Full Circle with The Christi Reece Group
Compelling interviews and incredible tales from Colorado's Western Slope, from the mountains to the desert. Christi Reece and her team hear from the movers, shakers and characters of the Grand Valley and surrounding mountain towns that make the Western Slope the place we all love. You'll learn, you'll laugh, you'll love with the Full Circle!
Full Circle with The Christi Reece Group
RG Cowan Design Build - CEO/Owner Ryan Cowan - Full Circle with The Christi Reece Group
What is Towards Net Zero Building? How does the Grand Valley stack up when it comes to green building practices? Christi sits down with Ryan Cowan, CEO and Owner of RG Cowan Design Build, to discuss their philosopy and practice of building architecturally significant and energy efficient homes in Western Colorado for this month's Full Circle Podcast!
Learn more about RG Cowan at https://rgcowandesign.com/
Prefer to watch your podcasts? Head over to our YouTube page to see this and all our episodes!
<silence>
Speaker 2:The Full Circle podcast, compelling interviews and incredible tales from Colorado's Western Slope, from the mountains to the desert. Christy Reese and her team here from the Movers Shakers, and characters of the Grand Valley and surrounding mountain towns that make the Western slope the place we all love. You'll learn, you'll laugh, you'll love with the full circle. Hello everyone, and welcome. I'm Kristy Reese and welcome back to the Full Circle Podcast. Today I'm really delighted to have an old friend of mine, some that I worked with for a long time, or we're gonna talk about building techniques toward Net zero and all kinds of construction related items here on our podcast. So, welcome Ryan Coen of RG Coen Design. Bill .
Speaker 3:Hi. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Um, so Ryan, we did our first project together, I believe, on my second house in Grand Junction over Onita . Yep . You did a big project for us. So give us a little history on your background in construction.
Speaker 3:Uh , well , uh, my dad was a home builder in Fort Wayne, Indiana, so I grew up around building, I was a kid back then, but still kind of the process of building sunk in. And
Speaker 2:Was, was he , what kind of houses was he building there?
Speaker 3:He was building kind of a , I call it a semi-custom home. You know, he, he wasn't a track home builder. He built probably five to seven houses a year. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> and drew everyone himself for all of his clients. Nice . That kind of thing. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And so, yeah, you grew up in the industry, you on the job site frequently.
Speaker 3:Uh, when I was a kid, I , I swept houses. That was about as far as it got back then. <laugh> , I , I , uh, started for a remodeling company right outta high school in Wisconsin. I lived in Wisconsin at the time. And , um, most of my early career was doing remodeling. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> and , um, kind of fixing old houses and seeing what was, what was wrong and all these , um, older homes. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And you're not afraid of the older homes, I think, you know, that it's a , there can be just a variety of things that come up when you start tearing into things. Right.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And I , um, I think one of the, one of my realizations over time with older homes is that it is really good problem solving. It's, it's a fun process to figure out how to solve for and , and improve an older home. Um, but you always get stuck with all the things you just can't do. You just can't fix everything. Yeah . And so you always end up with something that's always gonna have some things that , uh, are never fully addressed. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , which is always the, the downside of a , a remodel. Yeah . Mm-Hmm.
Speaker 2:<affirmative>. So you've done a lot of remodeling jobs around the Grand Valley. When , when did you move to Grand Junction?
Speaker 3:I moved to Grand Junction from , uh, Gunnison , Crested Butte in 2003, I believe. Yeah. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>
Speaker 2:And , um, got, just started a remodeling , uh, company here and went out pounding the pavement. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, a little by default, I had some friends that wanted a kitchen remodel and I was moving to town Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . And so I started there and I think, you know, doing good work, all you end up with the referral business just kinda started and kind of kept me going. I didn't do any marketing for 10 years. Um, it's just kind of word of mouth and Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> getting going. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And , um, your dad, did he come out and visit you here when you got started in Grand Junction and give you some advice? <laugh>
Speaker 3:<laugh> , um, a little bit. Uh , my dad wasn't big on advice, but he did, he came out and saw what we were doing. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , he always liked to see what kind of projects we were working on. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . Um, he'd give me all his , uh, his , um, his bidding sheets and things to help me figure out, you know, how do you even learn how to price out a project? Yeah . All that kind of stuff early on. Yeah. Nice.
Speaker 2:And , um, so when did you start building custom homes?
