For nearly 30 years, Cottages to Castles has been providing custom built homes to the Upper Peninsula and northern Wisconsin.

Brzoznowski, a 1980 West Iron County graduate, said he developed an interest in home building after having an architectural drafting courses in high school.

After living in Texas for a time, Brzoznowski returned to the U.P., taking a job selling modular homes for a dealer in Iron Mountain, where he said he was consistently the top salesman in the nation.

In 1995, Brzoznowski started Cottages to Castles, marketing Terrace modular homes out of a model home near Riverside Plaza in Iron River. Brzoznowski sold 30 homes in his first year and was soon a top Terrace dealer, he said.

COTTAGES TO CASTLES is at 102 E. Genesee St. in Iron River. (Jim Paul/Daily News photo)

Cottages to Castles would then go on to become a Stratford Homes modular dealer.

Soon after, the business began to build Wausau Homes using the panelized construction process. Panelized homes are basically stick-built structures that are prefabricated into panels and trusses in the controlled environment of a production line, then rapidly assembled once on site — often the whole house is up in less than a day, Brzoznowski said.

In 2001, Cottages to Castles began offering conventional “stick built” homes done on site. The business has been at its present location on Genesee Street since 2006.

Brzoznowski said that Cottages to Castles employs 16 carpenters and additional office staff and builds up to 30 homes a year — one year they finished 43 homes.

In addition to all of the new homes, Cottages to Castles will also take on select remodel projects, kitchens and bathrooms in particular. Building boat houses has also become somewhat of a specialty for Cottages to Castles, he said.

To give the young, up-and-coming members of his crew a chance to supervise a project, Cottages to Castles will even take on the occasional deck or roof project, Brzoznowski said.

He takes pride in being a Stratford Home dealer, he said, and enjoys having a major producer of high-quality homes behind him.

“I got my introduction to Stratford Homes with the first company I worked for and I fell in love with the company,” Brzoznowski said. “They are the best out there and they are super easy to work with and when you are a Stratford Homes builder you are part of a family.”

Brzoznowski said there are advantages to modular housing. The biggest is the house is constructed in a controlled environment, leaving it less exposed to the elements during construction. The building process can be sped up as well.

“A common misconception is that modular homes are trailers,” Brzoznowski added. “Another misconception is that it is not a real home, but we often build million-dollar modular homes.”

For potential homeowners looking to save money, a modular home is not always the way to go, Brzoznowski said.

A modular home may have 30% more lumber than a conventional site-built home. It also comes with shipping costs and the expense of setting the house on its foundation.

And sometimes limitations of the site make setting up a modular or panelized home impossible.

Other times the homeowner may just want a shell package in which they can save some money by doing the finish work themselves, he said — for them, the conventional stick-built method may be the way to go.

Whatever method the homeowner chooses for the construction of their home, Brzoznowski said that he is with the project from concept to completion.

When meeting with a potential client, Brzoznowski said he takes them to at least four or five homes, some under construction, others completed years before. Former customers, he added, often help make the sale.

Once Brzoznowski knows what the homeowner wants and a budget is determined, he prepares a buildable, bankable transparent estimate.

“When you sign that contract and give me the retainer, until death do us part, we are married,” Brzoznowski said.“You will get a finished house, typically on time and budget.”

Cottages to Castles does everything they can to make the construction process as stress-free as possible. Each homeowner gets their own website portal that has the plans, change orders, finances, daily logs and progress photos.

When it comes to product warranty issue, Brzoznowski said that he will always advocate for his customers.

“I make myself available to my customer’s problems, complaints, anything like that,” Brzoznowski said. “So when I say we stand behind the product, we do not run, we do not hide, we always do the right thing, period.”

Cottages to Castles is also the area’s Old Hickory Sheds dealer. Old Hickory Sheds come in a wide variety of sizes and styles and can be used not only as a storage shed but can be customized as a man-cave or she-shed, office, playhouse or even as an animal barn.

Brzoznowski said while he already has jobs on the books for next year, he can usually work something out for those who have a flexible schedule.

Brzoznowski said he builds year-round and, given that many of his projects are on lake property, likes to wait until after Labor Day so homeowners can enjoy the summer before construction starts.

Cottages to Castles is at 102 E. Genesee St. in Iron River. Office hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Cottages to Castles can be found online at cottagestocastles.biz and can be reached at 906-265-6168.