Decision Process

16 January 2013

Stacey and I are going to do it. Buy a Home! We decided to build our home instead of purchasing one. We spent a few month going through Colorado Springs inventory of homes. There are some great homes and not so great homes. What we really learned about CoS neighborhoods was where not to live. Some of the neighborhoods were just " 'hoods". After weighing the pluses and minuses of what CoS has to offer, we decided on Saddletree Homes to build our home in Cordera. We just became those people.

We decided we wanted to build a ranch design and chose the Monarch floor plan with the Craftsman elevation.

We chose the Elevation B plan and added a 3rd garage. This Elevation has brick\rock on the bottom, then stucco above the rock and finally some type of siding above the windows. Stacey said "no way on the siding" so we are going to get stucco to the roof.

Interesting external standard features from Saddletree are..

• 24' main garage and 8' garage doors with door openers included
• 18' wide concrete driveway (hand swirled texture)
• Covered entry porch
• 8' Entry door

One of the harder problems to solve was finding the right lot. Stacey "needed' a walkout basement. The lot has to be able to accommodate the walkout with the correct slope. We learned that walkout lots are the first lots to be sold in any development.
The view from the back of the house was also very important. We wanted to be able to see Pikes Peak from the back of our home. Again the lots with the best views are the first to be sold. Finding a walkout lot with a view is going to cost you and the developers know this. We had to sacrifice some view for the walkout lot.

The Monarch floor plan includes...

• 4 bedrooms, 3 baths with Master Suite on main level
• 10' Ceilings on Main Floor
• Finished Basement
• Great Room
• 2 1/4" Hardwood flooring in Entry, Kitchen, Dining, and Great Room.
• Open Kitchen with Island
• Stainless Steel Appliances
• Gas 4 Burner Range
• Granite Counter Slabs in Kitchen, and in Baths.
• Rounded Corners
• Ceiling Fans included in Master Suite and Great Room.
• Two-Tone paint throughout with ceilings and walls one tone and trim and doors a second tone.
• Home Automation System, Thermostat and Alarm panel

We added\changed a few option from the base house. Yes it all cost more.

• Walkout Basement
• 3rd Car Garage
• 9' Ceilings in Basement
• 10x10 Cover on Deck
• 10x24 Trex Deck
• Door off Master Suite to Deck
• Two-Sided Fireplace
• 10x24 Concrete Slab
• Gas Line to Lower Slab
• Two additional Windows in Master Suite
• Glass Back-splash in Kitchen
• Surround Sound in Basement
• Fireplace Downstairs ~ maybe
• Wet Bar plumbed
• Iron Posts on Stairs

We took and gathered some pictures of the Monarch.

 Monarch with a different Elevation.

Kitchen ~ Granite Counters

 Master Bath ~ Granite Counters

 Master Bed ~ Coffered Type Ceiling

Great Room ~ Gas Fireplace

Saturday Stacey and I will be going back to Saddletree to finalize the floor plans.