From Cramped to Complete: A Sacandaga Lake House Gets Five Feet of New Possibility
When the owners of this Great Sacandaga Lake home came to Redbud, they weren’t looking for a simple remodel. They wanted more room to live, without giving up the footprint or the view they’d fallen in love with. The answer turned out to be underneath them the whole time.
The Lift
This spring, our crew raised the entire home five feet off its foundation. It’s the kind of project that sounds almost impossible until you see it happen: disconnect the electrical and plumbing, lift the structure, and go to work on what’s underneath.
With the house elevated, we extended the concrete basement walls by two feet on three sides. On the lake-facing front wall, we went further — new footings, a new foundation wall, and new windows and doors to bring in the same water views the upper floors already enjoy. Once the structural work wrapped, we reconnected all the electrical and plumbing systems and got the house settled back onto its new foundation.
What Two Feet Buys You
That extra two feet of ceiling height doesn’t sound like much on paper. In practice, it unlocked 1,990 square feet of brand-new living space — without adding a single inch to the home’s footprint or disturbing the lot.
The basement, now under construction, will include:
- Two new bedrooms
- A new full bathroom
- A great room for gathering
- A utility room
- A dedicated hunting room
For a lake house that gets used hard by family and guests, that’s a full second living level added to a home that used to end at ground level.
Beyond the Foundation
A project like this doesn’t stop at the framing. Redbud handled the full picture around the house, too:
- Tree removal and extensive site grading to reshape the property
- Several boulder retaining walls
- A new septic system
- New driveway construction
- A new propane tank and water conditioner
- New patios and decks for outdoor living
- Fresh lawn, planting beds, and a wildflower garden
It’s a good snapshot of what a Redbud project actually looks like end to end — structural work, site work, hardscape, and landscape design all coordinated under one crew, rather than handed off between separate contractors.
Still Growing
The basement build-out is ongoing, and we’ll share more as the space comes together. If your own home has more potential underneath it than it does around it, this is exactly the kind of project Redbud Development takes on — from the foundation up.
Interested in what’s possible for your property? Reach out to the Redbud team to talk through your project.
