Custom Home Builder Bruce Peninsula Spring 2019

Are you planning on building a custom home or cottage in the Bruce Peninsula?

You have bought the property, talked to architects and you are dreaming about what it will be like to live in your new home/cottage throughout those wonderful summers and falls.

One problem, you can't seem to find a builder, most of the builders that you find are either too busy for you this year or you just don't like the way they operate. Well look no further.

Email me at greatlakescustomhomes@gmail.com and lets talk about building you your dream home.

We have been building dream homes for people all along the lake shores of Georgian Bay and Lake Huron for decades.

We are a family owned and operated company that prides itself on personal service and an extreme level of quality. We believe in dialogue with the homeowner throughout the entire build process, phone calls, emails, text messages and sometimes even videos. We believe that the more you the homeowner know about your build the more you will enjoy the build process.

We are endlessly exploring new ways to build homes that make them more efficient, simpler to operate and allow for a more enjoyable experience to the homeowner.

Every custom home comes with its own unique challenges when they are being built, you need a builder that will not only construct what is on the plans but also be able to make suggestions on how it can be built better and also how to make the function of the home greater for you the homeowner.

If you have your land but you haven't been able to find someone to help you with the drawings we can help organize that for you too. We work with a number of architects, architectural technologists and draftsmen that can help you create any kind of home that you can dream up. We even work with interior designers that can help you with the finishing's to really put your personal stamp on it.

So if your searching the internet looking for a builder for your new custom home this spring then you found that right website. Email us and let us help you get that custom home that you deserve.

Rob Abbott
Great Lakes Custom Homes Inc.

Do I Fix That Old Cottage Or Tear It Down?

Do I fix that old cottage or do I let it die and build a new one?

When people think about older cottages they have a nostalgic memory or thoughts about an old wood cottage on the lake that has lots of character and maybe needs some small repairs.

In reality those cottages that are like that are in such bad shape when you start to look behind the walls, the roof and the foundation you find that they require major surgery by a professional and not by you the owner on the weekend.

The repairs of these kind of cottages usually take several years as the work gets spread out to save on money and to allow the homeowner to use the cottage in the warmer months. But at some point you the homeowner are going to have to ask yourself is all this time and money worth putting into an old cottage?

There is an alternative to spending large amounts of money and time fixing and repairing endlessly an old cottage that without a major investment is coming to the end of its life, you could tear it down and build yourself a new cottage.

Yes a new cottage, no its not your romantic vision of what a cottage is, but those romantic visions also don't have all the bugs, slugs and critters that are chewing their way into your cottage and watching you while you sleep. That vision doesn't have you cleaning up the mice poop or the having a plumber to come and repair the plumbing lines because they broke again or the septic is backed up again with tree roots. That vision doesn't have you placing buckets in new places every time it rains to catch the leaks or you squinting through old foggy windows to see the waterfront that you paid for. 

If we are talking about if its worth it to build a new one because that costs money, let me tell you that right now newer homes on the water are rarely for sale and when they do come for sale the asking price is extremely expensive. People look at new cottages as something that they can buy and start enjoying right away and not having to think about fixing for years to come. That is worth it to a lot of people, people will pay a premium for something like that. In other words you will not lose money on building yourself a new cottage.

Remember that everything eventually comes to the end of its life and at a certain point you are going to have to decide when to let it go and build a new one. You can either spend the money now or wait until it's even more expensive later.

Rob Abbott
Great Lakes Custom Homes Inc.

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.

Winter Is The Best Time To Start Planning That Cottage Build

As the snow falls and the wind blows the last thing that is on your mind is probably sitting on the shore of the great lakes in a chair on the deck of your new cottage, the cottage that you want to build. Well this is the time that you should be thinking about the construction of it.

Just because its winter doesn't mean that you shouldn't be planning for your cottage build. In fact the longer you wait the harder things will be for you to actually get the cottage built in a timely manner and with the contractor of your choice.

The coldest part of the year is the time that architects and contractors are at their least busiest, this is the best time of the year for you to get plans created and to also get prices on your future home.

If you start in the cold months then you can take your time to make sure that your house plans are exactly what you want and also take your time and find the contractor that you want to work with.

Remember that the closer you get to the spring the busier everyone becomes and harder it will be for you to get what you want.

What you need to find is a contractor that can help you with everything, not only the construction of your cottage but the plans, the pricing and even the permits if you require it.

Great Lakes Custom Homes can help you with everything you require, from the planning right through to the finishing of your cottage.

The earlier you start the quicker and simpler your build will be completed.

If you want to talk about building a cottage email me at greatlakescustomhomes@gmail.com

Rob Abbott
Great Lakes Custom Homes Inc.

Lots of Vacant Waterfront Lots Means Its Time To Build That Custom Cottage On The Bruce Peninsula

With the abundance of vacant water front lots that are for sale now on the Bruce Peninsula it has never been a better time to build yourself a new custom cottage.

