What goes into building a Multi-Million Dollar Mountain home?

What goes into building a Multi-Million Dollar Mountain home?  - A couple weekends ago I was dropping my son off at Western State Colorado University (another post) in beautiful Gunnison, CO and had the opportunity to stay with my sister and her family at their home in Crested Butte, a resort community about 25 miles north of Gunnison.

My brother-in-law Tony Lambert is a custom home builder with 20 plus years experience in this wonderful mountain community and he asked us if we would be interested in seeing his latest project. Absolutely, even the college students were excited to see this ski in ski out slice of heaven. As we wound our way around the base of Mount Crested Butte, we could not help but notice what a beautiful blue, crystal clear sky we had that day. Passing several other incredible mountain homes we climbed a few hundred feet and saw our destination peaking out from behind the other homes.

When we arrived we all realized just how close we were to the slopes, only an orange construction fence (noticeable in the photo below) was between us and the skiers and boarders as they slid down the slopes just off of Gold Link, so obviously location is a big factor when you start to add up the cost of a home of this magnitude. The next thing we noticed were the views, million dollar views all around, I tried to snap off a few photos but my camera phone did not do it justice.

Everyone was just standing around with their jaws on their chests, then we started to notice some of the finer details of the exterior, all of the wood used on the exterior of this home appeared to be recycled from old Amish Barns (I know that this is a popular finish in the Mountain area among elite builders and homeowners). We pulled back the huge plastic covering to take a peak inside, the home is still in the pre dry wall phase so essentially a skeleton, however the windows and wiring are in place and the wiring alone was valued at .... well lets just say that the wiring was more than twice the price of the average home in Denver. 

But the windows were simply amazing, on the main floor, in the kitchen and the great room the windows that were used are all hideaway windows, meaning that they can each be pulled out of the view and tucked into the walls, so there are unobstructed views when the weather warms up enough to accommodate and the great room then flows into the outer living area and onto the mountain, making it feel so well connected.

In the center of the great room is a 5'X12' section cut out to view the lower level, a huge glass table sits at the base of this view in front of the wine cellar and the game room. A 4-story custom winding staircase reaches form the base of the house to the top level and starting from the base there are several tons of rock that start the climb, the staircase is built right into the rock, again making it feel like the home and the mountain are one.

As you make your way to the third level you are able to look down into the great room and as you turn around you have three bedrooms, yep that's it, just three bedrooms, a master and two guest or children's rooms, but these are not just your everyday bedrooms, the master has a full suite and all three have there own bathrooms, but they are also all 2-stories tall, the guest rooms are complete with there own lofts and top floor patios and speaking of patios, the other side of the top level has one of the most spectacular patios I have seen, a full fireplace an outdoor kitchen a third bar, a massive hot tub, and a bridge that wraps around half of the top level to really soak in the views.

So what goes into a multi million dollar home,  a couple million dollar location, a couple million dollar views, a few million in wiring and windows and rocks and wood and customization and labor and did I metnion location and views.

Again my pictures and descriptions can not do this justice and I look forward to getting back to this project as it comes to fruition, I will make sure to update the photos early summer or possibly around the 4th of July as this is our favorite place to get away in the summer, golf, mountains, Colorado's largest body of water, it is indeed a paradise, and if anyone is looking to have their own custom mountain home built I would be happy to give out my brother in laws number.