Speaker 3:Our first custom home was in 2008, right when the recession started. I got a little bit lucky. Um, I had somebody, we designed a home and had just poured the foundation when the bottom kind of fell out. And so he was committed, even told me, you know , if this, if we hadn't poured this foundation, I would've probably pulled the plug on this Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . So , um, you know, that kind of was , was a godsend, you know, it allowed me to set up to go back to school. That's , I went back to the school during the recession, but I had a year to plan it because we had a pretty big custom home that just broke ground. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah .
Speaker 2:Was that the one up in Glade Park?
Speaker 3:Yep , it was in Glad Park. Yeah . Yeah.
Speaker 2:And so you, you liked or weren't afraid of working on old homes. I know you did a lot in downtown Grand Junction. Um, how do you describe your style and, and like what kind of construction you started to focus on and be interested in?
Speaker 3:Well, I think, I mean, over time and through my, I've always had an interest in, you know, kind of energy efficient building techniques and building science and think it's something I love to talk about and geek out on all day. But , um, I think , uh, going back to school for design really helped me also kind of elevate my thinking about what it is that we do. And I have a lot of experience in remodeling, but as we've , um, we still do quite a bit of remodeling, but I , my passion is definitely in new construction and what we can achieve in a new construction product, you know ? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . So, you know, our company now , um, you know , we focus on building , um, you know, thoughtful, highly considered architecturally significant homes. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> for design minded clients. Um, we really feel that by building homes that are , um, durable and energy efficient and based in quality, we can , um, provide homes that are healthy, reliable, and lasting. And this is not only to give our clients peace of mind, but also , uh, an energy independent low maintenance home that they can count on for its lifetime. And I think that's all that kind of description of what we do is , um, is kind of a lot packed in there for us, and, you know, how we approach , um, our, our process of design and construction and methods and everything. Yeah . Mm-Hmm.
Speaker 2:<affirmative> , um, so you have a team that you do everything from , uh, the beginning to the end. Yes . You design, but people can also come to you with , uh, another designer's work. Is that correct, or?
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I think more , um, probably more recently we've done a lot more of that. Like, I think we've had several clients that came with an architect Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . And they always start with that question, like, can I bring my own design? And , um, and the answer's yes. You know, we, we go into a pre-construction contract on those, and we try to , um, figure out , um, where we can , um, provide some, some guidance if the design's already done to improve the performance of the home. And , um, hopefully it's still in the design process that we can , uh, um, offer some guidance there. Mm-Hmm.
Speaker 2:<affirmative>, what do you think are the biggest misconceptions or fallacies that people have about energy? Uh , energy efficient homes? I mean, energy star is a big , uh, word that a lot , I think a lot of people know, but , um, I , I've seen a lot of builders , um, build to the energy star standards, but not necessarily get the certification Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . Um, but talk about that and maybe some other things that you think maybe the public doesn't understand about energy efficient homes.
Speaker 3:Well , I think the , uh, you know, I , one thing that we end up talking a lot about when people, we start talking about performance of the home, energy efficiency, people start thinking about payback. And , um, it's not something we talk a lot about because it's a really complicated thing to , to tell people like, what is this, this ROI ? But for us, it comes , um, back to comfort in the home, quality of the home, durability of the home. I think when you design and build a home that's an integrated system, you know, the , everything is kind of thought to be working together as mm-Hmm. <affirmative> instead of a bunch of of parts that are just kind of thrown in. Um, it creates , um, energy efficiency of course, but also more deliverability and comfort. And , um, I , another big one for us that kind of starts at the site and the way we design is, you know, we like to provide homes that people feel like they're living , uh, in a landscape, you know, in a yes. You know, not in a box. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . And I think there's a lot of homes that they do get to feeling a little bit like they're, you know, beautiful in their own way, but they're also a little bit like living in a box. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . And we try to break that box as much as we can and, and , uh, use products that are gonna still, you know, even though we like to use lots of glazing , um, we want it to still be energy efficient. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> and , uh, and quality.
Speaker 2:I, I like what you said about Yeah. Living with the environment , um, boy, being a realtor here in town, I've seen over and over again, you walk into a house and think, oh my gosh, I can't believe they did this. You know, they didn't take advantage of the views, or they turned the house the wrong way. Or they, they made the house feel like it was sitting on top of the land instead of integrating with the land. And that can be anything from materials to colors to design. Right. Right . How do you approach that integration?
