Buy or Build? How to Avoid a $300K Mistake

Should you build your dream cottage—or buy one that already exists?

In this episode of On the Lake, James explores the critical decision between building and buying a lakefront home, and the costly mistakes that can come with each path. While buying may offer convenience, it often comes with compromises—and in many cases, unexpected renovation costs that quickly add up. Building, on the other hand, offers complete control and customization, but requires patience, vision, and the right team.

Drawing on decades of experience in lakeside architecture and construction, James walks through the realities behind both options—from selecting the right property and understanding lake culture, to managing budgets, materials, and design expectations.

If you're considering a move to the lake or planning your next chapter in waterfront living, this episode will help you make a more informed—and confident—decision.

Transcript

James 0:00

If you're a, boater, you're probably gonna end up on one of the the larger lake, systems. If you're not like a big water boater and you don't need the chain of lakes, some of the small lakes offer like. a great value, they're quieter. You're more likely to see a loon or a moose than the big, cigar boat whizzing by your point. at six in the morning. And that's the way it is. You know what to expect if you're on some of the big lakes. And it's great If you're a boater, I'd probably be out there with you. our own little places on, on a back lake, and we like it a little quieter except when we have visitors and then we get out on the boat and, and do all that fun stuff.

Speaker 0:33

your are listening to On the Lake, the podcast that explores the rhythms of waterfront living and what it takes to build your dream Lakeside home on the Canadian Shield. And now for your host, James Pitcher Pav.

James 0:45

Hey everyone. Thanks for getting back to us on, on the Lake. We are going to be your resource for cool cottage design and construction ideas. so let's get right down to it. Should you build or should you buy? Well, it's 2026 right now. We're, we're entering a, a, a, new construction and, and real estate season, I guess. And I have a lot of people asking me about relocating. retiring, retiring on the lake, and so on. Why should they build when they can, when they can buy something. So let's get into it and let's see if, if building is for you, like, what is it all about? So James, we're we're almost retired. We, we go to the cottage a lot. kids are older now. we would like to bring 'em back to cottage, but they haven't been here for five years. We could just move to out of state or out of province or, you know, what's the big draw? So the, the, the, draw for a lot of our clients is the memory of being on the lake growing up, and they, they really want. to keep this in their family. It can be a big loss once you sell that simple little 1950s or sixties cottage and you move on to something else, Sometimes things just aren't the same. What's not the same is that you built your own memories there and hopefully moving forward you can build something of your own so that you can create your own memories and really have your input into things. And these days there's more options. You don't need to go to. The big builders because they're not familiar really with the culture of what gets built on the lakes. Small local builders may not be that organized. You know how it goes with labor in various areas. Just try, call somebody. Try to call somebody to shovel your snow before you visit it later. This. Month. It's hard to get anybody getting back to you on anything out there. You, really, uh, need to, group, group of people that you can work with and who have designed and build. I find that clients of of mine tend to be, fairly well educated on. on things. They're, a lot of times they may be in in management or business. They're used to having an idea and wanting to see it executed and having a vision. So a lot of clients out there, and you may be one of them, secretly have their wish book and their ideas. They just don't know how how much things cost and who to trust, who to talk to So what I like to do is I like to compare things. like just put them side by side and give everything a, a fair shake. Should you, uh, should you, uh, buy another cottage? If you are looking for just plain ease in something right away, regardless of the perfect orientation, or maybe the room layout isn't exactly the way you would like things if you had your druthers, sure, if you're gonna be frustrated in the design process, definitely maybe something like that can can work for You what lake areas, Well, I would say lakes that you're familiar with, have good memories on lake you grew up grew up on is great. If you're a, boater, you're probably gonna end up on one of the the larger lake, systems. If you're not like a big water boater and you don't need the chain of lakes, some of the small lakes offer like. a great value, they're quieter. You're more likely to see a loon or a moose than the big, cigar boat whizzing by your point. at six in the morning. And that's the way it is. You know what to expect if you're on some of the big lakes. And it's great If you're a boater, I'd probably be out there with you. our own little places on, on a back lake, and we like it a little quieter except when we have visitors and then we get out on the boat and, and do all that fun stuff. So first step is finding the location that you, like. We've heard this from a o other, uh, podcast up to a certain point. Sure, you can buy a place, you can renovate it. things can become a money pit pretty quick. If you're sinking two or 300 grand into, uh, an older place, uh, you better like it because a lot of 'em, the, the money's gonna go unseen. Putting the cottage on a foundation, bringing in new water lines, digging a well, the septic system isn't probably, isn't that great, but Adding a simple addition is great, but once you start changing windows and the siding and so on it's hard to stop right there. You've gotta keep on going and these things are endless repairs sometime. Don't have to take it from me. Ask some of your friends that have done it. They'll, they'll let you know what the stories are and the, the good and the bad and the the horror stories and all that. should you build your own place? Well, what I would say is, um, if having a choice is important to. you, if you have high expectations, meaning you think that through a design process and planning and building something on your own, you are, going to have a design and a lifestyle that fulfills your hopes and your, your potential and your dreams for your for your future lifestyle. and it will then, it could be for you. The one thing is that designing a place takes patience and vision. clients bring me their vision and they're pretty explicit about it. They have a wishlist. They have photos, they have memories of places they've gone to. They know what they like, what they don't like. They go on our website, lakeside architecture.ca, the build book. They get in there and they tell me what their goals are, and then here's where it differs with Lakeside architecture and possibly other designers. Uh, I work very closely with clients. I work with you closely. I, take your ideas and your vision, and very quickly I put it into 3D modeling, both digital and physical as well, like physical modeling. the reason this is important is we do not know at the onset of the project exactly what we're gonna end up with. It's not a purely linear process. It's A process of exploration. Let's get your ideas down and try them out You think you need 4,000 square feet of living space for cottage? Possibly. You do, but let's start with something a little bit more modest. Let's look at different floor plans, arrange things