If you are to look around the Bruce Peninsula you will find that any cottage or home that is on or near the water has risen in price every year for the past 4 years. The market is becoming expensive as the Bruce Peninsula becomes more popular with tourists and people from South Western Ontario.

The rental market for the Bruce Peninsula has exploded in the last several years, this has slowed the amount of people that were selling their cottages because now they can make money on them even when they are to busy to enjoy it themselves.

All of this is helping drive the resale housing market through the roof, it's getting to the point were it is actually better to buy a vacant waterfront lot and build a new cottage.

There are several things that help make it less expensive;

• Bruce Peninsula has extremely low building fees compared to the rest of southern ontario.
• With a lot of waterfront lots basically sitting on the rock you don' t have to spend a lot of money on landscaping.
• The building standards for the Bruce Peninsula are from the Ontario Building Code, there really isn't anything added that will cost you money like what happens in a lot of communities in Southern Ontario.

What you will have to do is find a good quality contractor that can build you the new cottage that you want and also give you a proper budget before they do it. That is probably going to be the toughest thing that you will find, finding a contractor. There are very few good quality contractors on the Bruce and more people wanting to have cottages built every year. 

When you do find that contractor you should hire them, because there aren't that many to choose from. 

Great Lakes Custom Homes is one of those contractors that can take care of your cottage building needs.

Send me an email and let's see if we can help you; greatlakescustomhomes@gmail.com

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Rob Abbott

Great Lakes Custom Homes Inc.

This Is The Time To Build That Cottage On The Bruce Peninsula

The Bruce Peninsula is a beautiful and wonderful place, it has some of the most unique natural features in all of Ontario.

More and more people are visiting the area and deciding that owning a cottage or retreat would be worth it. One problem, there is actually less waterfront cottages for sale then you would expect. Because of the limited amount of cottages that are for sale the price for waterfront cottages has dramatically risen in the last half decade.

What the Bruce Peninsula does have is an abundance of land, waterfront properties and non waterfront properties. The actual price of vacant land on the Bruce Peninsula is surprisingly low compared to anything that already has a building on it.

What this does is create a scenario where its actually smarter to build a new custom cottage instead of buying an older used cottage that requires a lot of renovations.

Building on the Bruce Peninsula is actually not that expensive, the building permit fees are some of the lowest that you will find in Southern Ontario. Add that to the low price of land and you have the bases for building a custom home that wouldn't break the bank.

Building a custom home or cottage on the water in the Bruce Peninsula is also a great investment, once you have built your waterfront custom home or cottage it is basically worth more then the cost you paid to have it built.

If you are thinking about having a custom home built then send me an email, I would love to help your dreams of cottage ownership come true.

I can be reached at greatlakescustomhomes@gmail.com

Rob Abbott
Great Lakes Custom Homes

Building Cottages On The Bruce Peninsula

I hear people talking about how they can't find a cottage builder on the Bruce Peninsula, well let me put this as simple as I can, "WE BUILD COTTAGES AND HOMES ON THE BRUCE PENINSULA".

Great Lakes Custom Homes builds new cottages and new homes on the Bruce Peninsula. Who is Great Lakes Custom Homes you ask, it is me! I am the owner and operator of Great Lakes Custom Homes.

We build custom homes and have been in the construction business since 1980, me personally since the 1990's. I am a second generation of custom home builder.

I don't only build cottages and homes on the Bruce Peninsula but I also own a residence up in the Northern Bruce Peninsula. I have a place in Bradley Harbour on the Lake Huron side of the Bruce Peninsula.

Being a second generation builder, I learned everything from my father in a family run business that I worked in since I was 12 years old. We prided ourselves on building high end quality homes while giving our clients the best building experience possible.

I would love to be your Contractor on the Bruce Peninsula,

email me at greatlakescustomhomes@gmail.com

Looking forward to talking with you.

Rob Abbott
Great Lakes Custom Homes Inc. 

The Most Important Thing You Should Be Looking For In A Custom Home Builder?

Whether it's a custom home you are going to build or a custom new cottage the most important thing you are going to have to decide on is who you want to actually build it.

Hiring your custom home builder or general contractor is more important then who draws the plans or designs the kitchen.

Most people, when they are thinking about hiring a builder to build their custom home tend to think of two things right away:

1. How much is the home builder going to charge me to build the home?
2. How good is the quality of the home that they build?

The sad thing is that it is usually in that order that people think, they think price first and quality second. Here's a little secret, when the house is built and you have paid all the bills almost all successful contractors end up costing you the same amount of money. Regardless of what you have been told at the start about what their fee is or how they will bill you the end cost of the entire project usually ends up about the same amount of money. The builders who are cheaper then all of their competition don't survive because they don't make enough money to cover their overhead, make a living and still give a warranty. They end up to far behind in debt and closeup shop to work for someone else.

