Cost of deep wells ???

[westcliffe01]

The key thing if one is going to move, is to find a community that shares your values. Custer county is beef raising and hay growing country. You still see cowboys on horses and the sound of spurs on the sidewalk on main street in Westcliffe. The community there have done a lot to keep their local government in check. This is very different to what is going on in probably 90% of communities across the US. Where I live in Michigan, we have had a permanent curfew order in force for nearly 20 years. If your kids are found outside after 10 at night with no direct adult supervision, you can be charged with a misdemeanor. I wont even go over the reams of other rules that micro manage our lives. Bear in mind I live in a community of probably 10k inhabitants, average household income $45k, average deputy costs the community $200k/yr and average school teacher earns $60-80k. School superintendent $170k/yr. I have a 1300sq ft house on 1/3 of an acre and a dirt road that might get plowed 2 days after we get snowfall and I pay $4k/yr in property taxes.

The covenants in the subdivisions in Custer County are a product of the development companies which are usually located in one of the big metro areas across the US, those places where they can attract the sort of capital that can buy a 2000+ acre cattle ranch and turn it into a housing subdivision on 35 acre lots. Back in the early 80's some of the developers knew and understood that owning the water rights was a priority, but the later developers saw water rights purely as a cash cow that could be milked and anyone who bought into it would have to live with the consequences later...

 

[westcliffe01]

On top of all that, building a house is both costly and slow in remote areas. I have done it once and got my fill. Building in my county starts at about $500/sqft. That doesn’t include the well or septic or any excavation. And will take multiple years. With the fire we had a 2 1/2 years ago, 300 homes burned and less than 50 are built back. My advice is to buy an existing house…

Those covenants are not common across the state. I live rural so nothing here. The 40s down the road from me are a subdivision. But many places are not subs.

I plan to be my own general contractor. I will hire a crew to get the frame of the house up and weathered in, but after that I will do everything myself. I have done 2 extensive renovations already and I would like the opportunity to do something from scratch rather than muddling my way through several contractors shortcuts... I will anyway build my shop as the first step with a small living quarters so we are not "camping" while building the main house. It will also let me prefabricate parts in the shop nicely out the weather which I can then move into position with my backhoe to keep down how much has to be done in the weather. I understand how short the building season is at 7000+ ft... And how variable the weather is with the thunderstorm every afternoon at 3:30 pm in the summer.

 

[stumblinhorse]

I plan to be my own general contractor. I will hire a crew to get the frame of the house up and weathered in, but after that I will do everything myself. I have done 2 extensive renovations already and I would like the opportunity to do something from scratch rather than muddling my way through several contractors shortcuts... I will anyway build my shop as the first step with a small living quarters so we are not "camping" while building the main house. It will also let me prefabricate parts in the shop nicely out the weather which I can then move into position with my backhoe to keep down how much has to be done in the weather. I understand how short the building season is at 7000+ ft... And how variable the weather is with the thunderstorm every afternoon at 3:30 pm in the summer.

That is the plan of about half of the half built houses out here. That is what I did 10 years ago and had to pay construction loan penalties because it took so long. Had to sell after 3 year of construction. Just no one to hire and I had to do everything myself. Give yourself 2x the amount of time you think. I start months in advance of trying to have anything delivered or done. Last year it took 5 months to get a load of gravel delivered. The year before it took 7 months to get concrete delivered for my shop floor. That is pretty normal for mountain schedules. But with money drying up it will have to get better…

But good luck to you.

 

[westcliffe01]

That is the plan of about half of the half built houses out here. That is what I did 10 years ago and had to pay construction loan penalties because it took so long. Had to sell after 3 year of construction. Just no one to hire and I had to do everything myself. Give yourself 2x the amount of time you think. I start months in advance of trying to have anything delivered or done. Last year it took 5 months to get a load of gravel delivered. The year before it took 7 months to get concrete delivered for my shop floor. That is pretty normal for mountain schedules. But with money drying up it will have to get better…

But good luck to you.

Property I am looking at is in the valley, but not way up the side of a mountain. Also right next to the main local state highway. So I think logistically it will be less problematic. Now on the labor front, Im sure I will have a hard time competing with the crews building the Mc Mansion style summer cabins. There is one thing to try which is to recruit the local Amish, many of whom have moved to the area after giving up on Ohio or Michigan and Northern Indiana. I do not yet know how they are organised but they have always been the go to guys for barns and such...
There will not be any loans involved in my project, no-one wants to loan against anything but turnkey home projects today and this will be my last property so if I cant pay cash it wont get done.

 

[jyoutz]

Property I am looking at is in the valley, but not way up the side of a mountain. Also right next to the main local state highway. So I think logistically it will be less problematic. Now on the labor front, Im sure I will have a hard time competing with the crews building the Mc Mansion style summer cabins. There is one thing to try which is to recruit the local Amish, many of whom have moved to the area after giving up on Ohio or Michigan and Northern Indiana. I do not yet know how they are organised but they have always been the go to guys for barns and such...
There will not be any loans involved in my project, no-one wants to loan against anything but turnkey home projects today and this will be my last property so if I cant pay cash it wont get done.

I’m curious. I’ve never heard of Amish communities in Colorado. There are some in the Westcliffe area?

 

[westcliffe01]

There were some pretty large groups camping at the grape creek campground in 2012 while visiting families who had moved to Custer County.

 

[jyoutz]

I’ve been on the highway loop where you are located. I would think that you’re close enough to Pueblo to have access to construction and well service contractors.

 

[westcliffe01]

I’ve been on the highway loop where you are located. I would think that you’re close enough to Pueblo to have access to construction and well service contractors.

It was a well driller from Pueblo who gave me the $80/foot quote... If Nequett is still in business Im pretty sure I will get a better deal from him. If I can figure out a way to contact him... No website, no facebook account, no cell phone number. Old school.

For construction it is more than an hour 1 way, so it would add significantly to labor cost. But for a basic frame up and close in quote it may not be too bad. The pole barn guys would have it knocked out in 3-4 days. My shop will be 2x6 24" OC framed walls with 5/8" sheathing and then steel screwed to the sheathing so adding a step (same with the roof) but the steel install will be easy by comparison to doing it on purlins. Get both a stiffer building and ease of finishing the inside and insulation compared to a true pole building. It also means that I first have to finish the slab before I can start framing, more or less like a big garage. 40x64 material package is about $37k at Menards, including all the exterior steel and sheathing, trusses etc.

 

[jyoutz]

It was a well driller from Pueblo who gave me the $80/foot quote... If Nequett is still in business Im pretty sure I will get a better deal from him. If I can figure out a way to contact him... No website, no facebook account, no cell phone number. Old school.

I’m about 200 miles from Westcliffe and last I know it was about $50 in my area. You should be able to do better than $80.

 

[civilian]

It was a well driller from Pueblo who gave me the $80/foot quote... If Nequett is still in business Im pretty sure I will get a better deal from him. If I can figure out a way to contact him... No website, no facebook account, no cell phone number. Old school.

May have retired. Jon