Around 35 years ago, Jen’s father transformed a piece of land that used to flood into the lake it is today. He drew up the plans himself and worked with builders and excavation teams to bring his vision to life. Ever since, the family have loved walking down to the water with the dogs.

The family call the building “the shed” - but, as Jenn is quick to point out, it’s not really a shed at all. It’s a lakeside lodge, built for Jen, her family and her wider family to enjoy the location properly, and finally have somewhere to stay.

Access to the lake is down a very steep hill, and the build was scheduled for January - normally the muddiest time of year. Bringing in heavy plant for excavation and foundations would have been difficult and messy.

That made the deciding factor for Jen the foundation method. Tiger Modular’s ground screws meant no excavation was needed, and the whole build could be brought down the hill using a Can-Am and smaller machinery.

“The first thing was the fact that they were going to use the screws and we didn’t need to do any excavation. It was going to be a tidier build than having to get big plant in.”

Jen did look at other options, but the people made the difference. Tim and Stuart made the process easy, Louise in the office answered every question quickly, and calls were always returned.

“It felt like they were quite invested in making the build really work for me. That was the reason why.”

From a first Zoom call with Tim in October 2022, the project moved to build in the spring of the following year - around five months start to finish. Once on site, a big team meant it was “go, go, go”: the lodge was up and close to finished within around three weeks.

An off-grid lakeside lodge brings challenges a typical garden room doesn’t, and the project needed some creative thinking.

• Pocket doors: Jen didn’t want doors swinging into the room and taking up space. The team hadn’t built pocket doors before, but worked out a way to do it - making the most of every square metre.

• Off-grid power: With no mains power and no septic tank, the family had to work out how to power the building. Solar panels were first fitted on the roof; after a year, moving them upright improved how well the battery charged.

“They hadn’t done that before and didn’t know how they were going to do it, but they just worked out a way.”

Four years on, the build has stood the test of time. The interior was decorated when it was finished and hasn’t needed redecorating since.

“The quality is really, really good. It was decorated four years ago, I haven’t redecorated it, and there’s no cracks. The plastering was beautifully done - real attention to detail.”

The large opening doors frame the view across the lake, and the space has been put to work in more ways than Jenn first imagined:

• A family retreat for the whole extended family

• A party room and entertaining space - with 30 guests seated for dinner

• Corporate hospitality for Jenn’s business customers

• Team meetings, with staff and their families invited to stay and swim in the lake

Having a proper toilet on site has made all the difference too. As Jen laughs: “Let’s face it, nobody wants to do fresh air - we want to be able to go to the loo!”

The family now come to the lake far more often, and the lodge has opened it up to friends, colleagues and customers in ways that simply weren’t possible before. Jen’s three words for Tiger Modular: efficient, responsive - and a good sense of humour.

“I’m 100% happy with what we’ve got. I hope it will be here for many, many years to come - for my family, their family, and others.”