Custom Dock Building on Lake George
Timber crib docks, driven-pile docks and composite decks designed for a lake that freezes solid, drops several feet every winter, and drives ice into anything left standing.
What you need to know
A custom dock on Lake George is a permitted, permanent structure — almost always a timber crib dock or a driven-pile dock — engineered to survive winter ice expansion, a seasonal water-level swing of roughly four feet, and open-water wave action. The Lake George Park Commission caps most residential docks at 700 square feet including the walkway, an 8-foot maximum pier width, and a 20-foot setback from each neighbouring property line extended into the lake. Lake George Docks handles the survey, the design, the permit filing and the build.
What this covers
- Timber crib docks with stone fill
- Driven and jetted pile docks
- U, L, T and E-shaped configurations
- TimberTech composite & cedar decking
- Cable, wood and aluminium railings
- LGPC permit drawings and filing
Custom Dock Building
Why a Lake George dock is not a lake dock
Lake George is 32 miles of deep, cold, exceptionally clear water sitting inside the Adirondack Park, and every one of those facts changes how a dock has to be built.
The lake freezes fully in most winters — on average by around 19 January, and it stays locked up for roughly 76 days when it does. Water expands close to 9% as it turns to ice, and that expansion has to go somewhere. On a shoreline structure, it goes into your cribs, your pilings and your decking. Then the sheet moves: wind and thermal cycling push it against the shore, and a season of freeze-thaw will walk an under-built crib several feet or lift a piling straight out of the bed.
Add the winter drawdown at the Ticonderoga dam, a bottom that turns from sand to ledge within a few feet, long uninterrupted fetches on the broad water south of Bolton, and the deepest holes in the lake reaching nearly 200 feet, and you have a set of conditions no catalogue dock kit is designed for. That is the problem we build around.
Custom Dock Building
Three ways to build, and how to choose
Almost every permanent dock on this lake is one of three things. The right answer is decided by your bottom composition, your depth at the setback line, and how exposed you are to weather from the north and south.
| Type | Best where | Winter behaviour | Working life |
|---|---|---|---|
| Timber crib | Rock, ledge or boulder bottom; shallow to moderate depth | Stays in year-round; mass and stone fill resist ice movement | 30–50 years with crib maintenance |
| Driven pile | Sand, gravel or sediment with real embedment depth | Stays in; vulnerable to ice jacking if embedment is short | 25–40 years |
| Floating | Deep water close to shore; swim platforms | Must be removed before ice-in every single year | 15–25 years |
Many Lake George properties end up with a hybrid: a crib-supported pier out to depth, with a floating section or a lift beyond it. There is nothing wrong with mixing — the permit counts total square footage regardless of how it is held up.
Custom Dock Building
Built for the ice, not in spite of it
A dock that survives thirty Lake George winters is not simply a stronger version of a dock that survives five. It is detailed differently.
We build cribs with generous plan dimensions and fill them with well-graded stone so the structure resists movement through sheer mass and friction rather than by trying to out-muscle the ice. Corners are notched and drift-pinned, not just fastened. Where pilings are the right answer, we chase real embedment rather than stopping at refusal on a boulder. Decking is fastened so individual boards can be lifted and replaced without dismantling a bay. Hardware is hot-dip galvanised or stainless throughout, because a fastener that fails at the waterline takes the frame with it.
The detail that matters most is the one nobody sees: how the dock meets the shore. That transition takes the worst of the ice push and the worst of the runoff, and it is where most failures we are called to repair actually began.
Custom Dock Building
Materials that earn their keep
We are a TimberTech Silver Pro partner, which means we install their composite decking to specification and can register the manufacturer warranty on your project. That matters on a dock: composite does not cup, check or need annual sealing, and on a structure you reach by boat, avoiding a maintenance cycle is worth real money.
For dock and marine builds specifically, we spec TimberTech's Advanced PVC MAX boards — at 1½ inches thick they run 50% thicker than standard decking, span up to 24 inches on-center rather than the usual 16, and are rated up to 40% more slip-resistant wet or dry. Being 0% wood, they will not absorb water, mold or mildew the way a composite with an open underside can, and they run noticeably cooler underfoot on a sun-exposed pier. Colors run from the Vintage Collection's Coastline and Weathered Teak to Landmark's Boardwalk and French White Oak. Advanced PVC carries a limited lifetime product warranty with up to a 50-year fade-and-stain warranty; TimberTech's composite lines carry 25–30-year warranties.
