Ice-out to freeze-up
How a Door County dock season actually runs
The schedule is set by water, weather, and shoreline — not by whoever called first.
Local Door County route. Written quote after a shoreline visit.
Ice-out and the first look
Nothing gets set while the shore is still making and breaking ice. Once it clears, we walk sites to see what the winter did: shifted leg plates, scraped decking, a lift that traveled a few feet, and where the water level sits this year.
Spring install
Protected bay-side and canal sites go in first because they clear first. Exposed Lake Michigan shoreline waits. Sections come out, legs get set and leveled, decking and bumpers go back on, the ladder is squared up, and the lift gets set at a depth that matches the hull.
Mid-season repair
Summer is when the honest problems show up: a bent leg after a hard blow, a stringer that flexes, a lift cable that has started to fray, a section that no longer sits flat. Small repairs get done on the route; bigger ones get quoted and scheduled.
Fall removal
Removal starts early enough that we are not fighting slush. Sections come out, get stacked where you want them, and hardware is bagged and labeled. Lifts and shore stations come out with the pier when access allows it in one trip.
Winter
Storm and salvage calls, ice damage assessment, and quoting new dock and lift work for spring. Written quotes go out over the winter so spring is not spent negotiating.
Routing and the ferry
Work is grouped by town and by shoreline so equipment is not crossing the peninsula twice a day. Washington Island is its own trip: the crew, the trailer, and the tools move on the ferry from Northport across Death's Door, so island work is batched into planned crossings rather than squeezed into a mainland week.
What it costs
No per-foot number on a website is honest. Water depth, bottom type, pier length, how the sections are stored, and whether a lift has to come out with the pier all change the work. Every job is quoted in writing after a shoreline visit.
Who does the work
Local Door County dock and lift work. Sturgeon Bay and the peninsula. We are not listing a named operator on this page yet. When the on-the-ground tenant is in place, this block will carry a real name, a real town, a short bio, and a real photo of the actual crew or barge.