COTTAGE MAKEOVER
McGillivray rides to rescue
Income Property: On Vacation airs Wednesdays on HGTV Canada.
Sure, a family cottage can mean long, lazy days and peaceful nights by a gently lapping lake. But it can also boost your bank account.
Patrick Dennehy and family are hoping for both this summer thanks to an unexpected offer last fall: a reno of their cottage in Ontario’s Prince Edward County by HGTV Canada’s Scott McGillivray.
The photogenic McGillivray is best known as the host of HGTV’s Income Property. In the series, he shows cash-strapped homeowners how to generate cash from their homes.
On March 9, HGTV launched a spinoff of that series called Income Property: On Vacation. The new show follows McGillivray and crew as they renovate family cottages to maximize their rental potential.
Dennehy, who lives in Ottawa, was already renting his Picton, Ont.-area, three-bedroom cottage when HGTV approached him about including his place in the new series. Needing revenue to help him get out of debt, he jumped at the opportunity to bump up his income with fancier digs while keeping the cottage in the family.
“It’s been in my wife’s family since 1975. Her dad built it and he just passed away so it’s important to keep it in the family,” says Dennehy.
“I have two kids who used it growing up, and so they’ll hope- fully be able to have their kids go to it, too.”
It was a spot that merited a makeover, according to McGillivray. “It was right on the water. It had a beach, which is a huge plus for vacation rentals — people with kids want to have a beach. It had a deck (and) very limited stairs. It really fit the mould for the ideal rental.”
Dennehy had done some renovating himself over the years, but with a job, a family and a full-time home to maintain, the vacation property often took a back seat. It needed work, which is where McGillivray stepped in. He updated the flooring with a laminate product — its durability is perfect for the rough and tumble of cottage life — added reclaimed wood around the fireplace and on the walls, spruced up the kitchen, and made other enhancements. With deer heads already on the walls, McGillivray says he was going for a “high-end hunting lodge” look.
In all, the reno cost $65,000. The improvements mean Dennehy is already signing up tenants for this summer’s high season for better than $1,900 a week compared to last year’s $1,600.
Dennehy, whose brother Brian also got involved with the makeover, says the biggest thing he’s noticed about the reno is the consistency the cottage now has. While his own renos had yielded a patchwork of design features and paint colours, “when Scott moves in and waves his magic wand, everything flows.”
In all, the wand-waving took place over a month beginning last October. “You watch it on TV but you don’t know how it works behind the scenes. It floored me how much they accomplished in just Day 1,” says Dennehy.
“We had 15 cars at a time here — electricians, plumbers, drywallers, production people, Scott. My neighbours were confused about what was going on, and I had to explain.”
McGillivray, who does not own a cottage but hopes to buy one in the next couple of years, says his goal with the new series is not to make cottage owners like Dennehy wealthy, but to help them have an “aspirational property” by collecting rent to cover expenses.
Nor does he ignore the most important reason for a family cottage: “You want to be able to enjoy it. You carve out your time and rent it when you’re not there.”