Meet Jeff of WHL Custom Framing
Some job sites you arrive by car, but with Jeff you get to it by boat! That's exactly how Jeff Bobrowski of WHL Custom Framing starts his day, climbing aboard a deck-style boat he uses to haul lumber and trusses he needs to build for water-access sites.
On this excursion the lake was glass-calm but Jeff was quick to point out that's not always the case. Moving a boat loaded with weighted materials across choppy water is a very different job, and it's one he and his crew handle routinely. Water-access builds aren't the exception in West Hawk Lake, they are a big part of the work. Lumber One spent the day touring four of his projects, and each one told a different piece of the story of what it means to build and live on West Hawk Lake.
Site 1: A 1930s Log Cabin, Reimagined for Two Families
This is a property centered on an original 1930s log cabin, one of the first five cabins ever built on West Hawk Lake. Rather than replace it, the design by Jamie Marshall flanks the historic cabin with two new builds, one on either side, giving two families their own private space while still gathering around the original hearth at the center.
The decking design incorporates the lumber directly into the surrounding bedrock rather than fighting against it, and the new structures use custom log entries and window wraps to tie the additions visually back to the original cabin. Framing throughout draws on white and red pine sourced from the region.
Before this build, each family made do with two yurts on the property. Now they have real, four-season structures - plus a beach for the kids to swim, kayak, and paddleboard off of, some of the best lake trout fishing around, cliffs nearby with jumps ranging from 10 to 50 feet, and even a kid-built treehouse with hand-carved signs tucked into the trees.
Lumber One products on this project: foundation, high-end windows, soffits & fascia, trusses.
Site 2: A Family Retreat Among White Pine and Cedar Forests
The second site is populated with gorgeous white pine and cedar trees, and it is also exemplified throughout the build.
Jeff and Jamie brought the white pine into both the exterior siding and the interior finishes, letting the material itself do a lot of the storytelling.
This cabin is water-accessed from Big Island Landing and belongs to a family from Calgary, built on land with its own layered history – originally a fur trading post, in a part of West Hawk Lake historically used for gold mining. It's a pattern Jeff sees often: families from Calgary choosing to build here rather than at Lake of the Woods, which is desirable but considerably harder to access. West Hawk Lake offers a similar lake-life payoff without the same logistical headache.
Site 3: A Garage Built For Double Duty
Not every project is a full cabin build. At the third site, Jeff and Jamie took on an expansive garage to support an existing cabin lower on the property - and then added a full second level above it for guest lodging.
The result maximizes every inch: sleeping quarters and storage tucked efficiently into the footprint, with the upstairs living space designed to be full of light, warmth, and room to socialize. As Jeff put it about the family behind this one - simply, a really lovely client to build for.
Lumber One products on this project: foundation, high-end windows, soffits & fascia, trusses, siding, decks, railings.
Site 4: Jeff’s Homestead
The last stop was personal. Twenty years ago, Jeff and his wife bought their own property on West Hawk Lake with one goal: build their dream home. Throughout the house, you can see structural details crafted from specific pine trees sourced right off their own property. The same lumber is exemplified in the structural and finishing details, a home quite literally built from its own land.
Lumber One products on this project: Sunspace Weather Master windows, soffits & fascia, trusses, siding, decks, railings.
Thanks to WHL Custom Framing
Touring these four sites back to back, the throughline is clear: Jeff doesn't build generic cottages. He builds around what's already there. A 90-year-old cabin, a stand of white pines, a family's history on the land, or in his own case, a tree that grew on the property before the house ever did. That it’s exactly why we're proud to call WHL Custom Framing one of the contractors in our circle at Lumber One.
If you're planning a build in West Hawk Lake and want a contractor who knows this terrain intimately, Jeff Bobrowski and WHL Custom Framing are worth the call. And when it's time for materials, we're right down the road, ready to get everything to your site.
