For father and son, cottage build is child’s play

Growing up in Rankin Inlet, eight-year-old Randy Boiteau built miniature cottages with Lincoln Logs, the classic wooden toy patented by the son of late Chicago architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

A drone’s-eye view of the cottage and utility shed as it nears completion. (Photo courtesy of Randy Boiteau)

Thirty-two years later, Boiteau and his 11-year-old son, Jared Boiteau, are building a prefabricated cottage in much the same way, on the coast of Hudson Bay, southeast of their family home in Chesterfield Inlet.

“It was really easy,” Boiteau said, while leading Nunatsiaq News on a tour of the 334-square-foot structure in early August. “On the very first day we put the first boards down and in six days I was up to the roof.”

When he’s not building the cabin, Boiteau is a hamlet councillor and grocery manager at the local Co-op.

His build-it-yourself cottage is designed by Canadian company Bunkie Life, which was featured on CBC game show Dragon’s Den in late 2021. As a result, company founders David Fraser and Karrie Fraser sold 20 per cent of the company for $1 million to one of the show’s five celebrity investors.

In an email to Nunatsiaq News, David Fraser said the Boiteau family’s cottage is the northernmost Bunkie Life kit he knows of. The previous cabin to boast that title was built in Yellowknife, at a latitude 100 kilometres south of Chesterfield Inlet.

The Boiteau’s kit — the Spruce Lodge model — features a 150-square-foot first floor with a 184-square-foot loft accessed by ladder, which is included in the package. The kit cost about $25,000, plus $10,000 for shipping.

The building is made with pre-cut, notched and interlocking lumber, and grooved wooden floor boards and roof boards crafted in the company’s Rockwood, Ont., factory. The wood is kiln-dried Canadian northern spruce sourced primarily from British Columbia.

All 2,700 kilograms of wood, window and door hardware, screws and nails arrived on two skids on the first sealift in mid-July.

In two days, father and son completed the floor and four walls.

“It was fun,” Jared said. “It was pretty easy. I enjoyed building with the lumber.”

Boiteau’s uncle-in-law, James Tautu, helped install the five-metre, 130-kilogram triple beam on the roof.

Neighbours helped with the stain, then Boiteau planned to add a clear coat wood sealer.

His next step was framing the roof and add foam board insulation.

“And then I start my work on the inside, doing the electrical and setting up the solar panels,” he said.

The solar panels, which are not part of the kit, will be affixed to an adjacent shed to power eight outlets in the cabin, also not provided.

“My experiences so far have been awesome with the build,” Boiteau said. “I look forward to relaxing in there instead of just working in there.”

Informed of the glowing review of the kit, Fraser offered a humble reply.

“We don’t have a perfect product,” he said, adding all wood structures come with imperfections.

”But, we appreciate the positive sentiment.”