before we get too attached to one design. and then with 3D modeling, we can turn the building around. We can add windows, drag and drop, kitchen stretch, windows, make larger, smaller doors. I, I should do a podcast and show you the projects and how we work. Or you can give me a call, 6 4 7 2 2 6 9 8 6 0. I will literally walk you through one Of our projects and show you how to work in a way that you have a lot of choice And control. Why does this work for clients? it works for clients because there are so many options out there and I'm not going to tell you what to do, but if you start giving me an idea of the things that you like, I can steer you to what has worked, what I've seen, what I've specialized in, and then we'll find the sweet spot so that your vision can align with a budget that you have. What sort of budget should you be looking at? Well, just think of your place in the city. if you're selling it and you are moving to cottage country, consider it a an even trade. Maybe you have a little bit of money left over after you sell your your place in the city. the advantage, though, is that you will do everything custom. And there's a, uh, a famous, uh, architect that said, Alto actually, uh, said It was that your living spaces really change. They, they not only do they affect how you feel and how you think And your productivity, but they really change your whole, your whole paradigm. If you're building a custom place and you enjoy the process and you can work, work with people that. will listen to your ideas and help de design and mold them, but will not dictate to you But if if you have that sort of interest in, in learning from what other people have experience that a a custom place can be really exciting. what do I like about building custom? like. what is it that James at Lakeside likes about being on the site? Like what what can I bring to your project? Well, I started out in Huntsville, Lake Muskoka, Lake of Bays, couple on Lake Russell, a lot of the small lakes around Lake was Coka. It was the epicenter of work over the last 20 years. Be happy to show you some of the projects, they're, They've historically been in Oakville, in Burlington. I've had a couple of American clients. People come to me. They rely on, me to help them out on remote projects, interesting sites, getting the trades. Currently I'm running several crews under the construction management company, I should say. So you really have to be in the in the culture of the build. So let's talk about that. Are you in the culture of the build? Chances are, if you've, ever had lunch in small cottage towns, if you're boaters, if you like dock parties. If you play lawn darts when you're at the cottage, cro canole, flying squirrels come around your bonfire at night, You know all about that. You like s'mores, you like elegant dinner parties, you like meeting people for dinner at their dock, and you. want choice. I realized that there's no reason not not to have a choice. And I, I learned early on that you have to deal with the right people. So you have to find people that are like yourselves and you can, you'll have to determine that independently. What I found As a younger architect, I would bid build projects to various SubT trades and so on. You know, this is what, you know, this is what you do. Right? They, they, they're working with heating suppliers, for example, that we're already familiar with In Huntsville and other places, so I, I, we know the numbers. I know the numbers already. When I'm bidding, we know the numbers and they're coming in all with all different costs of these, these contractors. And one person's coming at 50,000, another person's coming it's 70, the 30 is 85, But I know the suppliers and, and they should be in that 50. So where's all that money going? It's being taken outta the project. It's taken out of the design and and subsequently the build quality. So I started working on design builds and for various reasons, that format of work is, is, is, uh, not promoted. you know, now it's separate architecture, construction management. I got into the construction side more and I realized that when there's savings in the work. Everything should be open book and the savings should go to you. Why? cause at the core of it you're building a place. I want you to have the, best value, the best materials. So that requires a little bit of a budget overall on the project, on projects, If you're excited by going to quarry to check out the different types of stone that they have If you like the idea of going and looking at timbers, you know, you ask yourself, to it. Douglas Fir Timbers? I'll tell you now. I think they're, they're way way better without prejudice to any timber suppliers. What? They're, they just, they're, they're, they're better for the application than, than, white timbers. But we have what? White timber, sorry? White Pine Timbers, on Ontario that can be used in certain applications. you have to decide what you like, but you need to see it. Do you like custom? I mean, really Custom kitchens, bathrooms, millwork. I mean, it's a whole different thing in cottage country. Wavy, uh, live edge wood. Quarry, granite, bullnosed, uh, soap stone. There's a lot that's possible, but it takes time to figure out. So if you like the process and you, and you like looking at options, there are a, lot of options. Do you like stone floors? Do you like inflow, radiant heating? Can I get water from the lake? can I do geothermal for you, our clients actually get excited about geothermal heating. It's great. We run the tubes in the floor. the water lake waters condensed in the boiler, so it. releases the heat, it circulates, and then I'll put a concrete pour on it, which is it's modern. But in this setting, it all looks fairly rustic and natural. We'll use aggregate from your local quarry to match the stone on your shore. Grind it down. It's beautiful and, it, it holds the heat. You cannot get that with a standard builder. It, it. it