Where to Build a Lake House in North Georgia (and How We Design Them)

If you want a custom lake house in North Georgia, the first decision isn't the floor plan. It's the lake. The lake and the lot will decide more about your house than any plan book can. We've been building custom homes on our clients' own land across Cherokee, Pickens, Gilmer, Bartow, Gordon, Dawson and Fannin counties since 2005, and for years that has included lake homes and other custom homes inside Lake Arrowhead.

The lakes of North Georgia you can build on

North Georgia's lakes are not all the same kind of lake, and the kind decides what you can build. Some are private community lakes, some are Corps of Engineers reservoirs where a private dock needs a permit, and one has no private docks at all.

Lake Arrowhead, Waleska (Cherokee County)

Lake Arrowhead is a large gated lake-and-golf community in Waleska, in the hills of western Cherokee County, under an hour from Atlanta. Inside the gates, the larger Lake Arrowhead itself has a boat ramp for residents and a boat dock for keeping a boat in the water year-round, with fishing, water skiing and swimming. The smaller Lake Chickasaw has no boat ramp; it's for paddle boats, canoes, kayaks and paddle boards. Add golf, nature trails, a playground and park, and a community pool. Outside the gates, Waleska is home to Reinhardt University and sits in the Cherokee County School District.

What matters for a builder is the lots. There are lakefront and lake-view lots, plus mountain-view homesites. The lakefront lots are sloped, and new homes go through the community's design review guidelines. We know both the review process and the ground; five of the six homes below sit inside the gates. See our Waleska page, our Cherokee County service area, and our earlier post on building a lake house at Lake Arrowhead.

Carters Lake and Tranquility (Gilmer County)

Carters Lake is the deepest lake in Georgia, a Corps of Engineers reservoir in the Gilmer County mountains. Its shoreline is undeveloped and there are no private docks. Tranquility at Carters Lake is a mountain community near the lake, surrounded by national-forest land, with wooded, sloped lake-and-mountain homesites and real seclusion. We build cabins and custom homes throughout it. See our Gilmer County page.

Bent Tree, Allatoona, Lanier and Blue Ridge

Lake or community	What kind of lake it is	Where we build
Bent Tree (private community lake)	Private lake inside a gated mountain community near Jasper in Pickens County, with a golf course, an equestrian center, and wooded, view-filled terrain.	Inside the community. See Bent Tree and Pickens County.
Lake Allatoona	Corps of Engineers reservoir. A private dock requires a Corps shoreline permit and is only possible in designated areas.	Bartow and Cherokee side, near Cartersville, Acworth and Canton. See Bartow County.
Lake Lanier	Corps of Engineers reservoir; same shoreline permit rules as Allatoona.	Dawson County side. See Dawson County.
Lake Blue Ridge	TVA lake in Fannin County, not a Corps of Engineers reservoir. Confirm the dock rules for your lot before buying.	Fannin County, in and around Blue Ridge. See Blue Ridge, Georgia.

Choosing a lake lot: slope, septic, access and docks

We build on your land, and on a lake that land is usually sloped toward the water. A walkout or daylight lower level facing the lake is the classic way to build a North Georgia lake house. There are four things to settle before you buy, and a free site walk with us is where we start on all of them:

1. Slope. How steeply the lot falls decides your foundation, from walkout to stepped to pier. Our post on building on a sloped lot in North Georgia covers grade tiers, site costs and foundation types.
2. Septic and perc. Without sewer, the house depends on a septic system, which depends on the soil passing a perc test. Our guide to choosing the perfect lot covers perc and septic, access and utilities.
3. Access. A steep drive, truck access during construction, utilities and the path to the water deserve a look before closing.
4. Docks. What each lake allows is covered above: at Lake Arrowhead, lakefront owners can have a private dock under the community's own rules, and there is a resident boat ramp and a community dock as well; Allatoona and Lanier need a Corps shoreline permit, lot by lot; Carters allows none. Whatever the lake's rule, get the answer for your specific lot in writing before closing.

If you don't have land yet, we can help you find it. For budget, start with our North Georgia cost guide.

How we design a lake house

A lake house starts from one question: where is the water from each room? The front door still faces the street, but the house should live toward the water, so we try to put the rooms you spend your days in on the lake side and let the garage and utility spaces take the road side. And because a lake house is seen from the water as much as from the street, the lake-facing elevation gets the same care as the front; on the Lake Arrowhead homes below that has meant shake, siding and stone.

