Salt Spring Island
Salt Spring Island is the jewel of the Southern Gulf Islands. Wilco Construction Ltd. began focussing on the Gulf Islands and on this largest most vibrant of the islands in the mid 1990s. The company has built many dozens of homes here with a focus on exquisite quality in each custom project it undertakes.
Below is a sample recent Wilco Construction homes. Each home links to a gallery of interior and exterior photographs. Also, at the bottom of the page, is a link to some of our previous projects.
Salt Spring Island Projects
1.Ganges Harbour View Home
Winner of the 2007 CHBA Peoples Choice Award, and
The Silver Care Award for Custom Home over 6000 square feet and,
The Silver Care Award for Best Custom Millwork
This custom home is designed to embrace its environment. It presents a low front profile on a forested hillside that affords breath catching views. This 6500 square foot West Coast classic on three levels integrates Salt Spring Island stone, cedar siding, fir accents, custom rolled-copper gutters and downspouts and fire-safe concrete roof tiles.
The expansive outdoor living spaces, exquisite wood detailing and vaulted great room with floor-to-ceiling windows beautifully blend the outdoors with interior living spaces.
Environmental initiatives include wideplank, sustainably-harvested Douglas fir floors with Jacobean oak stain, in-floor radiant heat on all levels and HRV and state-of-the-art remote-access heating system, tailored to the owner’s needs and schedule.
Extensive edge grain fir millwork includes built-in cabinetry, window frames, casings, crown moulding and ceiling beams. The kitchen pairs ample work space and practical design with elegant, sleek, overheight cherry cabinetry. Nero Assoluto Granite counters and an extra deep island offer casual dining.
The comfort of this remarkable award-winning home also encompasses the spacious master bedroom and ensuite bath, with its two-person granite shower, luxurious soaker tub and warm marble floor.
View this fine home in our gallery
2. Salt Spring Island Mountain View Home
Winner of the Silver Care Award for Best Single Family Detached Custom Home 2,500 to 3,500 sq. and,
The Silver Care Award for Best Residential Interior More Than 3,000 sq. ft.
seamlessly blends relaxed West Coast living with elegant Arts and Crafts style. Perched on a hill crest on Salt Spring Island this custom, 3.400 square foot home is surrounded by 12 lushly wooded acres and enjoys views past Galiano Island to the Coast Range mountains on the Mainland’s north shore. Its 1,000 square feet of natural western red cedar and yellow cedar decks also afford stunning views of rugged Mount Maxwell.
Exquisite details include a solid fir entry door, vertical grain fir floors, architectural custom staircase, beaded board wainscoting and Salt Spring Island sandstone fireplace with a fir mantel under a hand finished imperial plaster wall.
The natural cedar shingle siding that clothes the home’s exterior and the natural cedar tongue in groove walls in the great room add to the casual yet sophisticated country cottage ambience. Immense fir beams and rafters support a soaring vaulted fir tongue in groove ceiling in the great room. In the kitchen superior features include an island butcher block counter, granite counters, travertine marble backsplash and superbly crafted face framed cabinetry.
The master suite retreat includes a bath with heated tile floor.
View this fine home in our gallery
3. Cottage Hideaway
Have a look at this lovely new cottage by Wilco Construction! An amazing amount of living space has been packed into a compact house plan.
View this fine home in our gallery
4. Waterfront Renovation
This 1970s bungalow was thoroughly modernized while taking strong direction from its oceanfront setting and the surrounding forests.
A narrow galley kitchen interrupted by a stairwell was given new life when the staircase was removed and replaced with a long, sleek island crafted from locally harvested and milled hemlock.
The same local wood was used in the ultra contemporary kitchen cabinets, gleaming floors, doors and window frames.
Slabs of curved hemlock floating on a steel stringer in an elegantly fluid line reminiscent of a gentle spring waterfall lead to the downstairs master bedroom, master bath, den and Zen-like guest retreat.
