Getting Into Your Custom Lake House Sooner

A season saved is a season earned

Sooner or later, many of us will succumb to the allure of a custom lake house. But when that decision to take the plunge comes belatedly, sooner can still mean a whole summer sooner with Montage building. Off-site fabrication, with its non-linear, parallel processing—concurrent with site work—and rapid on-site assembly can often save clients an entire season.

An exemplar of our Montage design/build advantage, this cottage-style lake house, built on a steep, narrow, sloping site, with a rock outcropping and close neighbors, presented challenges that played to Bensonwood’s strengths: building year-round on challenging lots and within an accelerated time frame.

Local regulations required that the house fit on the same footprint as a 1940’s, 1.5 bedroom, single-bath family cottage that had burned down. The new, optimized floor plan accommodated 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, an open kitchen and built-in dining area with corner window water views. Along with a lake-facing screened-in porch, the new floor plan provides enough living space and functionality for the client’s extended family.

The hybrid timberframe is Douglas fir glulam, with local eastern white pine board finishes on the ceilings. Adding to the ambiance is a propane cast iron stove, with soapstone beneath and behind. A 3-panel, 9-foot wide Marvin multi-slide glass door opens to connect the living room to the screen porch. There is LED lighting throughout and zero VOC (volatile organic compound) interior finishes. The well-insulated, tightly-sealed building envelope allows for a small air source heat pump with energy recovery ventilation (ERV).

Moving outside, the low-maintenance, fiber cement siding, Port Orford Cedar porch timbers, standing seam metal porch roof and asphalt main roof, all hold the weather at bay.

Last but not least, with the home’s off-site fabrication, rapid on-site assembly of the weather-tight shell and build-out all occurring over the winter and spring, the vacation home was ready to enjoy by the start of summer, saving an entire season.

So, for those wanting that dream vacation house sooner rather than later, go jump in the lake. From your new lake house.