Home Plans And Home Designs - General Contractor

In trying to keep all our ducks in a row for the project we are about to undertake, which is buying land and moving an existing house onto it, we are beginning to feel we may not be up to the task, as we both work full time. We brought up a list of all the contractors with full licensing on the county's website, but really this doesn't tell us at all what we need to know. We don't know anyone who has built a home in the area. What resources would we be best to use to determine the short list of general contractors to hire? The project location is Pueblo, CO where all contractors must be licensed.

Additionally, whoever we hire will probably have to go to where the house is currently located to assess any code problems we may have. We actually believe the only ones we will encounter are egress windows in the bedrooms, based on the conversation I had with the Regional Building Department, and hard-wired smoke detectors. House was built in 1963.

Thanks for any guidance you may offer.

Judi

DryGardener,

My first suggestion for resources would be Pueblo Building Dept. If they do not have one, go through the Regional Building Department, they can provide names for you. They will not recommend anyone in particular but it is a good source.

The other may be any builder associations - National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), National Assoc. of the Remodeling Industry (NARI), etc. that could provide resources.

Finally, your local lumber yard or nearest traditional lumber yard as they can provide more information for you.

Even subcontractors can provide names for you to check out.

Once you have names, see and talk to past clients. You can even call your State Building Department/Consumer Affairs to see if any complaints have been filed. The state can even send out a good info phamlet that will address issues of importance in your endeavor.

Hope this helps!

Thank you Doug, that certainly does help! Sadly, the local lumberyards have all but disappeared, it seems, but you gave us some good places to start. We are so intrigued by this project, we are really hoping to make it work.

Thanks again.

Judi

Judi,

I just went to google and typed in Pueblo Colorado General Contractors. If you go to Pueblo County and hit the link general contractors there is a list of probably 20 or so. I would then call and ask for references form all 20. I would then after checking references whittle my list down to 3-4 and explain your project and find out if they are able and willing to take on the project. Here in California if I want a building moved it is a specialty. General Contractors would build the foundation and all the other necessary code upgrades but as far as the house moving we deffer to the pros. I would check and see if there are any house movers in the area for that part of the project.

Good luck.

Brian Garrison
General Contractor

Hi Brian,

Thanks! We are actually already working with a building mover with 27 years in the business, so that part I feel pretty comfortable with. It's the rest of the project that I know will overtake us when it all begins to happen :) We've already done some of the preliminary work, verifying well specs and septic specs, one foundation quote thus far, quotes on material to repair driveway and other site fill, but still need soils test as some areas of Pueblo have expansive clay, and need to determine best way to address water with a lot of iron and some sulfur, and the thing that worries us both the most is assuring that we pull all the required permits and that the house meets code, which means hiring the right GC/subs. I wish I knew that someone in Pueblo had worked on a similar project, but I guess until I do as you recommend and get on the phone with them, I won't know. Aside from any familiarity with house moving, what other questions are really important to ask?

I feel so ignorant these days :) I'm quite familiar with the RE market in the area, but building/contracting I just haven't had to do before.

Thanks for your help. Bob thinks we should contact HGTV or some such place and see if they want to film the project because it's really been fascinating so far, and we haven't even started! But until I know we have our ducks in a row it seems premature. Neat way to get a house we could never afford to build though, if we can swing it!

Judi