It was still too early in the game for downstream COVID-19 effects to play out fully. It remained unclear if the local GC backlog was pandemic-related or if contractors were leveraging demand and lowering expectations. Our thought process was all the restrictions and related effects were temporary and that life would return to normal in weeks, perhaps in a worst-case scenario, a month or two. Finding a qualified contractor this far in advance should be possible. The Fraser Distillery provided good food and generous portions of home-distilled spirits, prompting us to minimize the impact of future challenges while inflating our sense of optimism.

My visit was short, intense, and productive, as we both had a laundry list of items to address. Hayden’s list consisted of revisiting objectives, zeroing in on workable designs she liked, defining finish levels, and a budget she could handle. My list included service providers, infrastructure requirements, and essential vendors. Our goal was to have the project ready by spring ‘21 and to line up as many available vendors as possible. I was proud we were so proactive. It was reasonable to assume a 1+ year lead time for specialty service providers would provide adequate notice. We came to discover it was not. Unknown to us is a thing called ‘Mountain Time’ that follows no calendar or cloud-based scheduler. Mountain folk tend to be salt of the earth, good people. Yet, their service delivery depends on factors difficult to quantify, impossible to predict, and in no way dictated by your schedule.

Technicians based in the mountains can pleasantly surprise you, but often, they fall off the radar for days, weeks, or even months, occasionally with some essential product you need to be installed strapped to their roof rack. Our build site was not near a corner store where products and parts were readily available. If something was missing or damaged, a trip to Denver was required. Any hitch in the process needed, at best, a half-day excursion over Berthoud Pass twice. The process of obtaining service providers resembles pit stops in migration patterns. It is imperative you are constantly on alert for their arrival and prepared to do anything to take advantage of them before they disappear again. Eventually, everything gets done, but never when you thought or how you anticipated.

The available public utilities were limited to natural gas, electricity, and high-speed internet, and all required mountain-specific underground installations that were very different from what I was used to. Nothing is simple at 9,000’. Potable water and sanitation were to be resolved on-site by drilling a well and installing septic tank(s) with accompanying leach field. The original development/subdivision provided preliminary engineering specifying acceptable locations so that the resulting installations would not negatively impact adjacent properties. Water wells had several target production zones (strata), and the limited number of existing wells was insufficient to predict actual depths for our well. The cost to drill was billed on a linear footage basis, so cost estimates were, at best, guesses. The septic and accompanying leach fields needed to remain a minimum distance from any potable water supply. The rationale for this should be crystal clear. The size of the home and its projected water use dictated the ultimate size of the sanitary plan. The elevation, climate, and soil composition limited the available state-approved systems, and an overriding drip/evaporation configuration was selected for the development. This system was pre-engineered with a base design that provided a cut-and-paste application suitable for most proposed homes. Of course, you could choose alternative sanitary systems, but any deviation would require new engineering and additional approvals. The companies providing these services were limited to one or two local companies and booked out months, if not years, in advance. Luckily, we could schedule appointments and succeeded in reserving slots for the subsequent year, at least in principle.

Having a good handle on everything in the mountains (the delusion is complete, and the joke would be on us), I returned to Pittsburgh with a divided focus. The exciting, shiny new object was Hayden’s home design. The old ball and chain was the resumption of an extensive one-1/2-year renovation, and additions were suspended in limbo due to the mandated nationwide shutdown. The owners had moved in, but the roof, concrete driveway, and stucco exterior were still to be finished. The most challenging line item was the roof because it had a 12/12 pitch, and the finished product was Ludowici cement roofing tile. If you don’t know the product, feel free to look it up (https://ludowici.com/), but the bottom line is that it is a cement tile requiring labor-intensive, piece-by-piece installation. The remaining balance, which had to be hand-transported to its elevated final resting spot, weighed over 20 tons. Perhaps I should thank Governor Wolf, as the reprieve was appreciated and much needed.

After starting my business in the late 1980s, I always had the next job in my back pocket, if not multiple projects. Knowing where I was going provided a sense of purpose, direction, and job security. The pandemic not only put current jobs on hold but created a sense of uncertainty as neither contractor nor homeowner knew what would happen next. That evening, quiet internal voices at the distillery started a discussion, attempting to balance uncertainty with a potential opportunity. Hayden’s enthusiasm was contagious, but in retrospect, I may have unintentionally set us up for the adventure of a lifetime. Naively, we amused ourselves by speculating how much fun it would be to build the house together, unfettered by any sense of realism. The underlying direction this process was subtly diverting to was light years away from the humorous picture story we created of mountain elves and unicorns sliding a mountain villa down a rainbow onto the lot, some magical evening.

The design and budget components were my only commitment. Still, whether spoken or not, I rationalized this could be a more significant opportunity for a father who would do anything for his daughter. Somehow, a seed had been planted and took root without fully comprehending what we were getting ourselves into. Metaphorically, the train was building up a head of steam to leave the station, and this was not to be a sightseeing excursion.