You’ve decided that cottage life is for you. Now comes the next decision: should I build or buy?

“First decide where you want your cottage to be,” says chartered accountant Rod Barr, a partner with Deloitte & Touche LLP in Toronto. “The most important thing is to find a location that fits your needs.”

Most of today’s cottage properties already have a building on them, so you will need to decide whether to keep the existing cottage or rebuild.

“Older cottages have a great deal of rustic charm, but the electrical, plumbing and septic systems may not be up to modern standards,” says chartered accountant Tom Hards, a partner with Hards Pearson LLP in Barrie. “Maintenance and retrofitting can be quite expensive and time-consuming.”

If you do buy an existing cottage, have a survey done to confirm that the building is actually located within the lot boundaries. “You’d be surprised how many cottages are partially on another property because they were situated to maximize the view,” Hards explains.

The benefits of building a new cottage include getting exactly what you want and ensuring electrical, plumbing and septic systems meet today’s safety, efficiency and environmental standards.

“But you have to enjoy the building process and have the time to devote to the labour or to the supervision of the project,” says Barr. “Also keep in mind that the value of your labour doesn’t go into the cottage’s cost base, although you will likely have a significant capital gain when you sell.”

Whether you buy or build, be sure to factor in the cost of realtors, architects, contractors and other consultants.

“Try to find local people to do the work, and who have a reputation for bringing projects in on time and on budget,” says Hards. “Keep in mind that it’s very difficult to get a fixed-price contract on the renovation of an older cottage, because you don’t know what you’re getting into.”

Hards also suggests increasing your renovation or building cost estimates by at least 30 per cent to accommodate the “might as well” factor.

“Once the work gets underway, you will al most certainly decide at some point that if you are doing this, you might as well do the rest.”

Courtesy of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario