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Northumberland County
Custom Shops & Outbuildings in Trent Hills
Custom Shops & Outbuildings · Trent Hills
Working shops, barns, and outbuildings, built to be used hard.
Trent Hills is home. Nicholson Bros has poured foundations and built across Campbellford, Hastings, Warkworth, and the townships along the Trent since 1993 — this is the ground we know better than any.
Trent Hills is our own backyard, and three decades of working it means we already know what a given lot is likely to hand you — the shield rock that shows up shallow in one concession and the deep clay in the next, the frost depth, the way the Trent and its feeders set the water table. When you build here with us, you're not paying for anyone's learning curve. We've likely already dug near your property, and we know the township offices, the inspectors, and the local trades by name.
The properties range from riverfront and rolling farmland to bush lots up off the county roads, and the owners tend to be building the house they intend to keep — a primary residence, a shop, sometimes both. That's the work we're built for: unhurried, local, and accountable to people we'll run into at the Campbellford grocery store for the next twenty years. It's a strong reason to get the build right the first time.
What we build
Shops & Outbuildings in Trent Hills.
On a rural property the shop is not an afterthought — it's where the trucks live, the equipment gets fixed, the work gets done. We build shops, barns, equipment storage, and multi-use outbuildings to be used hard for fifty years: the right footing and slab for what you'll roll onto it, the doors and heights that fit real machines, the power and heat to actually work in winter. We started in concrete and sitework, so the part underneath is the part we get right.
A shop or outbuilding still deserves to look like it belongs. We match the building to the house and the land — the cladding, the roofline, the way it sits on the grade — so the property reads as one place rather than a house with a metal box behind it. Many of our builds pair a shop with a home or a caretaker's residence, planned together so the services and access work for both.
Same accountability as everything we do: one family, our own equipment, WSIB-covered crews, and a written scope so you know what you're getting before it's poured. Whether it's a standalone shop or one structure of a larger estate, it's built to be worked in — not just looked at.
· Working Shops· Equipment & Vehicle Storage· Barns & Ag Buildings· Caretaker & Secondary Residences· Slabs & Foundations· Power, Heat & Servicing
Why owners choose us
The same two brothers, minutes from our Campbellford yard.
Owner-led, on one schedule, and accountable from the first walk of the land to the last.
Concrete and sitework is where we started — the slab and footing are right
Built for real machines and real winters, not just curb appeal
Matched to the house and the land so the property reads as one place
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 Shops & Outbuildings in Trent Hills — the basics.
Can the shop match the house instead of looking like a steel box?
Yes — cladding, roofline, and siting are all choices, and we make them so the shop belongs to the property. A working building can be built honestly and still look right from the house.
Do you build a shop and a home together?
Often. A shop with a caretaker's residence, or a main house with a working outbuilding, is planned as one project so the servicing, grading, and access work for the whole property from day one.
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 Trent Hills?
Tell us about it. Caleb or Jordan will read it themselves and respond within one business day.