Andrew Van Wersch ~ Master Builder

Andrew at work on the cottage.

A Note from the Builder

As a youngster I recall spending hours constructing with Lego and Mechano, and maybe that's were it all started. Even as young as five years old, I was building a workshop under a bridge, straightening nails and beginning to build furniture.

A little older, with vastly improved skills, I built a whole town in the woods about thirty feet off the ground all connected with rope that I had braided myself out of short pieces. This town had platforms built for services such as getting materials up, it had a water collection system, as well as little tree houses you could spend the night in.

After that, I moved back to ground level where I could use a sharp axe and build two story log structures. One of them is still standing in St. Francois, Quebec. The people who own that property have built a trail down to that cabin I built, and they have a BBQ pit and benches there.

In my early twenties, I moved to Salt Spring Island, where I built a log house on land that I leased for one dollar a day. My first Gulf Island cottage. What a gorgeous view that place had! I built all the doors and windows, the cabinetry and furniture. It was a little rough, but I enjoyed the process of design and the economy of doing it myself.

In 1985 I moved to the Sunshine Coast and started work in the construction industry. Always building furniture and renovating my place as an enjoyable pastime, and always learning.

In 1985, I built my large workshop, and made the decision to go full time into the custom cabinetry. Along with custom work for a long list of customers, I sent many fine furniture pieces to the Granville Island Wood Co-Op store, where my work has achieved great popularity all over the world. My custom cabinetry / high-end furniture business was a real success! (See a photo gallery of a few of Andrews works by clicking here.)

In 2002 I got back into construction with building a cottage on Savary Island, for my own family's use. I found such pleasure in designing and building every aspect of that cottage—windows, doors, cabinetry — that I decided I wanted to do more of that sort of work. So I sold that first cottage in 2007 to buy some raw lots to build two more cottages. And that's what I am doing right now, and enjoying every minute of it.

I enjoy using the logs that had to be removed from the building site to build everything from the house structure to the doors, windows and furniture. I worked closely with the miller to take advantage of different qualities of the wood for specific purposes. For example, clear vertical grain lumber for finishing cabinetry, and knotty wood for studs and tight knots for exposed posts and beams.