Every aspect of this meticulous renovation was custom designed, employing local materials and craftspeople, including the unique hemlock display cabinet in the entry that houses a collection of wondrous curios gathered from the ocean shore and the forest floor.
View this fine home in our gallery
5. View Home Renovation
Winner of the Silver Care Award for Best Residential Renovation or Restoration $300,000 to $750,000
A stunning renovation, this 1970s waterfront bungalow on Salt Spring Island was taken down to the foundation and full daylight basement. A new residence rose on that groundwork: a masterful Arts and Crafts inspired home with a soaring roofline, flagstone entry with pond and a great room whose glass bifold doors open up the entire rear of the home to the ocean breezes, extending the great room out to the massive stamped concrete terrace and private dock anchored to a rugged rock bluff.
View this fine home in our gallery
6. Amazing Blend of Indoor/Outdoor Living
Where does the outdoors begin and the indoors end? This home recognizes no simplistic boundaries. Massive beams were milled from trees felled on the property. Extra wide fir mouldings surround floor to ceiling windows that frame views past towering evergreens to the waters of Captain Passage and Ganges Harbour. Flat grained dark stained fir floors, black accented windows and a kitchen with a rock cooking alcove that echoes the natural rock fireplace in the great room show the warmth of traditional European influences. The hot tub is steps from the master bedroom suite accessed through an elegant French door. The hidden gem in this private, natural garden is an outdoor room tucked in off the kitchen with a vaulted ceiling punctuated by four skylights and focussed on a cozy wood fireplace
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7. A rustic retreat finds new life as a sophisticated urban home.
Built in 1995, it had already undergone one renovation to add a master bedroom suite. The more recent reconstruction added an office and exercise room, lengthened a hallway, completely transformed a third bedroom and laundry room and tied the whole home into a unified whole – all while working under the constraints of leaving the extravagant courtyard garden completely undisturbed. The challenges were multifold – each one overcome with an elegant solution. The living room floor was dropped 2.6 feet to create a level entry from the foyer. The dark rock and fir fireplace was replaced with an energy efficient gas fireplace with a polished marble surround. A dingy bath with an aging tub and shower combination was transformed into a wondrous marble tiled bath with custom cabinetry, built-in linen storage and a luxurious soaker tub. Inside and out, the home is now a harmonious whole that embraces light, space and contemporary comfort.
View this fine home in our gallery
8. Inspired by nature – informed by the environment.
This magnificent timber frame home sits lightly on the land. All the wood used in building was sourced and milled locally to create the soaring fir tongue and groove ceiling both inside and out. Giant timbers and beams carved from local trees frame a breath catching ocean view. Enduring and natural materials include James Hardie board and batten siding accented by local natural rock and cedar shingles. The interior inspires awe with its soaring 16-foot vaulted ceiling framing the ocean and treetops of Salt Spring Island. It also comforts with its warm touches like cosy window seats, a high efficiency wood burning rock fireplace and extensive use of custom wood cabinetry and fir trim. Beauty meets sustainability with a heat recovery ventilator system, a rainwater capture system, radiant in-floor heating powered by a heat pump, low VOC paints, and reclaimed fir flooring. The beauty of nature inspires a home of infinite quality and deepest respect for the environment.
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9. Stunning Waterfront Home
A timeless family home built for generations to come together – and for generations to come. The home seamlessly marries impeccable quality and craftsmanship with inviting spaces that welcome an active family life. The great room, master suite and kitchen open to outdoor patios, decks and living spaces and offer views over rolling lawns to the shores of St. Mary’s Lake. In the great room the ceiling soars dramatically culminating in heavy fir timbers and warm tongue and groove polished fir. The master suite on the second floor is a haven of tranquility while children’s bedrooms occupy the opposite wing of the expansive home.
View this fine home in our gallery
10. A selection of previous Wilco Construction Homes
These homes are a selection of new and renovation projects on Salt Spring and on the outer Gulf Islands. The link will take you to some pages from our previous website. When you are finished, just close the page and you will return here. Previous Projects.