Your lake home design and build journey
If not done right, designing your dream home or cottage can become your worst nightmare. In addition to all the time and money you’re investing, a project of this scope can feel overwhelming at times. That’s why we’ve created a design–build experience that’s as enjoyable and worry-free as possible.
The Cedar Winds family will work side-by-side with your family to turn your dream into reality. Over the next one to two years, our role is to assist you, especially with one of the biggest responsibilities on your shoulders—making decisions. We’ve organized our processes to make this easier, and we offer a fresh perspective when certain decisions prove more difficult than others.
While we don’t know exactly what your personal design-build experience will be like, we can show you the path you will take with Cedar Winds, and how we build the better way—with patience, thoughtfulness, strategy, and expertise.
We believe that insights about your family and how you live should inform the design of your new home or cottage. And builders simply can’t gather enough information from just one or two interviews. We’ll devote as much time as it takes to build trust, understand your family’s needs, and discover insights. We call this Step One, but the truth is that we’re always considering your goals and needs, and how they should influence your design-build project.Based on the information and insights we gather, we can now begin designing your dream home.
Step One Includes:
•Introduction to Client Project Window
•Knowledge gathering
•Review of tear sheets, vision board, and wish list
•Onsite visit
•Infrastructure analysis (e.g. roads, bridges, waterfront access)
•Design of build
•Preliminary budget
This is where the fun begins: choosing and locating the various components of your home. Working through the various material selections, from HVAC systems to lighting and counters, we will resolve any technical issues related to your build and determine the hard costs. We dedicate extra time here to educate you about how your choices will affect you in the short- and long-term.
Step Two Includes:
•Exterior selections
•Interior selections
•Engineering
•Permits
•Planning
•Cabinet layout
•Preliminary electrical layout
•Plumbing fixtures
•Water supply and filtration systems
•Sewage disposal system
•Heating system
•Schedule
•Final budget
If you are available, we would love to invite you to the ground breaking of your new home. With all the time invested in planning before that, you’ll be amazed how quickly construction progresses once we get started.
Our clients are also able to follow the process and progress from wherever they are via our Client Project Window online portal.
Step Three Includes:
•Site preparation
•Footings and foundation
•Framing
•Roofing
•Windows
•Interior finishes
•Schedule tracking
•Financial tracking
•Ongoing inspections
•Interaction with Trade Partners
Before we hand over the keys we go through a number of detailed checklists to ensure that all the municipal inspections are signed off on and that no detail, large or small, has been overlooked.
We also spend time with you reviewing all the instructions you need to operate your home, such as how to maintain your septic system and furnace.
But we’re still on the job helping to ensure you understand how to operate and maintain everything. And long after you’ve moved in, we’ll certainly stay in touch. We’re neighbours after all!
Step Four Includes:
•Thorough cleaning of the home,including windows and ducts
•Pre-delivery inspection
•Review of all operations and mechanical systems
•Final municipal inspections
•Presentation of project documentation binder
*Note that this timeline and outline is an approximate guideline. Certain steps may overlap, and the specific timeline for each project will vary.
Peer behind the scenes of real builds, as told by homeowners.
Questions? Get started Today on your design-build journey.