Lulu Controls Costs in Colorado

Our client Lulu didn’t set out to become a property developer.

She bought a small, sloped parcel in the Rocky Mountains ski town where she’d rented for years and hoped to eventually put down roots. Land prices were absurd. Construction labor costs were even worse.

It wasn’t the perfect lot. Access was tight. Snow management would be a constant. But it was what she could afford in a place she actually wanted to spend time.

Lulu started out with a local architect and, as she talked to builders in town, the constraints became clear. Crews were booked seasons out. Winter compressed the build window. Materials had to arrive in the right sequence because there was nowhere to store them. From what she heard from friends who had built new, every misstep showed up as a change order.

That’s when she brought in HUTS.

The early conversations weren’t about style. They were about feasibility. What could realistically be built on this site, in this market, with this budget. Instead of pushing the house larger, we helped tighten the layout so it worked harder. Circulation was simplified. Square footage became a deliberate choice rather than a default.

To make the most of the short season, we looked at panelizing the shell to get the house dried in quickly. That decision reshaped the schedule and reduced winter risk. Material and construction choices followed the same logic. Readily available materials and simple assemblies allowed us to pull trades from outside the immediate area, easing pressure on cost and availability.

This wasn’t about cutting corners. It was about choosing carefully. Some finishes were elevated where they mattered most. Others were kept intentionally simple.

Lulu never thought of herself as a developer, but that’s effectively what she became. Zoning, access, construction strategy, and financing all pushed on one another. With those pieces aligned early, the project stayed coherent instead of reactive.

By the time construction began, there were fewer surprises. The house wasn’t oversized or indulgent. It was durable, well-considered, and sized for how it would actually be used.

In an expensive market like Lulu’s, that kind of clarity isn’t optional.