At Okanagan Glacier Homes, we’ve built many homes throughout the valley. We get a lot of questions about what’s involved in building a custom home. We do our best to walk you through the process, but we’re going to take that a step further and show you exactly what it takes by letting you follow along with our latest builds.
You can follow along with this project, the Lakefront Build, as we post blogs and videos during the entire process.
The first step with any build is buying a lot and coming up with a plan. This part of the process is usually the most exciting, but involves a lot of considerations. It can be quite intimidating to think about everything involved with making an official plan – but we can help you with that. We offer some of the best drafting and design services in Kelowna.
Once you have plan, it’s time to tackle getting the actual permits and approvals for the build. It’s important to note that this part can take several months, but we’ll walk to you through each step.
Now it’s time to get building!
Our Lakefront build has many challenges. One of the main issues is access. It’s a step incline (or decline) to the lake, and it’s covered in trees. Unfortunately we need to remove many of the trees in order to get our equipment into the area. As you can see above, the lot is completely blocked by the trees that line the street.
Once you get past the trees on the street, the entire property has various vegetation, rocks and is generally quite rough.
We also don’t just attack the property. It’s much better to plan things out. Before we cut or dig anything, we get the property laid out with steaks so we can start to visualize where the walls and forms will go. This will help us when we start to dig out the dirt and rocks.
In the above photo, you can really see how uneven the property is, and how many trees are actually blocking the access.
The property does have an absolutely stunning view of Kelowna. Once complete, the owner will be able to enjoy the lakefront from several rooms and outdoor areas.
It doesn’t take any special equipment to get started – just some chainsaws and hard work.
Depending on how close the trees are to other structures or homes, we may have to bring in a crane to control the trees that we cut. We do our absolute best to minimize disruption to the neighbours, and we certainly don’t want a tree falling on the house!
As the trees come down, it really begins to open the lot up. The view becomes much more accessible from the street.
It’s quite common for owners to visit the property as the process moves along. We do our best to show them how things will be laid out in the actual environment, and discuss any challenges or changes that arise.
Once the trees come down, we start to add safety fences and prepare the site for our larger equipment.
Keep following along for more pictures and updates and project progresses!
Are you ready to build a custom dream home in the Okanagan? Let’s talk!
