Deephaven is one of the quieter places to build on the Lake Minnetonka corridor — quieter in the sense that the community doesn’t announce itself, the lots are established and heavily treed, and the standard of construction has historically been high without being showy. It’s a community where what’s behind the walls matters as much as what’s in front of them.

Partners COS builds in Deephaven. We’ve also done restoration work throughout this community — which means we know both how these homes are built and what happens when they’re built wrong. That dual perspective is what we bring to every project here.

What Deephaven’s Building Environment Demands

Deephaven sits along the southern shore of Lake Minnetonka in Hennepin County, with a substantial portion of its residential lots falling within the shoreland overlay zone. MCWD permit requirements apply to projects with significant soil disturbance or new impervious surface creation. Hennepin County shoreland setback and impervious surface limits apply on lakeshore lots.

Deephaven’s established residential landscape creates a specific challenge for new construction: many of the desirable lots are infill lots — teardown-and-rebuild opportunities in established neighborhoods where the existing tree canopy, grade, and drainage patterns need to be carefully assessed before design begins. Existing trees on adjacent properties may have root systems that extend into the building footprint. Existing drainage patterns may need to be maintained or improved as part of the site design to avoid creating water management problems for neighboring properties.

We approach every Deephaven infill project with a site analysis that addresses these conditions specifically — not as a pro forma exercise, but because ignoring them creates problems that either delay construction or create neighbor relations issues that persist for years.

The Construction Standard Deephaven Expects

The homes in Deephaven’s established neighborhoods set a visible standard for new construction. Clients building in this community aren’t looking for production home quality in a custom home package. They’re looking for construction that meets the quality of the best homes already in the neighborhood — and exceeds it in envelope performance and long-term durability.

Our restoration background informs that standard concretely. We’ve worked in high-end Deephaven homes after water intrusion events, ice dam damage, and moisture-related failures in wall and roof assemblies. The details that caused those failures are the details we build differently. Window pan flashing integrated with the weather-resistive barrier. Closed-cell spray foam at the rim joist. Extended ice and water shield at eaves. Foundation drainage systems appropriate for the site’s water table conditions.

These aren’t premium upgrades. They’re our standard specification — because we know what the alternative looks like when it fails.

Design: The Deephaven Aesthetic

Deephaven’s new construction tends toward a restrained, quality-forward aesthetic that fits within the established character of the neighborhood. The vernacular here isn’t the bold contemporary forms that appear on some Wayzata lakeshore lots — it’s a more contextual vocabulary that acknowledges the landscape and the scale of adjacent properties.

Natural materials. Thoughtful massing that doesn’t overwhelm the lot. Indoor-outdoor connections that take advantage of the privacy that larger, treed lots provide. The indoor-outdoor design principles that have influenced Lake Minnetonka corridor construction work particularly well in Deephaven, where mature tree canopies create the kind of screened privacy that makes outdoor rooms genuinely usable.

Frequently Asked Questions — Custom Home Builder Deephaven MN