New Insulation The Key To Keeping Your Cottage Warm

Do you have trouble heating your cottage when the wind starts to blow of the water?

This is a common problem with older cottages and on the Bruce Peninsula there are lots of older cottages.

If you own or have recently purchased an older cottage then you probably know what I'm talking about.

There are many reasons why this happens;

• Lack of insulation. Or older insulation or non at all.
• Older windows. Pierson windows which are singe pane or cheaper vinyl windows all air to invade the house through the glass and around the window it self.
• Holes. With older cottages there actual holes from previous renovations, animals and general age and weather.

What you should be thinking about is if you are planning a renovation then you should set aside money to update the insulation and the windows in the cottage. This isn't as appealing as changing the flooring or updating the kitchen and bathrooms but it's probably more important then any of the other things that I have listed above.

Since insulation has to be installed either in the walls or on the outside of the walls under the siding then it needs to be done first and should not be done later.

Updating the insulation and windows has a very positive affect for the cottage with little to no downside other then the upfront cost.

1. Insulating and window replacement will reduce the energy consumption that it takes to heat the and cool the cottage. That's good for an area that high electricity rates.
2. Ups the resale value of the cottage. Nothing helps raise the value like new windows.
3. Allows longer use of cottage. With new windows and insulation you can use the cottage earlier in the year and later into the fall.

The wind blowing of the great lakes can be unrelenting, the only thing to do is to insulate against it. Stop the wind blowing through the cottage and change the windows and insulate.

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

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.