A custom mountain home designed by McCracken Projects
Island Park, Idaho

General Contractor in Island Park, ID

Custom homes and cabins built for snow country, by a design-build team that runs the jobsite from first sketch to final walkthrough.

  • Fremont County County
  • 6,359 feet Elevation
  • 170 psf Ground snow load
  • Licensed in Idaho Contractor registration
We build here now

We are building in Island Park right now.

Most of the companies that say they serve Island Park are really based hours away, and it shows the first time the snow flies. We have a home under construction here already, so we know what this build actually takes: the short season, the access, and the engineering that mountain country demands.

Island Park is not a place you build the way you build in the valley. At over 6,300 feet, on the edge of Yellowstone, it asks more of a house and more of the crew putting it up. We came in knowing that, and we plan every job around it.

See our recent projects
A custom A-frame cabin designed by McCracken Projects
Building in snow country

What building in Island Park actually involves.

Mountain building is a different job than valley building.

The snow load

Engineered for 170 pounds.

Fremont County sets a ground snow load of 170 pounds per square foot for the Island Park district, far above the valley floor. Above a certain roof load your plans have to be stamped by an engineer or architect. This is not a place for a stock plan built for flatter ground.

The short season

A window, not a year.

At this elevation the building season is short and the access can be seasonal. We schedule the shell to close before winter and plan the work that has to happen in warm months around a calendar the mountain sets, not us.

Permits and approvals

Building through Fremont County.

Island Park sits in Fremont County, and the county handles building permits for the area. Mountain building comes with a few requirements the valley does not.

Plans for a home carrying a heavy roof snow load have to be stamped by a structural engineer or architect. Buildings are held to a thirty foot height limit, with residential setbacks of twenty five feet to the sides and rear and thirty feet from the road. A septic system runs through Eastern Idaho Public Health, a new driveway onto a county road or highway needs an access permit, and a steep or bordering-irrigation lot can bring in a geotechnical certificate or a check with the local irrigation company.

We are licensed in Idaho and we handle the submittal and the coordination. The paperwork is more involved up here, which is exactly why you want a builder who has already done it.

How a build goes

From first conversation to final walkthrough.

  1. We talk

    Goals, site, budget.

  2. We design

    Drawings and materials.

  3. We price it

    A real number.

  4. We permit it

    Through Fremont County.

  5. We build it

    Same team on site.

  6. We walk it

    Punch list and warranty.

The upper valley

Where else we work.

We build across eastern Idaho, from the Idaho Falls area up through Ashton and into the Island Park and Henry's Lake country. Bringing a crew this far is a decision we make deliberately, for the right project.

What homeowners say.

Real feedback from real homeowners across Southeast Idaho.

Worth asking

Building in Island Park, answered.

Do you really build this far out?

Yes. We have a home under construction in Island Park right now. We take mountain projects deliberately, because building well up here takes a crew that plans for it, not one passing through.

What makes building in Island Park different?

Elevation and snow. At over 6,300 feet with a ground snow load far above the valley floor, the structure and the schedule both get built around winter. It is a different job than building in the valley.

Who issues the building permit?

Fremont County handles building permits for the Island Park area. We handle the submittal and coordination, including the engineered plans a heavy snow load requires.

Can you build a cabin or just a full home?

Both. Seasonal cabins, fishing retreats, year round mountain homes, and remodels of places that have been in the family for years.

Do you design the home too?

Yes. We design in house, which for a mountain lot means the snow, slope, and access are handled in the drawings, not discovered later.

Building in Island Park?

Tell us about the site and what you have in mind. We will tell you honestly what it takes to build it up here.