That said, we build plenty of cedar and pressure-treated docks, and for some properties they are the better call. What we will not do is put a material somewhere it cannot succeed — untreated framing below the splash line, or a fastener schedule that assumes the boards will never move.
How it goes
From first call to finished work
No surprises, no vanishing acts between the deposit and the build.
Shoreline assessment
We sound the bottom, check depth at the setback line, look at your prevailing wind and ice fetch, and measure your frontage to establish exactly what the LGPC will allow you to build.
Design and drawings
You get a plan view and section drawings showing footprint, square footage, setbacks and materials — the same drawings that go into the permit application.
Permitting
We file with the Lake George Park Commission and, where the work touches the bed of the lake or the bank, coordinate DEC, APA and town approvals.
Winter build window
Crib work is easiest when the lake is drawn down. We stage materials on the ice or barge them in, set cribs, and have you decked and railed before Memorial Day.
Recent work
Custom Dock Building on Lake George
Photographs from our own projects around the lake. Click any image to enlarge.
Common questions
Custom Dock Building, answered
The questions Lake George owners actually ask us. If yours is not here, ask it directly — we would rather answer than have you guess.
How big can a dock be on Lake George?
Under Lake George Park Commission regulation 646-1, a residential dock is limited to 700 square feet of surface area including any walkway. The pier itself may be no more than 8 feet wide, the overall structure no more than 40 feet wide including all projections, and it may extend no more than 40 feet beyond the mean low-water mark or 100 feet from the mean high-water mark — whichever is more restrictive. Anything built on the dock is capped at 16 feet above the mean high-water mark.
How many docks am I allowed for my frontage?
The Commission scales dock and mooring counts to shoreline ownership:
- 45–65 feet: one straight pier dock
- 66–150 feet: one dock (straight, T, L or U-shaped) plus one mooring
- 151–250 feet: two docks or one E-shaped wharf, plus two moorings
- 251–500 feet: three docks or two E-shaped wharfs, plus three moorings
- 501+ feet: four docks and four moorings, plus one more of each per additional 150 feet
Every dock also needs a 20-foot setback from the adjacent property line projected into the lake.
Crib dock or pile dock — which is right for my shoreline?
It comes down to what is under the water. Timber cribs — open log boxes filled with stone — sit on the lake bed and are the traditional Lake George solution where the bottom is ledge or boulder and you cannot drive anything into it. Pile docks need a bottom that will accept a pile: sand, gravel or soft sediment deep enough to get meaningful embedment. Much of Lake George is rock, which is why cribs dominate. We sound your bottom before recommending either one.
Can I have a floating dock on Lake George?
Floating sections are permitted and are counted in your square footage like any other dock surface. They make sense in deep water where a crib would be enormous, or where you want a swim platform that rides the seasonal water-level change. The trade-off is that floats must come out before ice-in every year, and they move underfoot. Most owners we work with use a fixed crib or pile structure for the main pier and add floating sections only where depth demands it.
What decking lasts longest on Lake George?
Three realistic choices. Pressure-treated southern yellow pine is the value option and, maintained, gives 15–25 years. Cedar is lighter, stays cooler underfoot and weathers to a silver-grey many owners prefer. Composite — we are a TimberTech Silver Pro partner — costs more up front and never needs sealing, which matters on a structure you can only reach by boat or over a bank. On a dock that ices over every winter, composite's resistance to freeze-thaw checking is a real advantage. For dock-rated boards we use TimberTech's Advanced PVC MAX line — 1½ inches thick, built to span wider joist spacing, and backed by a limited lifetime product warranty.
When can you actually build my dock?
In-water structural work happens best from late autumn through early spring, when the lake is drawn down and the shallows are exposed or frozen. Cribs are often set through the ice. Decking, railings and finish work continue into spring. If you want a dock for the coming season, the conversation needs to start the previous summer or autumn — permitting alone commonly takes several months.
Related
Often part of the same project
Lake George, New York
Let's talk about your custom dock
Tell us the property, the shoreline and what you have in mind. We will tell you what is possible, what it involves and roughly what it costs — before anyone commits to anything.