Speaker 3:Well, we, we prefer to be involved in design. Like, you know, that's, I think that's where our passion lies, is like starting from the beginning and helping to make those decisions. Visiting the site before we ever draw a line on paper is super important to us. Um, you know, you can't really know and understand the opportunities that are there. Um, and , uh, if , if you're not there to experience 'em, and then trying to pull that experience into a home and through a home and, and, you know, and integrate that with people's lifestyles, I think there's so many things that kind of like start to play together. And , um, it's so common in home building for clients to pick a floor plan, which is , um, not where I want to live. <laugh> Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , you know, I , I do have clients come with floor plans, but I, I try to use that as a guide to what, you know, something they like about that.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Right. Exactly. What , what's , what are some three of the things that you like about this plan? Yeah , let's maybe start over <laugh> Yeah .
Speaker 3:Keeping
Speaker 2:That in mind.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Take those and then, okay. Now what about this place you want to build that to starts to change the conversation and integrate those things that they love about that plan back into a solution. Mm-Hmm.
Speaker 2:<affirmative>, you built a number of homes up in Glade Park. It must be a wonderful place to build and try to , uh, fit into the landscape up there.
Speaker 3:Yeah. It's, it's , um, probably the most fun to have is when you're not limited. Like, you know, a subdivision building can be , uh, challenging because you're, you're constrained a lot. You don't have the freedom to orient and, and, you know, you have, if you open up the house to the wrong side, you're just seeing your neighbors and things like that. So it, it is fun to just, just have the landscape to work with,
Speaker 2:But the bathroom, wherever you want it. Right . <laugh> .
Speaker 3:That's right. The outdoor shower, whatever you don't wanna do . Right . Yeah . Um , so that's , uh, we love that , um, you know, building on smaller sites and , and , uh, with more constraints is, is , it's a different challenge, but , uh, and you can find fun solutions for that too. But , um, the, the Glade Park type environments are a lot of fun to work with.
Speaker 2:I bet they are. Yeah. Uh , I think you know that one of my favorite projects that you've done is the House out in Fruita . Yes. That's in downtown Fruita . Really modern. And I just love the style inside and out. You've let me take a peek at the inside, and I'm like, Ryan , we need to build more of these <laugh> . It's such a beautiful home. Well , thank you. Can you talk about the aesthetics of that property?
Speaker 3:Uh , yeah. You know, we, that , uh, that design came from the desires of the client. Um, some of my own, some of hers. Um, she wanted something really modern and clean and, you know, durable and didn't wanted low maintenance, and she just really loved a modern home. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . So , um, that project evolved. We started to, it was a remodel component to it that as we got into it, the soil , the way the soils were on the site, we couldn't save the part of the home we originally wanted to Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . Uh , so it ended up going away and becoming a full new build , um, which of course opened up opportunities to, you know, use a lot of our standards to make it more energy efficient as well. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> ,
Speaker 2:When you talk about the durability of a home and someone comes to you and says that's important to them, what kind of materials are you talking about?
Speaker 3:Now you're asking me to geek out on building science a little bit. Oh , yeah , absolutely. <laugh> . Um , well, I mean, you know, it's , uh, thinking about control of, of, you know , the control layers of a home , um, are a big piece of where it comes from. You know, we , we, you know , trying to deal with water first, and our, our climate is pretty dry, and a lot of people , um, take that for granted. That when , but when it does rain, it rains hard and it rains a lot. And so we, you know , you see a lot of rot and mold in some of the houses here in the valley as you pull 'em apart. Um, so
Speaker 2:If the, if the water management is not paid attention to, it can cause real
Speaker 3:Problems, right? Yeah. You get, once water gets in, it's in there and it's gonna cause an issue. So we, that's a big one for us, probably number one. Um , making sure that that , uh, water's dealt with well. And then our air seal , uh, for energy efficiency, we, we try to reach a passive house level of air sealing , um, in our projects, which is , um, a 0.6 a CH 50, which is the , how they measure that with the blower door test. Um, but it's , uh, the code here now is up to a three. So we're, we're aiming for quite a bit better than code on that. And then you still gotta deal with vapor, and you still gotta deal with good thermal systems to insulate the house. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . And , um, all that working together with the right systems in place can make a very long lasting, durable structure that's really efficient. Mm-Hmm.
