New Home Building

Great Lakes Carpentry offers the widest variety of styles of energy-efficient homes in the Northwoods, and each of our homes are built to stand the test of time. Unlike most houses out there, whose little gaps in the building envelope and leaky windows leave homes guzzling energy in winter, our homes are Energy Sippers. Precision-built with the latest understanding in Building Science, they take into account the movement of heat and moisture through your house. The result? Ultra-comfortable homes with good air circulation that cost 40-60% less to heat and cool.

Our exceptional service begins with helping you define your needs and sense of style.

From our luxurious Timberpeg® timber frame, post & beam homes that rely on traditional mortise and tenon joinery to our Enercept SIP (structural insulated panel) homes that are 2-1/2 stronger than conventionally built homes, your home will be built to be much more than a beautiful, super energy-efficient home. It’s built to last.

By taking a holistic approach to both the design and build phases, we make sure that comfort, durability, and energy savings are built-in to your home--and problems are built-out.

Building codes are legal minimum standards. At Great Lakes Carpentry, our standards for performance and efficiency are much higher. We can prove it. As a member of the Focus on Energy New Homes program, we performance-test the homes we build. We implement Building Science and employ home performance specialists who use state-of-the-art testing equipment to verify that your home is built to program standards and beyond.

You’ll take comfort in knowing that your home has been performance tested by a third, independent party who can verify that your home has been built to the highest level of performance standards.

As your regional independent Alpen High Performance Products Dealer, we offer the most energy-efficient windows made in America, with full-frame R-values up to R-9 and center-of-glass R-values up to 13. Common ENERGY STAR windows, by contrast, have a center-of-glass R-value of R-3; the higher the R-value, the lower your heat loss will be. Alpen windows are the perfect fit for our “Energy Sipper” high performance building envelope system.

If you want your one-of-a-kind new home to have safe, healthy indoor-air quality, and  save you 40%-60% on your home energy costs, contact us today.

Build With The Experts

Next generation, future-ready homes are the hallmark of Great Lakes Carpentry, the Northwoods innovator of high-performance home building. We take a holistic approach to the design and build phases of each project. A sound understanding and implementation of Building Science principals and best practices ensures that your home will be comfortable, safe, durable and energy-efficient. Independent, third party testing verifies that your home performs to the highest levels of energy design criteria. This documented performance data is an exceptional added value; you'll have peace of mind in knowing that all phases of your home were done right, the first time.