RECOMMENDATION FOR SOPRIS DEVELOPMENT In December 2021, we lost our home and all its contents to the Marshall Fire in Boulder, Colorado. At age 77, facing this emotional event, insurance uncertainty, and the daunting prospect of rebuilding was overwhelming -- especially since we'd never planned to build a home. After exploring options, we chose to rebuild and were fortunate to work with John Stevens and Sopris Development. Sopris provided truly full-service support: lot remediation, design, permitting, vendor introductions, and construction. It is hard to imagine receiving better service from any other company! Concept and Design: We worked closely with John and his architect, describing what we liked about our former home and our future needs. Our goals included: - A home designed for "aging in place" -- one-level living with wider doors, halls, and shower entrances. - A modern design that still blends with the environment and preserves mountain views. - Features that balanced personal needs with future marketability. - Staying within our financial and insurance limits. Sopris delivered a design that met all these priorities, adding thoughtful features we hadn't considered. Preconstruction: Before building started, we selected everything -- appliances, flooring, fixtures, paint, etc. -- through Sopris's recommended vendors. This process ensured an accurate cost estimate, addressed supply chain concerns, and kept the project on schedule. The vendors were professional, offered great selections, and coordinated seamlessly (e.g., cabinet makers accounted for appliance sizes). Construction: Sopris's subcontractors and craftsmen were top-notch -- professional, skilled, and focused on quality. We especially appreciated having a dedicated project manager. Weekly on-site meetings kept us informed and allowed thoughtful adjustments (e.g., adding stair lights, extra outlets, etc.). Timing and Costs: Unlike some builder horror stories, our experience with Sopris was remarkably smooth. Many of our neighbors were told 15-24 months to completion by other builders; Sopris estimated 12 months and completed our home in 13. This was thanks to their planning, vendor relationships, and scheduling. Final costs came in under the original estimate, with minimal changes needed thanks to thorough up-front work. Insurance Support: Sopris's professional record-keeping and understanding of codes were invaluable in insurance matters. For instance, they successfully advocated for coverage of solar panels under our Ordinance and Law provision when initially denied. Sopris was more than a builder -- they were our advocate. One Year Later: We love our home. Any minor issues were promptly resolved. Thanks to Sopris, we have a beautiful, functional home where we can age in place, enjoy family and friends, and take in the surrounding beauty. We highly recommend Sopris Development. They know what they're doing and made the process enjoyable. Roger and Laura Bohart read more

Building a custom home can be a stressful experience, but it doesn't need to be. Sopris made it fun and easy. We had always planned to move back to my home state of Colorado from Ohio. As that time approached we looked at pre-existing homes and new home builders. We found Sopris and met with owner John Stevens. It didn't take us long to decide on Sopris. We were a bit nervous about building from several states away. Those concerns were unfounded. We decided on one of Sopris' existing floor plans but modified it substantially with John's help to meet our needs. Our home was finished on budget and on schedule. Craig T and Kurt C, two of John's employees worked with us every step of the way. They kept us informed, and on those rare occasions where issues did arise, they were quick to address them, in many cases beyond our expectations. We highly recommend the entire Sopris team. read more

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Building a home from California was a challenge but worth the end result. My husband and I were looking to move and found this wonderful lot in Colorado owned by Sopris. My husband loved the location of the lot and left the design details of the house to me. John Stevens was agreeable to some architectural changes I wanted to make the home more suited to our lifestyle. We started the process in 2018, and the home was finished by August 2019. I worked directly with Leilani from Denver Finishes and Flooring for all the design finishes. After an initial in person meeting in Denver, Leilani was able to send samples to California and I was able to approve all samples and designs remotely. She understood my design style and vision and I was so happy to work with her. Understanding a client's aesthetic is everything; especially, when building a semi-custom house from another state. I also worked directly with Brad from Tharp Cabinetry. He was able to design the cabinets to my specifications as well as a custom closet, custom built in bookcase/entertainment center, and kitchen buffet. I also worked directly with Mountain High Appliances for the kitchen and bathrooms and was very pleased. In addition, I worked with Julie, the owner of Lumenarea for all indoor and outdoor light fixtures. Great experience with her as well. Gil Rubi, a foreman from Sopris kept in touch with other details including FaceTiming me when I was on the tennis court to verify where I wanted each knob and pull placed on the cabinets. This is true customer service as he wanted to ensure that all were placed in the correct room and spot. Overall, Sopris did a very good job at building our home. We finally moved in on May 1, 2020 and Sopris, and Denver Flooring and Finishes have come by several tome to fix small items for us. They stand behind their products and workmanship which is very important to us as clients. read more

