We are Building a Container Cabin in the Mountains

We are currently in beginning stages of building a custom Container Cabin in the Buena Vista (BV), Colorado area. We have been dreaming about this for a while now and are so excited to break ground soon. We have had a lot of people ask for details on the project, so I thought it might be helpful to keep this blog up to date as we navigate the process.So far, this has been pretty labor intensive. There is not a ton of info out there about how to turn raw land into a fully functional home. So, I thought I would document our process, in the hopes that I can help someone else navigate this maze of confusion.Here is where we are at with each of the piece of this puzzle:The Plot: We purchased a lightly sloping treed lot with a bunch of potential build spots (of course with a bunch of spruce trees :) The lot is 2.5 acres which seems to be plenty of room for our relaxing getaway. It is located in a regulated neighborhood called The Ranch Of the Rockies. I will get more into why we chose a neighborhood with an HOA in a separate article soon. But, when picking a plot make sure to consider/educate yourselves on all the local building codes. This neighborhood is located in Park County. You can find out all the info you need to know about building codes here.

Note: Most, if not all of the land we looked at, had some building regulations attached to it. The most common we saw was in relation to the size of the permanent structure. Pretty much all counties we looked into would not allow people to build a single, stand alone tiny house. For instance, the smallest permanent structure you can build in Park Co is 600sq feet. So, make sure you do your homework before dropping some cash on some dirt. 

The Cabin: We looked at a ton of options for our build, everything from a DIY cabin kit from Costco, to a custom builder that would let us design the home and then they would build from those drawings.  We ended up settling on custom container home builder based in the midwest. I will post a link to their site here when I get permission from them. We have always appreciated the simplicity of using containers as building materials and after considering a bunch of different options it ended up being the most bang for our buck (with everything including adding a septic system, well, electricity ect. the cost per sqft is about $150, which in the Denver area is pretty cheap). As well as just looking super cool.So far the builders have been awesome. They had us put together some basic drawings of what we wanted, in terms of layout and size. Then sat down with us to talk about our budget. Once they new all the details from us, they took our vision and made it better (Which means a lot coming from a UX/UI designer like myself). Make sure if you go this route you are very clear on your expectations, the more you tell them up front about what you want, the closer they can get to your dream home.The Money: This has probably been the most interesting part of the process. We are working with a local bank out of BV called Collegiate Peaks BankDivision of Glacier Bank. They have been very helpful throughout the process, but it is quite a bit different then purchasing a home the traditional route. We are in the works for a loan type called a “Construction to Permanent Loan” (CtPL).Things to consider about the CtPL from our experience so far:1. Much like a traditional loan you need 20% down. The difference is that in a traditional closing, you get to bring the 20% payment to the closing. With a CtPL you need to give the 20% before your project can start.2. Many banks allow you to use money you have paid for “improvements.” Such as purchasing the land, adding a driveway, well, septic system ect. Basically, anything you do that cost money that improves the land value can be used as part of your down payment. Make sure you save all your receipts/invoices and check with your bank, because every bank could be different.

Note: if you do have work done before you are using your banks money. Make sure you get any contractor/subcontractor to sign a lien waver, so they can’t come back in a few years and add a lien on your property. This happens more then you think it would.  

3. Typically, a bank will only loan you 80% of appraised value of the finished home OR 80% of the construction cost. Which ever is lower.The tough thing with this process, is the fact that you need to get solid house plans designed, from a reputable company, with a breakdown of all the costs associated with the whole project; before your bank will approve the loan. For us this included juggling communication with our home builder, a separate contractor for all the ancillary work and the bank. Once the bank “approves” the loan, they order an appraisal (which can take up to 2 months).So, you pressure your home builder and the contractor to get you these numbers (for us we had to pay a 5k non-refundable deposit to the home builder for the certified plans). All with the hope that your potential property will appraise for enough to borrow the 80% of the construction costs. This whole process seems crazy to me. The Permits: So. many. permits. We are actually trying to get a driveway and a camper pad installed while we are waiting for the rest of the work to start. This way we can go spend time up there while we wait for the rest of the work to start. If you are trying to apply for a permit in Park County. It is a lot easier just to call this department https://www.parkco.us/195/Applications-PermitsTypically they want you to drop off your permit and pay in person, but they let me email the permit (and rough drawing of the driveway location) in since we live down in Denver. They also let me pay over the phone, which was awesome.

Things you need to do before you can submit your permit: Draw a rough placement of where the driveway is going to be located on the property.Mark your property with a your street numbers. We went to the hardware store and got a 4x4, stuck it in the ground and then nail our street numbers to it. Flag out the center of the driveway, ours had to be 18ft wide at the entrance and then 16ft wide the rest of the way. 

For us the permitting cost $150 and took about a week to be approved.The Rest of the work: Like I mentioned before, the land we purchased is RAW land. No electricity, water, gas or plumbing. We have to get all of this done. After reaching out to a few contractors I found someone that will do all this work. What all do we need to do, you might ask? So, this article doesn’t get any longer then it already is, I will write a separate article about all the ancillary work we that we need to do and a break down of the costs. This will also include info about the electric company we are using https://irea.coop/ and the gas company https://www.ferrellgas.com/. As well as the processes you need to do to get each of those services installed.I will try my best to be as transparent as possible throughout this process. Even though there has been a ton of juggling all the moving parts, we are very excited to continue down this journey.