Hiring Your Contractor For Your Spring Cottage Build

Well the weather has turned and the mornings are a lot colder then they were just a couple of weeks ago. The leaves have started changing on the Bruce Peninsula, this is the real sign that fall has arrived. 

This is the time that most of the real work gets done on the peninsula. Everything gets finished up in a rush before the heavy snows and wind of winter arrive.

This is also the time when anyone that wants to build a cottage in the spring needs to lock down their contractor. Even if you are thinking about adding a major addition or renovation in the spring then now is the time to contact them and start the ball rolling.

If you have spend anytime looking around for a contractor on the Bruce Peninsula you will have realized that there are not a lot of us and the ones that are around are booking 6 months in advance.

If you are having plans for your new cottage drawn now then you need to start talking to a contractor, this will allow you to get estimates for the house and help with the permits and the layout of the entire property.

Building new cottages on the water is not a simple build, there are many things that you have to consider and the layout of where everything goes on the lot is important. 

You need to start now or you risk having to wait to start your cottage build to a later date. 

If you are thinking about building a new cottage in the spring send me an email and lets see if I can help.

greatlakescustomhomes@gmail.com

Rob Abbott

Great Lakes Custom Homes Inc.

Putting An Addition On Your Cottage

Your looking at buying a cottage on the Bruce Peninsula but all the cottages that are on the water are too small for your ever expanding family? Don't let that stop you from getting in on the waterfront market.

If the cottages are to small for you then you have two options, you can either buy something small and tear it down and build a new cottage OR you could simply add more square feet to the small one.

New builds scare a lot of people, so the alternative is to buy a cottage and make it bigger, adding an addition to your old cottage could be the right thing for you.

Because of the limited amount of waterfront that is available on the Bruce Peninsula you might have to settle for a smaller cottage that is in the area that you want to be, with a piece of land that works for you and of course with the water views that you really want.

If you buy a smaller cottage and then add on to it you will have the ability to use the cottage right away, even if its a little crowded.

Adding an addition to a cottage is actually easier then you think.

The first thing you will need is a proper set of plans, the plans should be drawn by an architectural technologist or an architect. They will be able to help bring your vision on to the page and then into real life, these plans will also be what you submit to the township for a permit and they will be what your contractor will use to create your budget.

Getting your plans created might be the easiest thing that you have to do, finding a contractor to do it is probably going to be the hardest.

There are a limited amount of good quality contractors that work on the Bruce Peninsula.

If you are in the process of designing your addition or thinking about an addition then you should be actively looking for a contractor, the sooner you lock one up a contractor the sooner your addition can actually be built.

Great Lakes Custom Homes is one of those contractors that works on the Bruce Peninsula.


Great Lakes Custom Homes prides themselves on building with a high degree of quality and professionalism, we believe that we are not only building for people but we are making the best kind of references for the future.

If you are thinking about putting an addition on your cottage then email me at greatlakescustomhomes@gmail.com and lets see if we can help you get that addition built.

Rob Abbott
Great Lakes Custom Homes Inc.

It's Time For Fall Cottage Renovations

Well labour day has come and gone, the weekends have started to become quieter with less people around and the temperature starts to drop. These are the times when most cottagers start thinking about how long they can keep their cottages open before the weather starts to turn too cold on them. The other thing that cottage owners start to think about is Cottage Renovations.

That's right, after labour day comes and goes it is the official start of the fall renovation season. Depending on how you use your cottage this is when cottage owners start calling around to renovation contractors to have renovations completed before Christmas. Why Christmas? Because I guess its as good a date as any.

What you will find is that most contractors are already booked for the fall, they were booked for the fall by the middle of the summer because most people didn't want to renovate when they were still using their cottage so they booked their contractor ahead.

Don't make the mistake of settling for someone that you don't trust can do the job just because the other contractors are to busy. If you have to you should wait till the winter to get the contractor that you want to do your renovation.

Something's that you should remember is that it can take several months even when you find your contractor to start the renovation, don't be put off that they can't start for several months. Depending on the size of the renovation it can take several months to properly prepare for a major cottage renovation. There are supplies to be ordered, plans to be made, sub contractors to be notified, permits to be obtained and labour to secure.

If you are looking for renovations this fall/winter to completed drop me an email and I can see what I can do for you; greatlakescustomhomes@gmail.com

Rob Abbott
Great Lakes Custom Homes Inc.