What a truly remarkable experience it has been building a custom home with the Sopris team. When my wife and I started this adventure there were only two of us. Midway through the build we became three. And it changed our outlook on this project. It's not just a house. It's a home for our new and growing family, filled with many memories for years to come. We came to John with some ideas of what our dream house could be. And I can say, now that we've been living in it for about a month, it came out better than we ever hoped. The entire Sopris staff was professional, friendly, considerate, patient and honest. The level of detail and craftsmanship is exceptional throughout the home. And I can't even imagine all the parts and pieces that had to come together to make it happen. (They tried so hard to get us in before our baby daughter's first Christmas and they somehow pulled it off). We wake up every morning in awe we have the opportunity to live in a home like this. Thank you Sopris! read more

I had a good working relationship with Sopris during the home building process. Change orders were clearly spelled out and fair. The house was 4000 sq ft and was built in 7 months and delivered to us early! We had very few punch list items on the house and they were addressed by the builder promptly. I have built numerous houses and John and his staff are organized and very knowledgeable. I have not had any issues with the house since it was completed 6 months ago read more

We chose Sopris to build our home in Colorado as part of our move from out of state. Sopris has wowed me on a number of levels during this process. Building a custom home requires a ton of coordination between the buyer and builder and this is difficult to say the least when you are unable to be on site. John and his team made the experience seamless. Changes were efficiently managed and care was taken to make sure our requirements were well understood. I was impressed that there was little to no rework involved in the process and that those changes we made at the last minute were accepted with grace and completed with care. Sopris delivered tremendous value to us. From a pricing perspective we didn't pay significantly more than we would have from "national" builders operating elsewhere in Longmont. But we got a larger lot, better views and nearly limitless flexibility in what we built. This is, by far, the best built home I have ever lived in. The design process was collaborative and flexible and easy to manage. Most of all, though, the process was easy. Building a custom home involves a multitude of decisions and the possibilities for stress points to pop up are numerous. Sopris managed the stress for us, keeping us well abreast of deadlines and working through any issues in a proactive manner. I can't recommend them strongly enough. read more

Quality home builders and really nice people too! If you're looking for a lot and custom home, John's your guy! If you're looking for a recently built new home with a custom-built feeling, John's your guy! If you're looking for a green-built, energy-efficient home, John's your guy! I have seen several Sopris Homes and Sopris Signature Homes and I'm looking forward to having my own custom built home soon! read more

Quality Home! We are thrilled with the end product. Everything we asked for and more. We approached John Stevens to help with a build cost estimate in the Northern Colorado area. We were able to tour one of the Sopris construction sites and we were instantly impressed. Having bounced from production spec home to production spec home and seeing most of the mass production builder's showcase homes, we could instantly see the difference in quality. John was and has always been straight forward with us on costs and we decided to go with a Sopris Home. - Great Quality As mentioned above. If you have the chance to tour a production spec home don't get dazzled by the Thor appliances or the perfectly matched furniture and decor. Those things can always be upgraded. Definitely look at how the building is put together. Look at the "fit". Sopris homes have great fit. This comes from attention to detail. Having seen all phases of construction I can say that if something was not done right by a subcontractor John's team corrected it almost always before we noticed. - Very responsive. With any new construction project there are always issues. Any concerns we had were instantly addressed. - Fair! This adjective cannot be overlooked. Not all aspects of the of the build can be thought of and written down before the shovels hit dirt. This creates issues of what was originally asked for and how much it will cost to change it. I felt the Sopris team very fair when it came to these issues. Overall, We felt The Sopris Team did a great job and I'm sure we will make many memories in our Sopris Home! Thanks Team Sopris! read more

Our experience with Sopris was horrible from beginning to the end of the project. We built a custom house and it was a disaster. We found them to be rude, disorganized and having an issue with "precision" in many instances. They were very nice until they got the deposit from us then the entire experience went from bad to worse. We felt that working with them made a otherwise stressful situation , unbearable. Their attention to detail was really bad in our opinion. The granite work was the worst we have ever seen. They lost several project managers while working on our house and their Architects months later. We thought that John Stevens was almost impossible to work with and would agree to things only to change his mind in later weeks saying that he never agreed to these items. The people in our area that built production not custom homes from him had better experiences. My suggestion would be to have a real estate attorney review your documents before signing and hire a project manager to look out for your best interests. If we had to do it over, we would have picked a different builder. read more