Speaker 2:<affirmative>. Now , if I remember correctly, that house has some concrete , um, is it plywood have,
Speaker 3:Yeah. So p the finishes side. Yeah. We did a lot of, she loved Baltic birch plywood. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . So we did custom door jams. They're all Baltic birch , um, with a re detail around the edge, and
Speaker 2:I don't know what that is. You might have to explain. Uh ,
Speaker 3:Yeah. The regular are the regular detail <laugh> . Uh , there's a lot of people call 'em a shadow line, so it's just a, it's a drywall trim you can buy that creates a nice little shadow line around Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> all of your doors and windows and things like that. So everything was Baltic birge , the cabinets were custom and they were Baltic Birge from a company we work with out of Iowa Gosling Woodworking. Um , did a great job on our cabinets there. And then we did the concrete countertops in our own workshops. Mm-Hmm.
Speaker 2:<affirmative>. Yeah . And you have a workshop here in and do , well, you do these coasters for us a few years back, <laugh> . That's right . That's right. Um, so you've done some metal work , you've done concrete work. What other kind of things can you do in your shop?
Speaker 3:Uh, our shop is primarily focused on GFRC, concrete, concrete countertops and Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> fireplace surrounds and panels. Um , we do custom steel as well. A lot of our steel railings, we weld ourselves in our own workshops. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , um, a lot of, we've been doing quite a bit of decorative , um, steel fireplace panels , um, for some builders in the Roaring Fork Valley that do quite a bit of that. Um, and yeah, that's, we don't do a lot of wood custom woodworking in our shops. Usually we'll work with a cabinet maker or somebody that , uh, has better equipment to do that every day .
Speaker 2:And typically local cabinet makers or around Colorado or all
Speaker 3:Over? Yeah. Our main cabinet maker is out of Iowa. Um, if we're doing a full kitchen Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> or something , um, we have a couple of box cabinet lines that we can also sell, like a semi-custom line. But , um, if we're looking for custom woodwork, that's smaller pieces, a lot of those we will do are in-house. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>
Speaker 2:Awesome. Yeah. Well, I wanna talk a little bit about the, toward net Zero . Towards net zero building TNZ. Yeah . Yep . Um, can you explain to our listeners and viewers what that is?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So you know that the tricky thing about building efficiently is there's so many ways to get there. Um, you know, you can start with a pretty standard house and you just start tweaking things , um, to increase levels of performance of the home. Some of them cost next to nothing, and some of 'em get really expensive. And so our towards Net Zero was like, you know, kind of a question of how do we get there , um, with our houses , uh, you know, for different clients. So if we, if we said, oh , we're, we're, you know, passive house builders and that's all we're gonna do, that's everything's net zero, you know, you're just gonna limit yourself and limit making , uh, houses better for lots of different types of clients with different budgets. So for us, it's a way of tuning projects. You know, we have some standards we try to implement, but we can tweak those around, you know , um, great example is our zip system sheathing. We use that a lot. It's partly because it's a great product that's easy to use and easy to get. Right. There's a lot of products that are not easy to get right. Mm . Um, and so, but that product as an example, you can buy it with foam included. And so you can increase the thicknesses of foam on the exterior of your house to Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> get more outboard insulation and things like that. Um, window products, we try to go to a triple pane window. We've got a brand that we've used on a couple projects now that is relatively affordable for what it is. It's made in Lewisville, Colorado. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , they're called LP and Windows. And we really like those. Um, and I think other than that, it's, you know, you take all that together and you try to also implement better systems in the home for a comfort and health and all those kinds of
Speaker 2:Things. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . And how does solar tie into your designs?
Speaker 3:Yeah. We, we try to think through where Solar's gonna go in design. So we always want a roof that's properly shaped and directed for solar. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Um, I think that's something that you see a lot when it's a retrofit on houses with few solar panels facing this way in that way. Yeah. You know, there's not an optimal efficiency going on there, so we try to create a space for it. And if the client can't afford it, when the house is built, we just prepare for it, you know? Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> with conduits to be able to wire it in the future. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah .
Speaker 2:Now there is a trend, especially in some of the larger cities and going all electric Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> and your houses that toward net zero would be all electric, correct?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's, that's right. Um, the Aspen house , uh, on Aspen and Fruita . Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> was, not all electric has gas, but I think every house that we've built since then, if I , I believe is all electric , um, which I think is another reason to improve the energy and performance. All electric homes have , um, they have an electric backup heat that if the house isn't super , uh, energy efficient, then that heat mats gonna kick in. And then you're gonna get a lot of auxiliary heat from that. Your heat pumps aren't gonna, aren't gonna keep up. So in order to have that house be a , you know, not cost a lot of money to be all electric, I think you've gotta have a really great house. Mm-Hmm.
