We are a family business based in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia. We specialize in historic renovations and restorations, as well as in building turnkey new homes, whether timber frame homes or conventional buildings. We act as general contractor for the entire process from the design to painting the interior.
Iain Cocks and Yvonne Delaney have worked at my house many times since November 2007. The biggest jobs were a new roof, extensive upgrades of the kitchen cupboards, replacing nearly all of the windows, a new enlarged front deck, indoor painting, and most recently, an extensive exterior painting and restoration job.
Going back, this house had two window leaks from the time it was built 28 years ago, which many contractors were asked to repair, but only Iain was successful. Since then, Cocks and Delaney are the only contractors who have worked here. Their work is planned thoughtfully and carried out with care and concern for saving costs. I am always completely satisfied with the end product.
Yvonne and Iain Cocks are intelligent and reasonable people to work with and their staff are mindful of the property they are working on and behave in a thoroughly professional manner. Obviously, I am a fan and would highly recommend Cocks & Delaney Construction and Design.
Iain Cocks
Master Carpenter
Iain Cocks is a master carpenter and cabinetmaker who has been working with wood for over forty years. He has built every type of structure from timberframe to reinforced concrete, but definitely prefers working with wood. He began his career working as a carpenter around Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia. Iain worked with crews who were shipwrights as well as carpenters, so there was no such thing as a loose fit. Therefore, house frames were put together with the same care that went into a ship’s hull.
Iain worked in Toronto for seventeen years doing historic restorations in the downtown core and high end renovations in Forest Hills and Rosedale. He spent a year working in the French Quarter of New Orleans renovating buildings on Royal St. and Pirates Alley under the architectural control of the Vieux Carré Commission, which must approve every exterior repair for authenticity. His love of Nova Scotia brought him back home in 1997.
I like to describe the care that goes into building a house. It’s an incredible responsibility, because it’s going to be there forever, or has the potential to be. Our standards are extremely high.
Our clients become our friends. It takes a minimum of 6 months to build and finish a house, and we develop close relationships with our clients. And after you finish, if it breaks you have to fix it, perhaps when you’re over for dinner. We’re building in the area where we live, so we have to do a good job.
It’s out of pride in what I do that I have such high standards. Being ¼” too short doesn’t count. It takes 5 minutes or another ½ hour to make something right that would otherwise be wrong for 200 years.
We’re not expensive, but we’re not cheap. We insist on quality. You can cut corners and not save money in the end.
Yvonne Delaney
With a background in business management and customer relations, Yvonne is the company’s project coordinator, office manager and bookkeeper.
She is also the decorator in charge of interior detailing, consulting with clients to choose paint colours, and does the painting and staining herself.
Yvonne keeps customers up-to-date with the progress of their house.