Since the real cost of hiring contractors is basically the same then we should move on to the quality of the home. This is where the good builders and the not so good builders separate themselves. When you are a builder of custom homes you are more like a project manager. You pick the people and sub trades that are going to complete the project and then you management how much they get paid, how long it takes them to do their work and at what quality that they achieve the work with as little flaws as possible. If you can manage that then the end project should be a very high quality.

Its not hard to distinguish a quality custom home builder, you just have to see the pictures of some of the projects and that should tell you if they can complete your project to the standard that you expect. This just takes you asking the right questions and carefully looking at their past work.

Since the first two are actually fairly easy to figure out with a some due diligence there is one major thing that people tend to forget when prioritizing what to look for in a custom home builder and that is their attitude. 

A good sized cottage to construct should take anywhere from 6 months to a year depending on the when you start, the size of the home and the level of detail in the home. Your home builder is going to be the one person that you talk too, email, text or meet onsite for 6 to 12 months. A lot of times you are going to have to email back and forth 5 to 10 times a day, meeting on weekends and holidays, having phone meetings, discussing money, designs, plans, options, upgrades and problems when they arise. If you don't get along with your home builder then the wonderful experience of building a custom home or cottage will end up being the worst 6 to 12 months of your life.

Building a custom home or cottage is one of the biggest investments of your life and it should be one of the most exciting ones as well. If you don't get along with your contractor then you should be finding a different one. A rocky relationship between the homeowner the home builder will actually affect the project. When you don't get along with your contractor then you don't communicate well with and them with you, this starts to delay the project because decisions aren't made in a timely fashion and time slips away as the homeowner and the contractor try to ignore each other.

When building a custom home you need to be able to trust your contractor in a way that you can come to them with any idea you have for the home regardless of how crazy it is, their job is to tell you why it's crazy and impossible or if it isn't what the cost is and how it will affect the project as a whole. The whole point of a custom home is that it is custom to you the homeowner and nobody else, if you can't communicate your hopes and dreams for it to your contractor then it ceases to be a custom home for you the homeowner.

Take the time and meet with your contractor, get to know them. Get to know them at least enough to get a feeling of how they communicate and how the two of you get along in each other's company. 

In the last 17 years of building custom homes for people I have been able to get along with them so well that to this day if I see them on the street or in a restaurant we end up stopping and talking about life, family and the weather. We actually never talk about the house that I built them, by the end of the project I end up being more their friend then their builder.

Gone are the days with the rough, tough and gruff builder tells you what you are gonna get in your home and then hands you the bill and walks away. Custom home building today is a shared experience, it should be part learning experience for you the homeowner and part exciting and joyful as well as you see your dream come to life in your new custom home.

Remember that you want to enjoy building your custom home or cottage so take the time to find a builder that you can enjoy it with.

If you have any questions about custom home building or you would like to talk to me about building a custom home/cottage you can email me at greatlakescustomhomes@gmail.com

Rob Abbott

Great Lakes Custom Homes

Is Stone More Expensive Then Wood Siding?

The simple answer to that question is "yes".

There are several reasons that stone is more expensive then wood siding or any other exterior material that you want to put on your new home or cottage;

• The actual material is more expensive to buy then wood siding. Stone has to be quarried, that means that it can only be taken out of the ground once and it has to be done with explosives and or heavy equipment. Where wood siding is made from Quebec pine and can be re-harvested every 20 years or so and can be handled with smaller equipment. 
• Stone is labour intensive to work with as it is heavy and requires either a piece of equipment or several strong backs to move it around a jobsite.
• There is a shortage of good qualified stone masons in southern Ontario. This means that to find a mason that will do a high end superior job will cost you more money as they are usually in high demand, they usually have a waiting list.
• Most stone is not uniform. Stone is usually blended with different shapes, colours and types of stones to create a pattern or non pattern that is appealing to the eye. This takes time to layout on the ground before it can be installed, this process requires you to handle the stone more then once which costs more time.
• You have to prep the wall with either rain screen or wire mesh or both. These products and the time it takes to install them drive the price of the installation higher.
• Usually shipping of stone material is expensive as it is heavy and quarries are far away from most build sites.
• When installing stone you must use scaffolding whenever you get above or near the workers head height. The assembling of scaffolding is time consuming costly work.
• Stone is a forever product, as long as it is installed properly, you should have little to no maintenance going forward as stone does not rot and insects do not eat it like they do with wood products.

One thing about building a new home or cottage in the Bruce Peninsula is that the quarries for most of the stone that you will want on the outside of your home is located there. That will cut the shipping cost of the stone down to a minimum. 

In a world that wants you to buy local as much as possible, buying quarried stone for your home that is from the same area is a good thing for you and the local economy.

When setting your house budget if you are looking to have stone installed on the outside you will want to add some more monies so that you do not end up with sticker shock.

Rob Abbott

President

Great Lakes Custom Homes