Speaker 2:<affirmative> , um, I think a lot of people in Western Colorado kind of stress about thinking what I love my natural gas. Can you, can you talk about the benefits, the pros and cons of natural gas versus all electric?
Speaker 3:Well , um, I think that in some sites it's just cheaper to do all electric Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , you know , in Glad Park, for example. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> that means, you know, avoiding propane altogether. Right. So, some of our projects are all electric , um, as almost a cost savings measure when you're building. Um, we've had really good luck with performance on those. We haven't had a lot of people having issues with the systems and how they perform. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Um, and , uh, the efficiency ratings ratings are just, are pretty incredible. So , um, for me it's a little bit getting ahead of the game. Eventually they're all gonna have to be electric. Yeah . And knowing how to do it well, I think , um, I think is is how we're gonna win on that deal. I, I , um, I think where there's a lot of builders, I think that we're building great homes, but struggled a little bit when the new standards came out for energy efficiency.
Speaker 2:What year was that?
Speaker 3:Oh , that was , um, they started in February of 23, I think, is when they started to push some new standards. And I think there's been a couple more that have rolled out over the last year. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Um, and I think that there'll be another, another challenge when everything has to be all electric, because you're gonna possibly have unhappy clients when , um, everything goes to all electric and the house isn't quite built to a performance standard that's gonna be cheap to run that. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Do you have any , um, wisdom as to when do you see that happening? I mean, how long in the future are we talking,
Speaker 3:You know, that I don't know. Yeah . Every, every you hear dates and then they get pushed back because there's pushback, right? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , you know , I mean, it , nobody wants to change things and change the way that we, we build, especially when the way you do it now is dependable. I mean, there's, there's a lot to that. You don't wanna have to reinvent the wheel, and then you, when you do, there's challenges, right? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , you know , something doesn't work like it's supposed to or whatever. Yeah . So , um, but it , it's inevitable, I think as we move , uh, away from the fossil fuel type of economies and move towards a more sustainable solutions. Mm-Hmm.
Speaker 2:<affirmative>, what , uh, what are some of the new techniques, new materials that you're excited about these days? What , is there something new and great that just
Speaker 3:Well, I think, I think window products have, you know , um, have come a long way. Yeah. And there's just more options out there that are more affordable than it used to be to get, you know, an elevated product. Um, you know, like I mentioned the zip system, and there's probably lots of competition gonna come out to make that drive cost down on that, on that , uh, product a little bit. But , um, I think like , uh, and the liquid seals we've, trying to get a house airtight is really challenging. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . So some of it comes with how we design them to make it achievable. And some of it's about the products, you know, so we've got some liquid flash products we use that make air very tight, air ceiling , pretty, pretty simple. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>,
Speaker 2:I was reading about , um, some of the building techniques and talking about the ability to, what you've got a really , um, tight house without air leakage. It is okay to open the windows, right? Yeah . It's not like you have to <laugh> just have it sealed up all the time, but that's when it's most efficient.
Speaker 3:Yeah. It's when it's, it's when it's most efficient and it's when it's , um, the, probably the cleanest indoor air because you can filter everything, you know . Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> it just depends on where you're at. Um, you know, on Glade Park there's lots of wind and there's certainly those beautiful spring days when you want to open your windows up Yeah . And then the wind kicks up and that dust is rolling in. So , um, I think there's, there's times when people will leave the house closed up 'cause they can control everything, and they're still getting fresh air from their , uh, energy recovery ventilators and Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> systems
Speaker 2:And , um, how is our air? I mean, if you're , if you have a client that's super concerned about air quality , um, you must have looked at the historical record here. And , uh, for down in the valley and up in Glade Park, is our air better than most places around? I mean, maybe the mountain towns have a little bit cleaner air than we do, but
Speaker 3:Yeah. And I think , um, well dust, I mean, we live in the desert. I mean it every day that there's wind, you can see it when the sun's going down. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> like, there's this kind of dust in the air that you don't see in the middle of the day, but it's, it's there. Um, so yeah, I do think we just live in a slightly dirtier climate , um, in terms of , uh, what's there, if the wind's blowing Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> on a calm day, it's, it's probably , uh, pretty clean here. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> .
