If you're comparing builders in Muskoka, you'll run into two very different business models, and understanding the difference matters for what you should expect from price, timeline, and flexibility.
The fully custom builder
Some builders in this market work only on land you already own, building fully custom homes one at a time with no land inventory of their own. This model offers maximum design flexibility, since every build starts from a blank slate. What it doesn't offer is any packaged inventory or repeatable pricing, since every project is priced and scoped independently.
The production developer
At the other end, large production developers build entire planned communities, sometimes thousands of homes over decades, using a set of repeatable floor plans across many units. This model offers price efficiency and shorter timelines, since the design work is already done and construction happens at scale. What it typically doesn't offer is full design customization, since you're choosing from existing plans rather than designing from scratch.
Where Fuller Developments sits
We don't fit neatly into either category, and that's deliberate. We own and develop our own lot inventory at Deerhurst Highlands, the same way a production developer would, but we build fully custom homes on those lots, the same way a boutique custom builder would. We also offer the Deerhurst Townhomes as a semi-custom, set-plan product for buyers who want a shorter timeline and lower-maintenance option, alongside our fully custom offering for buyers who want complete design control.
We're also a self-performing general contractor, meaning our own crew, not a rotating list of subcontractors, does the majority of the physical construction work, using our own owned equipment including a Magni RTH 6.30 telehandler. That's closer to how a boutique custom builder operates than how most production-scale developers run their sites, where subcontracted trade crews are the norm.
What this means if you're deciding between builders
If you want land inventory and pricing certainty without giving up full custom design, or if you want a self-performing crew's quality control without losing the option of a faster, semi-custom build, this hybrid model is worth understanding as a distinct third option, not a compromise between the other two.
Questions about how we work? Talk to us directly