Ice Castle vs. Building your own

For a while now, I have been wanting to invest in a nicer ice house like an Ice Castle. They can be pretty spendy and I have been weighing the options on whether to purchase one or just build my own. I would like the luxuries that come with an Ice Castle however if I built one, it would be tough installing those features in. I was just curious if anyone out there has built there own ice house similar to an Ice Castle house that has a lot of the features they have like TV, bathroom, ect. I was wondering if it was worth it to buy and build your own. Thanks!

If you do finish it yourself budget twice the time you anticipate. That’s speaking from experience.

I built one this fall, 12×6.5 with a V front. Everything was bought new, I didn’t start soon enough to leave time go bargain shopping. I feel like mine is higher quality/better built than an Ice Castle, however the finish on the inside isn’t quite as “fancy”.

Ellpoutguy is correct, figure your budget and then add a big chunk to it. Things like fasteners, caulk, and adhesive add up in a hurry. Also all the little things to finish the interior get spendy quick. I figured about $5500 to build mine and ended up closer to $8k.

At the end of the day I would say yes you can build one a bit cheaper than buying new. However buying a slightly used one is likely cheaper than building. It’s a huge time investment but very enjoyable if you like building things. Last advice would be to start early in the year on it and leave plenty of time.

At the end of the day

I’m not a ice fisherman but I have seen my buddy’s ice castle up by Mille lacs when I go bear hunting. And I can tell u that I was very disappointed in the quality of the inside of the shack. The trim was really cheap and was falling off all over after just 2 seasons and the cupboards just seemed like cardboard. Good luck in whatever u do just some fyi for ya

Thank you all for the great replies! Usually in the fall I’m out at the shed hunting or just hanging around. This would be a good project for me then and I will look a lot into the overall price and materials I am going to use. Any suggestions on flooring?

Floor covering or entire floor construction? I carpeted mine, it was cheapest and I had blown my budget. Had I not been out of money, it was a toss up between textured rubber flooring and Neo Mats.

One more thing to consider is the insurance aspect of it. Most insurance carriers are very reluctant to insure a homemade trailer/fish house that they have no background information on regarding who built it or if the vehicle is road worthy.

There’s a few carriers out there that will accept the homemades but they are far and few between.

I was in the market for an unfinished one as well. I consider myself to be pretty competent as far as carpentry and detail work. After research and budget planning,both time and money my plan is to shop for a used Firebrand already finished. I can always redo/upgrade certain things.

I have also heard. If you plan on building one yourself your only going to save about $2-4K on average. But that does not include your time you took to build it.
Also noted above about insurance and even licensing the shack in the state can be a Pain in the Butt from what I’ve heard.

I know some places are offering “shells” and you can have them made up to the point you want. Ultimately this is what I’ll be doing over the summer.
Firebrand Fish House shell and finish it off my self. Unless I can score an awesome deal on one. They are an all aluminum frame and all the wheel engineering is done for you.