Frame the view from as many rooms as you can

The living room is the obvious place, and a two-story wall of windows there is hard to beat. But a dining room with a panoramic window wall, a kitchen with sightlines to the lake, a reading nook aimed at the view: those rooms make a lake house feel like one all day. At The Sycamore, the kitchen opens to the main living area so you never lose the lake while you cook, and distinctive triangle windows add character and lake-reflected light.

Make the outdoor rooms real rooms

People buy lake lots to be outside. A screened deck behind oversized sliding glass doors, as at The Sycamore, stops being a porch and becomes a living room. The Woody has two covered sundecks with patios below, one with an outdoor stone fireplace. The Fry's large sundeck is partially covered and has its own fireplace. The Ridgewater goes a step further with retractable doors that open the living area straight onto a large, partially covered sundeck. Our post on North Georgia outdoor living covers porches, decks, outdoor kitchens and windows for views.

Treat the bank as a feature

A steep bank down to the water can be the best part of the lot. A rolling staircase with a landing halfway down gives you a place to sit and take in the view. The Woody's long staircase down to its dock is the same instinct.

Let the lower level carry its weight

On a sloped lakefront lot the walkout level is a second living level. The Fry's lower living space, with hardwood floors throughout and a wet bar, is the kind of space we mean. Our post on walkout basement homes in North Georgia goes deeper.

The floor plan is the easy part. The hard part is deciding, room by room, where you'll be standing when you look at the lake.

Lake homes we've built

Six homes that put the ideas above into practice: five inside Lake Arrowhead, from lakefront lots to a mountain-view homesite, and one lake-view home near Canton.

The Sycamore, Lake Arrowhead (lakefront)

3 bed / 3 bath, 2,149 sq ft, traditional. Designed around the view, with multi-level outdoor spaces and a screened deck that is a genuine outdoor room. What to take from it: choose one big gesture that removes the wall between inside and out, and never let the kitchen lose the water. See The Sycamore gallery, or the video tour.

The Woody, Lake Arrowhead (lakefront)

3 bed / 2.5 bath, 1,873 sq ft, shake, siding and stone, three-car garage. A stone fireplace, built-in bookshelves and a vaulted ceiling in the family room; a large arched island on white custom cabinets in the kitchen. What to take from it: stack patios under the decks and run a proper staircase to the dock, so the slope becomes usable ground instead of a problem. See The Woody gallery.

The Fry, Lake Arrowhead

3 bed / 2.5 bath, 2,467 sq ft, shake and siding, three-car garage. Built as a lake house at Lake Arrowhead, it has a large sundeck, partially covered, with its own fireplace. Inside, the family room has a trey ceiling and a stone fireplace flanked by built-in bookshelves, fully open to a hardwood-cabinetry kitchen. What to take from it: put the fireplace on the deck as well as in the family room, so the outdoor room works in October, not just July. See The Fry gallery.

The Ridgewater, Lake Arrowhead

3 bed / 3.5 bath, 2,698 sq ft, stacked stone and siding, with a decorative wrought iron front door. The living area and kitchen are one open room around a fireplace that opens to two sides, and retractable doors let that whole room spill out onto a huge, partially covered sundeck. Hardwood runs throughout, and an open banister upstairs overlooks the foyer and living area. What to take from it: doors that disappear do more for a lake house than any window, because they make the deck part of the room rather than a view of it. See The Ridgewater gallery, which includes a 3D walkthrough.

The Jackson, Canton area (lake view)

Not lakefront: a lake view is its own kind of lot. A modern farmhouse on a hillside above lakeside greens and a golf course: exposed beams, wide-plank oak floors and an infinity pool. 3 bed / 3.5 bath, 2,915 sq ft heated. What to take from it: on a view lot the water is farther away, so the house has to reach for it. Black-framed windows and sliding doors that pull the landscape in, a built-in reading nook with panoramic views, and an infinity pool all do that work. See The Jackson gallery or its video tour.

The Snider, Lake Arrowhead (mountain view)

4 bed / 3 bath, 2,694 sq ft, stone and siding. Inside Lake Arrowhead without a lakefront lot: an open floor plan, two family rooms, a screened porch, and a level backyard with a future fire pit. What to take from it: if the lot has no water, buy the level backyard and the mountain view, and spend the lake-lot site money on the screened porch and a second family room. See The Snider gallery.

Let's walk your lot

Wherever you're looking, the next step is the same: walk the ground with someone who builds on it. We're a family-owned builder in Canton, and we'll give you a free site walk, a ballpark estimate that typically lands within about 5 percent, and a before-you-build consult. Contact us, or let us help you find the land for your North Georgia lake house.