Trilogy Partners is thrilled to be showcasing a beautifully rustic modern downtown Breckenridge home that was redesigned to embrace the Ten Mile Range views.  We invite you to join us at the 2019 Summit County Parade of Homes which showcases 11 homes in Breckenridge, Silverthorne, Keystone, Copper Mountain and Dillon. All proceeds support The Summit Foundation, a non-profit organization inspiring people and mobilizing resources to improve and enrich the lives of individuals in Summit County and our neighboring communities of Alma, Fairplay, Kremmling and Leadville.

Tickets are $20 and valid for all 4 days of the Parade. Be sure to print out your receipt to exchange for a wristband! Tickets may also be purchased at the Summit County locations of City Market, Coldwell Banker, Mountain Comfort Furnishings and Alpine Bank. Our home at 515 S French St will also be selling tickets during the Parade weekends.

If you are not able to join us in Summit County this weekend, you may see before, visualization and after images of our French Street remodel here.

Guests will be able to set their own pace on a self-guided tour throughout the county.

Trilogy’s French Street project is a well-sized home at 3300 square feet in a prime downtown location. A quandary for ski lovers who also prefer to be in town is limited available space, density square foot maximums and sometimes historic preservation guidelines. This often drives downtown homeowners to remodel rather than building new. Our French Street project is perfectly-sized and elegantly simple, making it a great example of what could be possible with your downtown ski town location.

Taking that first step out of your comfort zone is always the most difficult. But once you do, a whole new world opens up. Spring is the best time to do it. Look outside, draw inspiration from nature and bring it indoors.

Challenge yourself to be creative. If you are one of those who would rather chew on tin foil than experiment with a home improvement project, start simple. Pick a room or two and give it a quick punch of color with a new accessory, piece of furniture or fresh coat of paint.

That is exactly what I did after a recent week at the High Point Home Furnishings Market in North Carolina. I was inspired to bring some of the bold colors I saw back home to defy Kansas City’s “Tan Town” image.

Our clients frequently ask about color and trends they see in Elle Décor, Veranda and other shelter magazines, but so often they are are unable to make the first step. I am a big believer in change, but not in trends — especially in home interiors, where colors should be a reflection of décor and personal attitude.

I repainted the showrooms in our furniture and design boutique with the vibrant Sassy Green by Sherwin-Williams. It felt strong and lifelike, picking up so many wonderful complements from nature, bringing what we love about the outdoors in. Clean, sharp whites, coppery browns, silver and even deep reds were enlivened against this strong new backdrop. Existing and new furniture and décor pieces took on fresh dimensions.

Afraid you can’t pull off vivid color in an entire room? Try painting an accent wall: A jolt of color can add drama and style to any ordinary space. With the neutral or tan shades that are prevalent in most homes, options for an accent wall are endless.

Try something fresh. Take your mind to South Beach and experiment with a citrus color, such as Sherwin-Williams’ Mango. I used this vibrant color on an accent wall to give the room an amazing new vibe. The artwork came to life, and the lamps and accessories took on an entirely different feel. Painting an accent wall not only gives the room new verve, it also offers a canvas for creative expression.

In addition to color inspiration, Mother Nature is a wonderful — and free — resource for reinvigorating your interiors. For example, I gathered fallen tree branches, spray-painted them white, tied them to small tacks with clear fishing wire and hung them against a lilac-colored wall to create an indoor forest. Artificial flowers added to the branches gave it color, texture and a softer appearance.

The indoor forest can be easily moved to other areas indoors or out on the patio, enhanced with fresh flowers or colorful votive candles for a summer dinner party. You might adapt it to a child’s room for a wonderful splash of fun. Play with putting lights woven in the branches or use colored clothespins to attach photographs to the branches. Involve your children in the process. It is so important for kids to be fed spoonfuls of creative opportunities. Let them feel the power of being creative.

Spring is the perfect time to check out of “Tan Town” and go for the bold. Crack open the window to the outdoors and let the creativity in during the most beautiful and transformative season.

Source: Kansascity.com

Reach Patrick Madden, a partner at Madden-McFarland Furniture & Design Boutique, 1903 W. 135th St. in Leawood, at pat@maddenmcfarland.com.

This mountain modern home located at the foot of the Gore Range in Three Peaks. Dubbed “Raven’s Nest” the home is a tight design collaboration between Mark Hogan at bhh Partners and Michael Rath at Trilogy Partners with plenty of insight and opportunity provided by the owners. Lots of glass on the south and west mountain facing sides, this 4000 square foot home is a legacy home for a young family that adores the outdoors. The home features a 30 foot high barrel vault ceiling at the entry, a custom water feature and massive chandeliers designed by Trilogy Partners. This was a BIM project, modeling, interiors, and materials selections by Trilogy Partners.