Speaker 2:But , um, lots of people have sensitivities to those kind of things. I know , um, where I'm from in Lake City, you know, a lot of people just can't deal with the dirt roads because it , it produces so much dust all the time. So Do you have a lot of people requesting , um, that kind of indoor air quality that's really important to them?
Speaker 3:Um, on the generally, no. We don't have a lot of people specific to that, but I think we do have people that have some special sensitivities to some, it's sometimes it's products, you know, so we try to have to think through a little more , um, what we're putting in the home. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> when we're finishing it, you know, for cabinetry and flooring and all the things that do off gas, you know ? Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , it's a real tough to buy something that's gonna fit a budget <laugh> . Yeah . That doesn't also have some downsides to it. So that's something that we often think about,
Speaker 2:Like all the products are out there that you could imagine. Right, right . But some of them have a really big price tag.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I mean, there's, there's, you know, lots of real healthy products, but you can two or three x your costs sometimes, which, you know, if you're trying to, you know, balance budgets through a whole project, that gets a little challenging. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>.
Speaker 2:So what's your goal, Ryan, for , um, building new construction in the Grand Valley? Uh , what , I mean, obviously you can't , uh, change the whole industry by yourself, but I know you'd like to see more of this construction happening. Um, how many houses would you like to be building every year?
Speaker 3:I think our sweet spot's probably, you know, three to four mm-Hmm . <affirmative> custom homes. Um, we do hope to do a parade home , uh, in the future. And, you know, it's a little challenging for us because we want to build something that's elevated that's, you know, the , the kind of product that , um, we want to use it as a learning tool for people as well to say, Hey, this is , this is how we build our homes and this is why. Um, and these are the outcomes. And, you know, inevitably it comes at a , a little bit higher price tag because you're buying more expensive materials, primarily. A lot of the, a lot of the methods that go into the process , um, in terms of labor aren't that different. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , it's sometimes you're just installing a more expensive product along the way. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>.
Speaker 2:Um, and in remodeling, I guess it depends a lot on the age of the home and what, how far you can go with those kind of techniques and materials. Right.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And I think probably comes to a little bit that scope of work for a project too. You know, if , if someone wanted to strip all the siding off their home and, you know, re reside from scratch, that's an easier project to try to maybe do a better product on the exterior. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> to bring up the energy efficiency , um, versus just trying to air seal by caulking or some other method that , um, is real tough to do a great job and , and really make a big impact. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>.
Speaker 2:Wow . Um, how many houses are you building right now? What , what's next for you?
Speaker 3:Um , right now we've been , um, doing probably three projects at a time. We've , um, had one custom home in construction pretty consistently over the last few years with other smaller projects mixed in. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , um, we're still doing some remodels and we like those because , um, it allows us to plug them into our schedule and, and help keep a balanced workflow . Um, and , um, yeah, coming up , we're just starting framing on a , another custom up in Glade Park. It's gonna be a more of a mountain style home than the last couple have been fairly modern, so that'll be kind of fun. A lot of timber work and more of a , more of a craftsman kind of feel to it . Mm-Hmm.
Speaker 2:<affirmative>. Yeah . And who's on your team these days? I know you have a new team member. Yes,
Speaker 3:We do. One
Speaker 2:Of my favorite people. <laugh> .
Speaker 3:Yes. We have Suzanne Hansel as our new COO and we're very excited to have her on board , and she's , uh, brings a lot of , um, a lot of traction to our vision and in terms of seeing where we want to go and trying to , uh, to , to get the team all going in the same direction. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , uh, we have , uh, Miranda, who is our financial coordinator , um, she does a great job on all of the, the billing side and the books and the invoicing and keeping, keeping our finances in order. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> and , uh, Piper is our , uh, marketing coordinator and she does all of our social media and keeps our marketing on track. Awesome . Um, have , uh, shop manager Tim and , uh, lead Carpenter currently. His name is Todd. Okay.
Speaker 2:And you are on site all the time right? When you're building, I mean, I know that , uh, there's lots of different ways you can , uh, run a job site, but you're heavily involved.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I , um, not as involved as I used to be. Yeah . Um, we're trying to, we'll be hiring for another project coordinator sometime this next year. Okay . But I have been on site quite a bit to just make sure our subcontractors are , um, everything's clear what we're, what we're looking for. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , um, we have cut back on our own in-house labor just a little bit. And we're trying to , uh, work a little more with , um, subtrades , um, to keep us from having to have four or five carpenters on staff all the time. Mm-Hmm.
