How To Keep Your Cottage Secure

While monitoring your cottage by a security company can get expensive, there are other ways that you can monitor it without breaking the bank.

New technology has arisen in the last couple of years that allows you to install camera's inside or outside the home, these camera's can be placed on remote or motion activated. A lot of these camera's can be installed by you or your contractor.

The camera's can be wired two ways, they can run to a DVR in your cottage where all the data can be stored, or they can be uploaded to a cloud network on the internet that you can access anywhere you have an internet connection.

Most of these systems will work with an app to your cell phone and will inform you when there is movement inside the home or outside depending on where you have placed your camera's.

A couple of things that you will need though;

• You will need constant power supply to the camera's. This means that turning off the power to the cottage for the off season when you are not there is not an option.
• You will need a reliable wi-fi source for the camera to be able to stream or upload video to the internet, especially in real time.
• You might also require a reliable cellular signal as well to operate the camera system the way you want.
• These camera's cannot force intruders to leave your cottage's, some of these systems come with microphones so that you can talk to the people but that doesn't mean that they will take you seriously.
• Screen shots can be taken of video to give to police after a break-in.
• Camera's placed outside on motion could go off often depending on the amount of animal movement and or tree sway in high winds or during snow storms depending on the size of the flakes.
• It's a good way to know what kind of weather is at the cottage before you get there. 
• It's also a good way to check to see if you forgot to shut a door or lock a window.

Even with these types of systems relying on the police after you have discovered a problem is probably not your best bet as in cottage country the police in the off season could be a long way away. Your best bet is to either make friends with a permanent residence near your cottage or hire someone that can stop by and take a look at your place for you. Usually maintenance companies will do this for you as they can stop by when they are clearing snow or checking that your cottage doesn't have a lot of storm damage.

In a changing world this technology is another tool to help keep your property safe. Use it wisely.

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.

Closing Up The Cottage Look For Needed Repairs

Even though the weather is still warm it is coming closer to the point in the fall that everyone will start closing their cottages for the winter. They will be shutting everything down until next spring or summer.

When you are doing your shutdown procedures for your cottage take a close look around, if you see anything that you believe needs to be repaired or replaced by the spring then maybe you should call someone this fall to do it.

Contractors are busy after the cottage season is over and they usually have work lined up for the foreseeable future, if you call them right away in the fall then they can come out rather quickly and give you an estimate on the repair.

They might not be able to do the repair for months or even until the spring but at least you will be in the line for the repair work. If you try to call in the spring and get it repaired you might end up with a scenario that you either don't get called back at all because they are too busy or they do come out and quote you but can't actually do the renovation until the middle of the summer.

Remember the good contractors are always busy, that means that you want to give them as much notice as possible when you are going to need renovations.

Don't worry that the renovations will happen when you are not there, you shouldn't have to be there to supervise the contractor, in fact its better that your not for everyone involved. Hire your contractor let them do their work when you aren't around and everyone will be happier.

Remember that in cottage country the motto for getting renovations completed should always be hurry up and wait. Hurry up to get the quote and then wait for them to be able to service you.

If you would like a quote on your cottage repairs email me at greatlakescustomhomes@gmail.com

Rob Abbott
Great Lakes Custom Homes

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.

Looking To Buy A Cottage But Need To Know The Renovation Cost?

In cottage country when you are looking to buy a cottage that is older the first thing that you think about is "how much is it gonna cost me to renovate this old cottage?" That is something that every person thinks about when they are looking to buy a cottage that has been previously "enjoyed".

What most people do is start calling around to contractors and asking them questions over the phone about what they charge and then they try to come up with their own price for what they think things will cost. Some people even try to convince contractors to come look at the cottage before they have even bought it. That sounds like a good plan except that in cottage country contractors are busy enough with renovating that they don't have time to come out and look at a cottage you haven't even bought yet.

What you need is a contractor that's willing to come out and look at the cottage or cottages that you want to buy as a consultant. When a contractor works as a consultant they are billing per hour to look at the home, find out what the renovation needs are and what the wants are of the home buyers for changes, designs and style. Then the contractor will be able to produce a budget on the potential costs of doing the renovations. These budgets are not a price from the contractor to actually do the work, they are a budgeting tool for the homeowner so they know what they are getting into if they buy the cottage.

The contractor is not doing this to get the renovation work, in fact a lot of contractors do not have the time to take on the renovation work that is proposed, they are their solely working as a consultant to help the homeowner decide to buy or not buy the property.

We at Great Lakes Custom Homes do this type of consulting work for potential cottage buyers. We will bill you per hour and produce a report with a budget so that you can understand what you are getting into if you buy a certain piece of property.

If you need help with renovation budgeting for your cottage purchase send me an email at greatlakescustomhomes@gmail.com

We would be glad to help you.

Rob Abbott
Great Lakes Custom Homes Inc.

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. 

I Can't Find A Contractor On The Bruce Peninsula

"I can't find a contractor on the Bruce Peninsula," this is something I hear from people everywhere I go on the Bruce Peninsula, especially the northern Bruce Peninsula. The limited permanent population compared to the much larger summer population means that the contractor that are working in the area are fully booked.

Well, look no further. Great Lakes Custom Homes does operate in the area of the Bruce Peninsula as I personally own a place there, this allows me to service the summer population that requires good, quality contractors.

Great Lakes Custom Homes doesn't just build new homes and cottages we also construct garages,addition and renovations.

Fully licensed and insured we are hear to help you with your next project.

If you would like to chat about your next project or you would like me to come out and give you and estimate send me an email at greatlakescustomhomes@gmail.com

Rob Abbott
Great Lakes Custom Homes Inc.