just wouldn't happen. And. You have to decide, are we excited by the, for those prospects? like do we wanna look at different aggregate and do we want to look at different ways of building fireplaces, seating, indoor seating, outdoor seating, for example. you can get landscaping from different sources, but can I get you a great stone mason that's gonna get. we get, you good slabs at a good cost. They flame the edges. they they chip it. they make it look natural. It's all fit. Our masons, they, when they do a fireplace, you could take a credit card and you're not gonna slip it in between the joints there. These are, these are really skilled people, but it takes time to find people that you can work with. So that's, that's the the first thing. Are you excited about working collaboratively? But the idea is the vision comes from you, and then we will develop it I've worked with hundreds of people and I've been all over cottage country and beyond. So hopefully when you have a, an idea of your visionary idea, I can bring to you what worked, what didn't work, how much things cost, what went over budget, because things sometimes have gone over budget, but let's know the cost ahead of time, so now we can plan for it. That's the benefit of experiencing a little bit of gray hair is that you know what to expect. And then do you like the idea of working on a design with you And we're online and we're going to modify the model and turn it around and, and change the roof. Like James, we need a steeper roof, a lower roof switch back to Gable. We wanna model slope again. That process I actually find pretty fun and exciting. I I don't find it frustrating or annoying like this is design. So if that's the sort of thing that you think you can benefit from. you, you can benefit from designing your own place because you're gonna get what you want sooner and you'll, you'll know if it works for you or if it doesn't. The second exciting thing is the way that I work, I have bim, which is sort of CAD related pricing on my models. So if you say, James, we, we love that giant lift and slide door, the huge one, like we have to have it, how much does it cost and how much does it cost reduce when you go from like the 14 or 16 foot width to the 12 foot width, like, This is important to know so that we can use pricing updated from the model immediately. Like it just, it's all plugged in. This is the way that I work because I've, I've, I've, done it so long and there's better technology right now and I've needed a better way to work? with you as the educated client so We can try different ideas out. And you get you get the pricing. Right away, and I'm sourcing for you I have it sourced. I have crews ready for you on this is a separate company and then I can provide designs to you and I'll get your your permits And all, all the regulatory stuff can we build on the lake? How wide can we go? Do we need, approvals, shoreline? Are you buying the Shoreline Road allowance? there's various approvals. Engineering, do you need environmental assessment? We'll do all that stuff. I that on under architecture. then you're free. If you you still, if you have a builder that you love on the lake, by all means go with who you trust. But I have to forewarn you with work on the lakes. Things are pretty much given to SubT traits. so really you have to know the actual traits that you're working with and hopefully you've had some experience with them. I've worked with a lot of different people and I have the best of the best for you. that, that are organized, that they're, they're, they're skilled craftspeople and actually care about the work. It's very important. So that's under the separate company. Completely separate company. You don't have to go with it. You can go with a a builder, Lakeside Construction Management. What do we do there? Well, since you're the involved homeowner and you're used to getting things done because this is The way you do it in your own personal business or your personal life or household, we take the design, I do the pricing for you, set you up on software so that we can work remotely. Anything that? comes up, I give you notifications. They're gonna ping You on your phone. They're gonna ping my workers in the field. We've got contracts, we've got change orders, things are live. This is the way it has to be these days. If you want to have control over your project, you. need people that are gonna work the way that you and I do. How should we work? We should work with. Modeling with drawings, with specifications, there can't be any guessing. I've worked with various, designers, interior designers. Now I'm gonna bring you a, a good one on the show, uh, in, in a couple of weeks. But in a lot of cases, people have ideas. They don't know where to spec them. They don't know the sizing, they don't know the options, the finishes. It takes a lot of work. I'm gonna show you a lot of materials. I'm gonna show you what, what, we've used and exciting design and construction for your particular lake and and your lifestyle. And then I'll take you to the sweet spot of specifications where cost meets quality expectations. And then you can visit and see for yourself, see what you like and what you don't like under That company. I get you, all the discounted materials. Some cases it's close to wholesale. But you have to like it, And then you have to let me know what you're excited in so that I can, I can take you there. So it's quite, it is quite exciting. There's a design there for you being on the right lake for starters, find the lake that you wanna be on. And that's not only the physical locale, the people too. If you have a little bit of history with people, like don't leave that, like, build where you are. Try to, you know, don't look, don't look all the people that you love on the lake there because they're, they're, uh, they're cherish for sure. But what what we can do is we can do modeling and then we can do pricing and everything is live and it's