Speaker 2:<affirmative> , uh, a lot of the questions that we get from people that think they might wanna build a custom home is, you know, how much is it gonna cost and how available are the builders? And do you have good subs? What would you say is the current state of the, the building industry in our county? And then how has that, how have you stayed kind of insular and, and kind of done your own thing? You know, I don't know if I'm saying that right, but , um, you know, are you able to insulate yourself from the ups and downs of the market?
Speaker 3:Um, well , uh, I would say probably not. I don't know, like it's custom building , um, where we're, you know, people are coming to us for a little bit of a unique product, I think. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . And , um, we've had a , you know, a pretty good flow of that. Um, on the client side, on the , on the trade side, that's a , that's a little tougher question over the , it's gotten easier this year. I do think the trade, the pressure on the trades is easing up a little bit. Um, I'm seeing more , um, more subcontractors reach out, seeing if we have anything coming up that , that didn't happen for several years. Somebody was , yeah . Things are really tight, actually looking for work <laugh> . Um, so that's, it's a , it's nice to see that there's some people looking at it , means it's gonna , scheduling might get a little bit better. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> and things could move a little faster sometimes. Um, yeah. On the demand side, I , I mean , I just haven't seen the idea of a recession right now, possibly looming. It doesn't feel like it's there. We still have pretty good lead flow and , um, you know, it's, it's trying to find the right right. Clients, right projects for us. Right.
Speaker 2:Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And what about material costs? How have those changed in the last couple of years?
Speaker 3:Well, you know , obviously during Covid everything was very volatile and, and that was a challenge for everybody building. And, you know, all of the tradespeople felt it . Um, I feel like the material side is pretty much stabilized. The prices are higher in on a lot of things, and they were , um, but they seem stable now. You don't see, there's not as much guesswork in it. Um , and the labor, I think the labor rates have climbed pretty significantly Yeah . Over the last couple of years. And, you know, I , that's something that without , um, unless there was a full recession and people were really hungry, like that's not gonna , people don't want to Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , um, have that go down. So I, prices have gone up by a lot from three years ago. Um, but I feel like those prices are pretty much here to stay. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>.
Speaker 2:Yeah . And would you say that compared to a lot of the other communities in , uh, Colorado, we're still a very reasonable place to build an , a new home? I mean, compared to the resort areas, we've gotta be way less expensive, and I don't know about Denver. Can you, can you build a cheaper house in Denver because there's more labor market?
Speaker 3:You know, I don't, I don't think I have the experience to answer that, but I, my gut tells me, no, I do, I do have some , uh, friends over there that are builders and they tell me the prices that they're building that per square foot. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . And it's, it's, it's, you know, sometimes double still what we're seeing here. Wow . Um, I've , uh, some builder friends in the mountain towns and, you know , um, that, that's also nearly double or close to double Yeah . What we're seeing here. And there's, there's a lot of relativity to it all, you know, prices are up Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , but we're still, I think, from what I know of it , um, in a good place. Yeah,
Speaker 2:I would agree. I mean , um, I think even though for people that have lived here a while , it may not seem that affordable anymore because we've seen the prices go up so much when you compare it to other places in Colorado, I think we're still pretty affordable, so, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I hope that people will be able to incorporate some of those great techniques and , um, green building and energy efficient building into their homes, you know , um, selling , uh, not so much new construction, but , um, um, already built homes. Uh, people ask a lot about solar and say, should I add it? Will it add to the value of my home? And, and there's a lot of things to consider there. Um, so I think that , uh, while we don't have a huge amount of people that come here saying, I'm only gonna build this way , um, when they do, they're looking for a builder like you that has that kind of experience to really put all the elements together, because it can be really tricky. Right.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Well , I think it , like, on the consumer side of building a new home or buying a brand new home, I think there's also an element of what does a client think they're getting that they don't have a context for. Um, and that's a challenge as a, as a consumer, right? You assume, you assume all things are equal. Like when you look at three houses in a row as a buyer, you can't see what's under the claddings and behind the drywall. And , um, you know, how well was this home built? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , um, and are there issues that I can't see? None of that , none of that's obvious. And so I think, you know, I hope that builders and, and I'm certainly not the only one in this valley. There's a few other guys I know out there building great products and using a lot of the techniques that, that we're talking about here today. And those builders are very thoughtful about the way they build and like, you know, whether they're doing everything as well as they can do it. Um, and that's certainly not the case across the board, you know , um, homes, new homes being built. So I think as a consumer, one thing to just consider is, you know, is your builder trying to elevate their products? You know, are these kind of a standard product and , you know, they'll , they have to meet code. Um, and so everything kind of falls into that realm and that there's , um, there's definitely a long ways to go up from that. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah .
