DIY Network

Colorado Ski-Country Home: Location and Challenges From "Be Your Own Contractor: Vacation Homes" episode DBCV-108

Glen and Dawn Morgan's vacation home near Fairplay, Coloroado.

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In this episode of DIY's Be Your Own Contractor: Vacation Homes we meet homeowner Glen Morgan who acted as his own contractor on the construction of his "mining-shack" style cabin at the base of the Rocky Mountains in central Colorado.

In this segment, Glen discusses the Colorado location he chose for this vacation home and some of the initial setbacks and obstacles that he faced as the construction project got off the ground.

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Very Colorado

The area of Colorado where Glen and his wife Dawn decided to build (figures A and B) is surrounded by national-forest land with a wide system of trails ideal for hiking, mountain biking and other outdoor adventures. The couple also enjoys skiing and can be on some of the nation's best ski slopes in less than an hour's drive from the cabin.

"It's a beautiful area," says Dawn. "It's got that open vista that makes it look like a John Wayne movie and that we love. It's just very Colorado."

Figure A

Figure B

Figure C

The vacation home and three acres of surrounding property are located three miles from downtown Fairplay, Colorado at the base of the Rocky Mountains (figure C). The ski-resort town of Breckenridge is 30 miles to the north, and their main residence in Golden, Colorado is a two-hour drive.

Figure D

Though the Morgans only own three acres, the house itself is nestled in a grove of aspen trees that gives it a feeling of seclusion (figure D). The other side of the property is bordered on two sides by open space that will never be developed.

The couple is lucky in that they have access to existing utilities. The neighborhood already has electric power and telephone access as well as community wells on a nearby ridge. A common trench was dug to contain the water, electric and telephone connections to the house. If power were not already available here, the cost of bringing it in might have been prohibitive to the project.

Figure E

The first task in Glen's construction plan was to clear several-hundred trees to cut a road about 350 feet in from the neighborhood access-road (figure E). He hired a single subcontractor to handle the clearing of the trees, excavation work and septic-system installation. Difficulty arose almost immediately.

	Figure F
	Figure G

"Floating Deadlines"

When a county inspector came out to assess the soil conditions, he halted work on the project because it was felt that the flora and topography on the property might constitute a federally protected wetland (figure F). Glen hired an environmental engineer to make an independent assessment on the property and write a report of his findings. In the end, the specialist identified a small strip of the property as wetlands (figure G), but this was far enough away from the actual building site that construction could continue.

The delay caused by this situation amounted to about two weeks, and the ancillary costs incurred was several hundred dollars. For this reason, Glen regrets not having hired an environmental engineer from the start of the project. Though that would have still come at a cost, delays would have been less likely.

Following that initial delay, excavation did continue. The septic system was dug and the septic tank was placed. However, the subcontractor had to be called away to another job for a couple of days. During that time, heavy rains moved in and caused the septic tank to "float" and cave in. The work would therefore needed to be redone.

The subcontractor, however, did not return to the site (except to pick up some of his equipment and remove it) for about three weeks. After a series of phone calls, Glen was able to catch up with the subcontractor, and the job did get finished -- albeit with yet another delay.

In all, these two setbacks resulted in about six weeks overall delay and thousands of dollars of additional cost. "Any substantial delay in a construction-project timeline results in lost money," says Glen. "Everything from lost interest costs to other contractors not being available. The whole thing sort of snowballs. To insist that, as soon as weather permits, the contractor return to your job would be a reasonable expectation in my mind, and something that I will always include in any future contracts that I negotiate."

In the segment that follows, Glen explains his choice of special roofing material to withstand Colorado winters.

RESOURCES :

Investing in a Vacation Home for Pleasure and Profit
Author: James H. Boykin
Order this book from Amazon.com
Publisher: South-Western Educational Pub (2005)
ISBN: 0324314116

How a Second Home Can Be Your Best Investment: New, Tax-Free Methods for Using a Vacation Home for Recreation, Retirement and Investment
Authors: Tom Kelly, John Tuccillo
Order this book from Amazon.com
Publisher: McGraw-Hill (2004)
ISBN: 0071429700