organized. The great thing is that there's an off ramp for you. So just ask yourself, when you're asking around where's the off ramp are you going to a builder And they're requiring A $300,000 deposit? How can you do that? Like, do you know what you're gonna get out of it? You have all these ideas and you have all your money in The account, which is great. Then you're paying deposits, paying deposit for design, engineering, surveyor, builder, and The conversation starts to shut down a little bit and it gets harder and harder to get what you want. This is why Lakeside Construction Management was set up so that there's a an efficient way to optimize designs, make the changes, and get things, uh, the way that you want them. It's a full complete service, working directly with myself. you you meet the workers, you meet the crews. it's personal and hand on Is that for everyone? For people that are building something that is either unique, they, have high expectations or they've built in the past and they wanna avoid some of the pitfalls? Uh, it's it's absolutely essential. what sort of thing am I, am I into? the more interesting question is, is what is it that you wanna build? But some of the things that, that that I see, well, I started out out, out west, in case you didn't know, uh, I was in an engineering firm's architecture and engineering out in Alberta. And what we did is we designed Ski Chas in infer bit PC is what, basically what we did. So I got A feeling for the materials and so on, and the big beams and so on. They weren't doing this in Ontario at the time. When I came back, in Toronto. I was doing commercial work of all things, some private work up north and there was a, uh, an established practice right in Huntsville that, I took over at the time, focused more on the commercial side. But then it turned out that. I was right in the middle of, of, they like to call it God's country up there without prejudice to other cottage areas. Everything up north, you know, whatever building set you have is, it's gonna, it is gonna be a blessing to you So I just like to feel that whenever we're working with client, we're working on a special project in, in a special location. But I got out onto onto the, onto the there and I, I, I got more involved directly with a lot of traditional work actually. and there's a lot to be said for the old, the older architecture, the resorts, lake Muskoka Ross. So a lot of Americans would come up and they'd go on the steam ships And seg and go across the lake and everything. There's a real interesting history there. I I, I love it. I would, I would still do projects like that. way it's, it's gone though mostly is a lot of clients, they're looking for a more modern kind of place that has The big views but with natural materials. Not a steer and overly modern, but just a little more open concept because the way they entertain is different now. the the although little cute bedrooms just don't work anymore. I can I can, start with a traditional design or like a mid-century modern with a big open timber frames. It's amazing what people have done in that, genre. So we start out with something like that. And then I like to go with natural stone from the quarry. So if you're in the Canadian Shield, let's go with granite. If you're down on the Bay of Quinny or a thousand Islands, look at the, the wonderful limestone that they have there. They have limestone with the fossils on it. lot of the time. You can scab it right from the site. so let's go with what's authentic and avoid any kind of artificial materials. If you're looking for the fake stone and. the cookie cutter place, I'll tell you right now, you can save some time, find another podcast. There's a mass builder somewhere that would love to speak with. you, But if you're excited in the authentic materials, I'm going down the road of exploring granite limestone right from the quarry with you, the Douglas Fir. Fantastic. I would bring it from out west. We'd kill and dried in Huntsville. I worked with a timber framer. We'd build these things. Pretty exciting stuff like just beautiful. It's strong, it's sturdy, it's got a nice grain, and both the stone and the timbers, hopefully like ourselves, start to look better after time. You know, like a little, a little crack here, a little wrinkle there. a little bit of patina on the wood. Even on the stone, it actually adds to the character of the cottage And I I love places that look better with a little bit of wear and tear for, the floors. Reclaimed hemlock floors. fantastic. they're they're reclaimed out of, among other places of the Ottawa River. They've been in there for over a hundred years. They are very stable. They have a beautiful grains in the wood. If you have dogs or kids or a spouse that's just a little bit of rough And tumble around the place, you're not going to sweat it. If they drop a pot on the floor, it's gonna look better. A little scuff here and there adds to the character of a place. So I like that. I'm not too crazy about drywall, like some of these materials like drywall and carpet, the offgassing is pretty terrible for you, and you won't notice it until later on. And you know, you're coughing and like why isn't that cough going away? It's that offgassing, which is, it just, it's not the greatest thing. So what I like milled planks, and there's different ways of doing it. Nickel gap, Mill planks, they can be fur. They can be hemlock, they, they, they can be other materials, clear grains. I'll I'll look for rare materials as well. I've actually brought in oak, curly oak from a project that the, the owners just changed their mind. 4,000 square feet of this stuff We're using it as a wall planking on one of the projects. It looks fantastic. It's really interesting stuff. So those kind of materials that are a little bit more unique. then in terms of kitchens and baths, I like to work with craftspeople. so if you have the idea, one advantage is of like working working