Knowing the Right People | Building on an Island

So much lumber, hardware, tools~ and not a store on the island!

Buying land on an island is the easy part. Where do you go from there? No hardware store, no lumber store, no skilled workers waiting to take your check. And so much work that needs to be done to make your dream cottage reality! Now what?

Unless you really know what you are doing, and know other people who know what they are doing, that check you wrote for the property will be just the first of many, many checks. Oh yes, your check book is in for a workout!

That little cottage you planed to have up in no time can drag on and on, and come with a price sticker more inline with a royal palace.

That's one excellent reason that you should consider going with a place that is already built, like the one five-star builder Andrew Van Wersch is completing. None of the headaches, all of the pleasure.

Here is a sample of how Andrew manages things:

I got City Transfer to load the 53 foot flat bed and put it on a barge in Richmond, barge landed in Powel River and trucked to lund where I organized 3/5 ton trucks to off load flat deck and got a barge and tug boat to take the trucks across to Savary at high tide( you land on the beach). That is one big pile of building supplies when dumped on a freshly cleared property--looked like the first building supply store on Savary. I remember a huge load off my shoulders when the last truck unloaded, amazing wash of peace swept over me as I knew I could start building with absolutely no "waiting for material delays"

Brian, A friend of mine from Roberts Creek that runs an excavating business agreed to clear the two lots and put in 2 registered septic fields, it took very little enticing since he was curious about seeing Savary island while working--a paid holiday?

He was pleased to find the machine work was easy since there are no rocks on most of savary -- just like playing in a giant sand box, easy on the machine and quick to get anything done --- well drained--not mucky.

All the trees that needed to be cleared for building sites and septic areas were bucked into 12 to 20 foot lengths and decked into a huge pile. Just as Brian was pulling out Tony Tuba showed up with his woodmiser saw mill and cut 7000 board feet(12"x12"x1") of fir, hemlock, cedar and alder. Enough posts and beams to supply two cottages with all exposed beams and open rafters, clear fir for doors and windows and old growth clear cedar for trim and accents, some decking too. Tony did one heck a good milling job, cutting straight lumber that needed very little sanding later to get looking absolutely silky smooth.