Speaker 2:There's been a lot of talk about the code changing and how far behind we are and playing catch up with the code. Could you explain that a little bit?
Speaker 3:Yeah. Um, I, I'm trying to remember the year that we, our energy code was extremely outdated for, you know, well over 10 years, probably, probably beyond that. Um, and
Speaker 2:Based on the national
Speaker 3:Codes. Yeah. Yeah. Typically, like jurisdictions will update their code , um, their code model every other cycle or so, you know, they don't do it every time. It's a lot to , to change codes. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> constantly. But, but they do try to make changes. And ours, our building , um, residential building and, and commercial building codes had changed, but our energy code hadn't had been left behind 'cause nobody wanted to. There's this resistance against the change. Um, and so yeah, we got left behind a little bit and , uh, and, and everyone had a steeper learning curve Yeah . When it came time to, to upgrade a little bit.
Speaker 2:Um, before we go, I wanted to , um, mention also that you just did a really great project downtown with the new thank you. Yeah. Bin 7 0 7 restaurant. That was a lot of fun. I mean , how great is that <laugh> ? Yeah. Yeah. It's beautiful in there. What were some of the challenges you faced with that project?
Speaker 3:Um, man, it was , um, it was a fun project. Josh and Jody Berger just awesome to work with. Very visionary. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> Josh is a great designer. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , you know , and so I think Josh kind of pulled in, you know, arc 11 , um, from, I think they're from Boulder for the primary architectural work. And they did a really great kind of base set of drawings with Josh's vision. And we came in and did all the fabrication designs and, and , uh, kind of pulled it together as contractors. And so I think it, in the end, and looking back, it was a , just a pretty cool collaboration between, you know, the Bergs and, and Arc 11. And then we were able to come in and pull in all those details, you know? Yeah .
Speaker 2:So it's absolutely beautiful.
Speaker 3:Thank
Speaker 2:You. Yeah . Nice job. Well, anything else you wanna share with our listeners and viewers?
Speaker 3:Oh, man. Design matters. Yeah . You know, design first, think about , uh, you know, my big thing is I love to see, have clients, you know, I , I like in our description of what we do, that design minded client Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , um, is really important. You know, like the person who wants to take a little bit of time, understand it , um, know what they're getting, get it right. And , um, you know, that design is, is this iteration of ideas that gets you to like, something that you're gonna , you're gonna love it when you're done. And that's something that I've been really proud of that we've done. Um, taking the time to do good design with clients, and then when they move into the home, they're like, oh man, this , we got this. Right? Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> we did . Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , you know , there might be something they would do different here or there in hindsight, but , um, generally speaking, they're just like, man, this is, this is just right for us.
Speaker 2:Well, I really like what you said , um, in some of your, on some of your website about you build architecturally significant homes, so that's what you really like building. Yeah. And I think that there's , um, a lack of that, you know? Yeah . Across the Grand Valley, so I appreciate you beautifying things and building some really cool stuff.
Speaker 3:Oh , thank you. Yeah .
Speaker 2:Thank you. Um, if people wanna see some photos of things that you've built and remodeled, how do they find some photos and get in touch with you? Yeah ,
Speaker 3:Uh , follow us on Instagram. We're posting constantly on there at RG Cowan design . And , uh, our website is rg cowan design.com .
Speaker 2:Awesome. Well reach out to Ryan if you've got questions about remodels, new construction. Um, it's just, I , I love everything that you , uh, work on, Ryan. I just, I think it's beautiful and I appreciate the attention to detail that you put into everything, so.
Speaker 3:Well , thank you. Yeah . It's a , it's a high compliment.
Speaker 2:Thank you . Appreciate it . Well , we look forward to working with you in the future and on all kinds of things, and , um, I, I always know who to call if I need something , uh, done really creatively, so it's great. Yeah .
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 2:Well, thanks for joining us everyone. This is Kristi Reese here with Ryan Cowan . And , um, thanks for watching and listening, and we will see you next time on the full circle. Bye. Thanks for listening. This is Kristi Reese signing out from the Full Circle Podcast.