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We walk your land before a line is drawn.
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the Kawartha lakes and cottage country
Custom Home Builder in Kawartha Lakes
Custom Home Builder · Kawartha Lakes
Custom homes, managed from the first walk of your land to the last.
Nicholson Bros builds and rebuilds across the Kawarthas — Stoney Lake, Buckhorn, Bobcaygeon, and the lakes and townships of cottage country — including our own project at Cashabog Lake.
The Kawarthas are lake country, and building here is mostly a problem of access and site before it's ever a problem of design. Getting equipment in, getting services to a build site that may be a long way from the road, working on granite shoreline and shield rock, and getting a house to feel like it belonged on the water from day one — that's where most of the brain work goes. Cashabog and Stoney Lake taught us those lessons on our own jobs; we bring them to yours.
Much of the work up here is teardown-and-rebuild: an older cottage or lake house on a lot nobody would give up, taken down to the dirt and rebuilt as a home you can use year-round. Same view, same shoreline, new everything. We handle demolition and the rebuild as one job, and we plan the access and the season so the lake doesn't cost you a year.
What we build
Custom Homes in Kawartha Lakes.
A custom home is a two-year decision made a thousand times. We hold those decisions on a written schedule — each one named, dated, and owned by a person on our side — so the house you end up with is the one you meant to build, on a budget that doesn't drift. We start on your land before a line is drawn: how the light tracks across it, where the water goes, what the grade and the frost depth will actually let you do.
We carry the whole build. Design coordination with your architect, permits and the township engineer, excavation and footings — the part we grew up on — framing, mechanical, finish, and the two walk-throughs at the end. Same two brothers, same trades roster, same number on the phone from the first sketch to the day you turn the key. Nothing gets handed to a project manager you've never met.
What you're really choosing at this price point isn't a company — it's the person accountable for the outcome. Ours is a name, not a logo: third-generation trade knowledge, our own equipment, WSIB-covered crews, and daily communication. The result is a home that looks intentional in year one and still reads right in year twenty.
· New Custom Homes· Owner's Representation· Site & Foundation Work· Permits & Township Approvals· Trades Coordination· Decision & Budget Schedules
Why owners choose us
The same two brothers, north into cottage country from our Trent Hills yard.
Owner-led, on one schedule, and accountable from the first walk of the land to the last.
Third-generation Trent Hills builders — foundations under the region's homes since 1993
One family carries the whole build; no handoffs, no middle managers
Every allowance named in writing, every decision on a schedule that's kept
How it runs
Three phases. Held to schedule.
Design
Plans, permits, and a written decision schedule.
Read Design →Build
Weekly site walks, photographed and logged.
Read Build →Common questions
Custom Home Builder in Kawartha Lakes — the basics.
How long does a custom home take, start to finish?
Plan on a few months of Imagine and Design before a shovel moves, then twelve to eighteen months of build for a primary residence. Multi-structure estates run two to three years. We'd rather set that expectation honestly up front than promise a date we'd have to walk back.
Do we need an architect, or do you provide the design?
Most of our clients work with an architect, and we coordinate the whole project around them. If you don't have one, we'll recommend the right fit for your build and your land from architects we've worked with before.
What's an owner's representative, and how is it different from a general contractor?
A general contractor runs their own crews and answers to their own margin. An owner's representative answers to you. We sit on your side of the table — managing the architect, the trades, the budget, and the schedule on your behalf — so your interests are the only ones in the room. On most of our builds we do both: represent you and run the work.
Will the budget I start with be the budget I finish with?
Closer than you're used to. Every allowance is named in writing during the Design phase, so you choose finishes against real numbers rather than guesses. Surprises come from vague budgets and undocumented decisions — we remove both. Where the world moves on us, you hear about it the week it happens, not at the end.
Do you build on land I already own, or help me find it?
Both. If you own the land, we start by walking it with you before anyone draws a line. If you're still looking, bring us in early — we've spent three decades reading sites across this region, and the right answer often starts with the wrong-looking lot.
Begin a private conversation
Planning a build in Kawartha Lakes?
Tell us about it. Caleb or Jordan will read it themselves and respond within one business day.