From the homeowner:  “It was while standing in a gallery in Hanoi one day last year that I learned to appreciate the true power of Trilogy’s 3D modeling technology. We had been searching for paintings for our new home in Summit County, but were having difficulty selecting individual pieces, uncertain how they would mesh with the planned design. The stress was increased by the fact that I was shopping alone, 8000 miles away from my wife in Colorado, and desperately afraid of making a mistake! Seeking advice, I sent a series of iPhone photos to Michael. Within hours, both of us received screenshots displaying the artwork as it would actually look in place, along with lighting, finishes, and furniture. This made our decision process so much easier, and it was amazing how closely the depictions in the model matched the finished product!

As we contemplated building our first custom home, we heard plenty of horror stories from friends and relatives. Our experience with Trilogy, however, belied all such expectations. Michael made the design process exciting and fun as we saw our ideas gradually take shape in the model. The computerized, online process made it easy to test out even small design changes and also allowed us to meet remotely when we didn’t have time to travel to Frisco. The software was incredibly detailed and powerful, allowing Michael to design even custom elements such as lighting fixtures and a water feature. Once we began construction, we found Trilogy to be good partners. They were transparent in their accounting and treated us with honesty and fairness at all times. When our home was finished we were dazzled, but not surprised, because it was just like the model! We found the build quality to be excellent; when problems have come up, Michael and our project manager Bill Ashley have been very responsive in addressing them, even long after the project was complete. They take great pride in their work and are not satisfied until everything is perfect. I have no reservations recommending Michael Rath and his team to anyone planning to build in the Colorado mountains, or anywhere else for that matter!”

Take the virtual tour of a Trilogy home in Silverthorne, Colorado.

Desktop Computer or Laptop– Click the link and allow the page to load. To start the Guided Tour, use your mouse to click the “play” button in the bottom left corner of the screen. You can pause the Guided Tour at any time by pressing the space bar, and resume the tour by again pressing play. To move through the space, use your arrow keys. To look up or down,  click & drag with your mouse. Moving up and down stairs is usually easier by clicking your mouse on one of the clear circles. Click on the dollhouse icon in the bottom right of the screen to view the entire space at once in either dollhouse or floorplan view.

On a phone, tablet or touchscreen– Once the page loads, press the play button for the Guided Tour, tap the screen to pause and explore the space, then press play again to resume tour. To move freely through the space, tap on the screen where you want to go. Drag your finger across the screen to look up, down, left or right. Tap the dollhouse icon in the bottom right to view the entire space at once in either dollhouse or floorplan view.

Going green doesn’t have to cost more. Experts at the NAHB Research Center have identified design and construction tactics that builders have used to minimize the cost premium for green.

Constructing a green home does come with some added costs, but a lot of builders find that green practices can actually reduce their construction costs and enhance the quality of the homes they build. Many green practices also result in operational and maintenance savings for homeowners.

Using a combination of input from builders participating in the National Green Building Certification Program and results from recent research we did for HUD on the costs and benefits of green affordable housing, the NAHB Research Center has identified seven beneficial practices to consider when building green for the affordable market.

1. Work closely with your suppliers

If you’re new to green building in general or to building green homes with a lower price point, you may want to start your journey by talking with your product suppliers.

Richmond, Va.-based First Richmond Associates has been building quality workforce housing for nearly two decades. Recently, the builder decided that going green with its homes would provide even greater value to customers and set its product apart from the competition. Susan Hadder, president of First Richmond, admits the company didn’t know much about green building, so she let her suppliers know about the new direction they were taking and asked for their help.

“A lot of them were as new to green as we were,” says Hadder, “but they were excited to help us find the best product options available from various manufacturers. It was kind of fun for everyone to discover something new.”

Hadder says she got very quick responses from all her product reps, along with some incentives, which helped her identify what the company needed to get its new green homes certified to the National Green Building Standard (ICC 700). She was pleasantly surprised to find that many of the green product options that would garner points for the home in the certification process were actually an even swap for her in terms of price.

Specifically with flooring options, she found that recycled-content carpet and padding, engineered hardwood flooring, and recycled tile for the bathrooms were all competitively priced with the products she traditionally used — some a few pennies more per unit, some a few pennies less. First Richmond now has two of their Earth-Friendly workforce homes (sales prices range from the $170,000’s to low $200,000’s) Green Certified to ICC 700 by the NAHB Research Center, and the company has plans for more.

2. Look for two-for-one green product benefits

To maximize green benefits while keeping construction costs low, use products or practices with multiple green features. For example, when specifying cabinets or cabinet materials, look for those that have low- or no-formaldehyde content and are made of recycled material. That way, you may be able to gain green certification points for both indoor environmental quality and resource efficiency. While most green rating systems won’t allow for “double dipping” on points (i.e., claiming points in more than one area for the same green attribute in the same product or practice), most will allow for multiple green attributes in the same product to be counted across multiple point categories.

3. Don’t forget about water efficiency

In our work with HUD, we found that water efficiency improvements for both new and renovated affordable projects are commonly overlooked even though they offer a quantifiable benefit to homeowners for little to no additional construction cost. Be sure not to discount the cost benefits for affordable clients of low-flow faucets, toilets, and showerheads, as well as rated water-saving appliances.

