Going to a better place.
#12
12-05-2007, 05:43 PM
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#13
12-05-2007, 05:46 PM
RE: Going to a better place.
Savage,
I lived in the Breckenridge area for the past 8 years doing general contracting. Divorce forced me to move back to Iowa but I am still GC ing a home out there long distance. Work in Iowa 3 weeks then out there for a week to make sure things are going good with the crew and new home owner.
Locals out there are having a very hard time making ends meet. The cost of living is high. Land prices are jumping more than the national average each year. Most of the "locals" that work in the resorts live either north or south of the area and commute 30-45 min each way. The Summit County area is becoming the Eastern Vail of the Rockies since Vail Resorts bought them 7 years ago. The area is great. Winters get to be long. Snow in October and sticks until April. Coldest months are Dec and Jan. Gets down to -10 some nights but as soon as the sun comes over the hill the solar warmth kicks in. Not the bone chilling damp cold we get in Iowa. Summers are what we lived for, both months. Highs in the upper 70's and dry air. Nights down in the 50's.
If you need some referals out there I can steer to to some straight shooting people. Let me know if I can help.
I lived in the Breckenridge area for the past 8 years doing general contracting. Divorce forced me to move back to Iowa but I am still GC ing a home out there long distance. Work in Iowa 3 weeks then out there for a week to make sure things are going good with the crew and new home owner.
Locals out there are having a very hard time making ends meet. The cost of living is high. Land prices are jumping more than the national average each year. Most of the "locals" that work in the resorts live either north or south of the area and commute 30-45 min each way. The Summit County area is becoming the Eastern Vail of the Rockies since Vail Resorts bought them 7 years ago. The area is great. Winters get to be long. Snow in October and sticks until April. Coldest months are Dec and Jan. Gets down to -10 some nights but as soon as the sun comes over the hill the solar warmth kicks in. Not the bone chilling damp cold we get in Iowa. Summers are what we lived for, both months. Highs in the upper 70's and dry air. Nights down in the 50's.
If you need some referals out there I can steer to to some straight shooting people. Let me know if I can help.
#15
12-05-2007, 06:40 PM
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RE: Going to a better place.
lee8751-
I am an architect by school, but a GC by experience. I would love to continue to build residential homes there, butI have NEVER built a log home, and that would be something completely new to me. Currently my company builds about 25 houses a year here, and I have it down pretty good here, but I would have alot of learning to do there. I can always get a job as a architect/draftsman butI really like to be in the field. My wife would like to find an opening in the HR dept in one of the resorts there, that way maybe we can get a ew perks through the resort to help out a little financially.
The points you have brought up are very true, andI am aware of most of them. The cost of living is very high there, Summit county is getting very rediculous, but it is also one of the greatest places in the country. Somehting like $200,000 is not uncommon for a single wide trailer home on a concrete pad on a piece of land that is zoned "tourism" or "resort"(I think that is what they called it, we don't have that around here)so that you can only occupy it 8 months out of the year. Prolly can't get an actuall home for less thatn $350,000 and that would be for a 700sq.ft. shack if you were lucky. I would be fine with living in the foothills so that we would have more resonable weather, we could work in denver, have a nicer house, and we could go into the mountains every weekend, but my wife desperately wants to live right up in the middle of it all.
Just thinking about 4-wheelin with the truck up in the mountains is the greatest, i can't image what it will be like once i am actually doin it.
I am an architect by school, but a GC by experience. I would love to continue to build residential homes there, butI have NEVER built a log home, and that would be something completely new to me. Currently my company builds about 25 houses a year here, and I have it down pretty good here, but I would have alot of learning to do there. I can always get a job as a architect/draftsman butI really like to be in the field. My wife would like to find an opening in the HR dept in one of the resorts there, that way maybe we can get a ew perks through the resort to help out a little financially.
The points you have brought up are very true, andI am aware of most of them. The cost of living is very high there, Summit county is getting very rediculous, but it is also one of the greatest places in the country. Somehting like $200,000 is not uncommon for a single wide trailer home on a concrete pad on a piece of land that is zoned "tourism" or "resort"(I think that is what they called it, we don't have that around here)so that you can only occupy it 8 months out of the year. Prolly can't get an actuall home for less thatn $350,000 and that would be for a 700sq.ft. shack if you were lucky. I would be fine with living in the foothills so that we would have more resonable weather, we could work in denver, have a nicer house, and we could go into the mountains every weekend, but my wife desperately wants to live right up in the middle of it all.
Just thinking about 4-wheelin with the truck up in the mountains is the greatest, i can't image what it will be like once i am actually doin it.