southeastern Colorado struggles to attract homebuilders

[interloper1138]

Originally Posted by davebarnes

There are always exceptions. But, the vast majority are doomed.

As long as cities continue to exist as places of pollution, noise, overcrowding, crime, cultural pretentiousness, and self-absorbed mindsets, there will be those of us you deem 'doomed' - happily living out our doomed lives in the sticks.

[pikabike]

Originally Posted by Spot

Yeah, I think this is the main problem. I'm not surprised that some of the rural areas are struggling with finding qualified labor considering the fact that companies right here in Denver can't find enough workers.

There is another factor operating in some rural areas. The existing established contractor GOB system deliberately makes it difficult for “invading outsider” contractors to get materials from local suppliers or otherwise gain any foothold. When we were having our home built, it became obvious both from our own experiences and that of others who related similar stories, that the GOB network tries to eliminate anything that would force them to compete in competence, level of professionalism, or price.

With the pandemic-related oddity of increased demand and decreased labor pool, it might be even harder to obtain materials. You might think that incoming willing labor would alleviate the shortage of contractor availability, but if the businesses can’t get the materials...and if the distance to the rural areas is far from the workers’ homes...

We know of one celebrity estate being built in a mountain $$$$$$$$$$ area, a multiyear project. The contractor placed ads combing the nearby areas for the best contractors, offering not only long-term year-‘round employment but also a vanpool service that would pick up workers from a small town and take them to the worksite, plus a 4-day workweek. Betcha the project also makes one heckuva bragging point for a real career, too.

So if you are among the wealthiest tippy top percent of customers (excuse me—clients), you might get your dream place built to high standards. The rest of us end up having to accept subpar work and doing a lot of work ourselves.

[Pahn]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

Exactly. My post was too long as it was to go into the issues of labor supply since there's probably little to no skilled construction labor out there. Mostly they would import such labor from south of the border as we also see much of that here in the Phoenix area too. As a nation we seem to lack such labor because too many people send their kids to college, and we've almost no trade schools teaching manufacturing and construction skills. It's like a perfect storm . . .

Legendary framer Larry Haun and his brothers used to frame a house in a day.

Imagine how much cheaper it would be to build if you had skilled artisans like that working so efficiently. Granted, during that LA building boom, he was probably framing 800-1000 sqft houses, but the country still needs starter homes.

[davebarnes]

Originally Posted by Pahn

the country still needs starter homes.

Yes, but, they won't be built in Colorado.
The tap fees in most places are way too high for smaller starter houses.
For example, the water/sewer tap fees in Erie, Colorado are $38K.
The Residential Impact Fees are another $14K.

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by Pahn

Legendary framer Larry Haun and his brothers used to frame a house in a day.

Imagine how much cheaper it would be to build if you had skilled artisans like that working so efficiently. Granted, during that LA building boom, he was probably framing 800-1000 sqft houses, but the country still needs starter homes.

I did framing of a sort back in the mid 1960s with a summer job at a housing factory. In one 12-hour shift we could produce all the exterior wall panels for four homes, with windows installed, sheathing applied and in some case fiberglass insulation stapled in. When the completed wall panels got to the end of the line they were set upright and slid into a semi truck which would truck them to a job site where labor would set them on the sill plates and nail them in-place. We call them "pre-fab" homes since they weren't stick-built on-site. Other parts of the plant did the roof and floor trusses. The whole kit and kaboodle was delivered to the job sites for assembly. I was a nail-gunner, using what looked like a Thompson sub-machine gun with two hoses in the back; one hose for compressed air to drive the hammer (think hand-held jack hammer) and the other hose delivered 16D nails via air pressure. It was hard, dirty and loud work.

The huge nationwide builders don't want to build starter homes; the best money is in the bigger houses.

[brightdoglover]

When I wanted a small house (less than 1000 sq.ft.) I knew I had to have it built. Just nothing available. It wasn't that cheap, because the cheapest thing, I think, is more enclosed space. You still need a furnace, utility hookups, grading, etc. I'd say my house was about $325/sq.ft. I didn't go low ball, have a metal roof, big deck (trex), underfloor heating. I love my house. So does Zillow, apparently.