through, uh, Lakeside architecture is we have all the software, like we actually have more detailed drawings than the supply, than the suppliers. Like if you go to your kitchen supplier and they show you the kitchen drawings. we have all the plugins, all the manufacturers, but I like to keep it open as well. But let's get you on path first so that you're organize your thoughts. Here's your own design drawings. Then we go to the craftspeople, the kitchen makers and see what they come up with. But let's get it, organized first, because you are the expert. It's not the kitchen people, it's not the timber framer, it's not even myself. You're, you're the expert on how, on how you wanna live. but this is what I like to see for the, for counters. Sure. You can go with. Cory Stone. one material that I've used, which is great is soapstone. we, we've we've used like a Vermont style of soapstone. you? can also get it in Quebec. So this material over time in your kitchen, it'll wear down a little bit. and if you. scratch it with a knife, you'll see The scratch. you can sand it down and oil it down. But the idea is that over time, it goes natural. So the materials that I'm specifying and that I'm hoping that you go for are take, the, the beating. Well, and they look better over time because after all, it can be luxurious. It can be spectacular. but the, the soul of it is that you're in the wilderness. It's a cottage. It should look authentic and and natural. Now, one place where I digress from it a little bit is like your, your windows, your, your windows need to really be performing well, And I've gone to Canadian manufacturers. Uh, we should, uh, support the local economy, and there are uh, great manufacturers with various products. in. a lot of cases, well specify an exterior. Anodized powder coated, typically anodized aluminum thin frames It lasts forever. On the interior, I like to go with like a Douglas fur If I'm doing fur interiors with, the natural wood. Or you can match the windows on the outside. Now you can save costs, like, like a windows on a project. They can range anywhere from 80,000 to over 200,000. So it really depends on your budget. some of the higher end windows is that the frames are thinner and primarily I'm going Canadian, but in some cases I'll bring in European windows because now they're, they're actually quite advanced, very thin profiles, high performance, and we we need the performance in our environment, but It's completely up to the owners. what I'm suggesting is that it's all out there. And then in terms of the actual finish. There are so many more finishes than the ones that you get in the standard catalog. So one thing to understand is when you go to to a window supplier here, here in Ontario, you're getting the distributor, you're not getting the manufacturer. I'm getting the manufacturer, plus I'm getting a discount on it. Plus it's gonna go be to our spec, which is usually custom. You pay a little bit more, but the value you get can be great. And then overall costs are quite good with with in comparison to some other options, meaning suppliers that are commonly known out there. Let's put on a spreadsheet. Let's see what you like first. But at the heart of it, I, I I do all the regulatory work. I do the computer work, there's the site management. I've got crews working on it there, but at the heart of it, I come to it as an artist like yourself. So the, the requirement is to take the artistic side. Translate it into something that's billable. it's gonna require three things from us as a team. So first, you have to have the, the the big heart, meaning the vision is this important to you? 'cause if it is, we'll we'll do a great job and and take this as far as we can to your specification. The, the, the hands This was actually told to me by one, one time, by, by, uh, an older fellow on site okay? So your heart is big enough for the, for the custom project. The hands, meaning you need the people that can do the work, that aren't all just idea, that's important too. So the, the heart needs to be big. The mind needs to be big, meaning we know specifications and materials and we can organize when we're planning for you, we, we we we have contingencies. We can run the project and we know what works. So that, That's the, the mind has to be big. But, and I see this all the time when I have consultants and designers and interior designers, people bringing in their interior designer and they come in, oh, well here's the sketch. Well, what is the size? What are the finishes? What are the warranties? Uh, Like, I need to know how we're gonna fit. Build this thing, fit it in with plumbing fixtures. If they're importing like impossible fixtures, we can't get the flanges for them to rough them in. Like, I like to work with what's real. Make it real for you. So the hands, this is just an expression. The hands have to be large. It means can we build, can we build a thing? So at the end of the day, here's my advice to you. If you're ambitious and, and you think we can pull together those three aspects, the heart, the mind, and the hands, and I'm not kidding around, this is what it takes. These are big undertakings and they're really worthwhile. This is absolutely the way to go. There is no mistake building your own place, doing something exciting. And you know, the more challenging site, the trickier, the steeper. The less access, the more rock on the site, it's gonna result in an a, a a more challenging but exciting project. So let's check it out. Check out the podcast. It's on the lake. Check out the website, lakeside architecture.ca. Lakeside our construction management.ca. Two unrelated companies. They both have something to offer you. Let me know what you need. I hope to hear from you soon. Let me Call 6 4 7 2 2 6 9 8 6 0. I'm either in the studio or I'm on the site, so I'm gonna get back to you and we'll get things worked out for you. Thanks so much. It's James. Petal on the lake. I'm your guy. Thank you.