Second-homes are our market. Our clients are high-income couples with children grown and gone (or on their way out). Nearly half are college graduates. They are 45 to 64 years old and over 90% are married. Most spend 39 days per year at their lake place. About half live approximately 150 miles from their getaway. Many build to generate rental income. About 50 percent are looking to diversify their investments. They are generous people giving over four times more to charity than those who don’t have a second-home.

Consider having a bathroom for every bedroom. This will provide ample privacy for guests and renters. Indoor and outdoor storage is big as is parking space. Overall design needs to accommodate for excess guests over holidays and the busy summer season.

Absolutely. We believe schedules are an effective way to communicate with homeowners and a vital tool for you to keep tabs on progress.

Kitchens are playing a far larger role in lakehomes today then they have in the past. We are seeing increased footage in pantry spaces. Natural stone counters, high-end appliances and natural wood cabinets are popular. Kitchens have become the family gathering spot.

Yes. You can potentially reduce your heating bills 75-90% utilizing high mass radiant heat while maintaining 55-degree temperatures, even in winter. Check out Innovative Power Systems (www.ips-solar.com). For those who prefer a more simple option for relief… try heating with off peak electric.

Use natural woods and stone. Pre-distressed materials give warmth and a "lived-in" sense. We see Douglas fir being used everywhere from wood floors to ceilings. Consider making your lake home smaller. Divide a big seating area into cozy spaces.

This is hard to say exactly. The design phase alone can take 30 days all the way up to a full year. A lot depends on your tastes and complexity of design. But after the design is completed, there is a basic rule we use. It takes approximately 6 months for every $500,000 dollars. If your project is 1 million, then you can expect it will take at least 12 months. Could take more. But will likely not take less.

Summer is obviously the easiest time to build for climate reasons but it isn't necessarily the best time. We build lakehomes all year long but most of our projects are constructed through the winter for the following reasons:

Yes. And we've become good at doing it. Modern technology has provided ground thaw machines. Basically they are boilers on a trailer with hundreds of feet of hose. Simply start the ground thaw machine spread out the hose and frost is on its way out. We can take out frost, excavate and lay a typical foundation within two weeks during the most frigid weeks of the year. And we maintain the same standards of quality a summer build provides. I am continually amazed to see grass growing in the dead of winter under the insulation blankets when we remove them.