing's. That means that if you find a builder that is giving you a lower price then everyone else then there's probably a reason for it and none of them are good for you if you hire them;

• They budget you a lower price because they don't really understand how much it costs to build a custom home.
• They don't expect to stick to the budget they are giving you. That's how they plan to make their money.
• Since they aren't good at budgeting they are already in financial trouble from other custom builds they've completed in the past.
• There's a good chance that they will never finish your custom home, because they won't be able to afford or it or you won't.

If you hire a builder that is in financial trouble then your running the risk that they don't pay the subcontractors and they lean the house. 

So when you are looking for a builder to construct your new cottage your first question shouldn't be about the price it actually should be one of the last questions you ask.

If you budget is so tight for your cottage that you are worried about being able to finish it then you shouldn't be building a cottage or the cottage that you have in mind. The worst case scenario is that you run out or money building it and it never gets finished.

If a builder is giving you a price that is to good to be true, then IT'S TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE. Walk away, either wait till you can afford someone with a proper budget or downgrade the cottage until you can afford it.

When people email or call me I try not to talk about price with them, I talk about everything else first, price should be the last thing we talk about.

If you want to talk about building a custom cottage on the Bruce Peninsula and you want someone that is good  at pricing your home then email me at greatlakescustomhomes@gmail.com

Rob Abbott

Great Lakes Custom Homes