As for finding the products at an affordable price, there is a much wider array of low-flow toilets, faucets, and showerheads on the market today than even five years ago, and the most basic models are cost neutral with comparable non-low-flow fixtures. Most major plumbing product manufacturers now offer these products, eliminating the need for costly special orders, in most cases. With bathroom sink faucets, even if your manufacturer of choice doesn’t make a low-flow version, you can buy replacement aerators that satisfy the requirements of most national green rating systems for around $2 a piece.

New construction on the Goose Pasture Tarn in Blue River, Colorado outside of Breckenridge.

 

4. Consider alternative framing techniques

Some changes in your framing materials or techniques might provide both cost/time savings and a means to an end in securing points toward green certification. For instance, consider using panels or trusses in lieu of site-built systems. These techniques are labor and resource efficient, resulting in less on-site waste and possibly lower labor and materials cost overall. Fabricated systems often create greater thermal efficiency over stick frames. Many green rating systems, including the National Green Building Standard, also award points for use of panels and trusses.

If you want to continue framing totally on site, there are several optimum value engineering (OVE) techniques that can save on material or labor costs, and can generate green points at the same time. Look into options like:

• Ladder blocking — uses less wood; provides more room for insulation; gets green points
• Two-stud corners — at least one less stud at each corner; allows for more fully insulated corner; gets green points
• Switch from 2x4s at 16 inches on center to 2x6s at 24 inches on center — may result in small increase in incremental cost initially, but gets a lot of green bang for your buck.

5. Explore low-cost strategies with design

Green, at any price point, is not accomplished through product selection alone. Many of the other “ingredients” for a green home involve strategies that can cost very little or nothing at all. For example, depending on the orientation and size of your lot, flipping a house plan is a very low-cost, low-effort activity that can result in green benefits like positioning the majority of windows on the south side of a home for passive solar and natural lighting gains.

6. Pay attention to placement and sizing of hvac and plumbing systems

Optimize your duct runs and centrally locate your mechanical room for material cost savings and increased energy efficiency. Even for smaller homes, be sure not to have more ducts or longer duct runs than you need in any part of the house. Using a central return also reduces material costs and is a simple system that can provide adequate circulation and cost savings to both you and your buyers.

Placing all your HVAC equipment, including ducts, in conditioned space within the home is also beneficial. In addition to creating significant energy savings for homeowners, this practice may also allow you to spec smaller, less-expensive HVAC equipment and limit or eliminate the need for additional insulation for the duct system. Many homes today, even those that may be otherwise energy and resource efficient, have oversized HVAC equipment. As the building envelope of your homes becomes tighter and more energy efficient, the HVAC burden is significantly reduced. A smaller system obviously costs less and could offset other green upgrades you’re making in your homes.

For your plumbing system, make sure you have chosen the most efficient design for your purposes. For multi-story homes, consider a stacked system, which will probably require shorter plumbing runs, less piping, and possibly less labor time from your plumbing contractor. Also consider centrally locating your water heater, as a central location makes the average of every run shorter, thereby reducing material costs.

7. Rely on green design professionals

Green homes often require a higher degree of precision in their design and construction to ensure that the finished product works the way it was designed to work, as a whole house relying on interdependent systems for its optimum efficiency and homeowner comfort. Having experts well versed in green products, practices, and protocols can save you thousands of dollars in trial-and-error and callbacks in the long run.

That being said, there are different ways to go about creating your design team. One way is to seek out experts in areas such as mechanical systems, plumbing design, and landscape architecture, with specific expertise in green building practices. Another tactic is to rally those with whom you already work to the pursuit of greener, more efficient homes. Similar to the enthusiasm and excitement Susan Hadder generated with her suppliers when First Richmond began seeking green solutions, you may generate the same kind of interest with your existing construction partners to learn all they can and contribute. Either way, it’s important to get everyone in your construction chain on the same page with what you’re trying to accomplish. Contractors and suppliers that are not informed can create inadvertent barriers to your ultimate success.

More information and technical detail about these techniques can be found on the Research Center’s technical website,www.ToolBase.org.

Created in 1964, the NAHB Research Center (www.nahbrc.com) is a full-service product commercialization company that strives to make housing more durable, affordable, and efficient. The Research Center provides public and private clients with an unrivaled depth of understanding of the housing industry and access to its business leaders.

Source : Professional Builder

Extreme remodel on the Goose Pasture Tarn in Blue River, Colorado

Did you know that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency claims about 40 to 50 percent of wood from demolished buildings can be reused in new construction? While in the past there were limited ways to recycle wood in the United States, it’s becoming a more common practice because there are so many ways recycled wood can be used by builders.

One of our favorite reclaimed timber projects was Trey Parker’s Steamboat Springs home. In his home, we used timbers that had been salvaged from a railroad bridge that had at one time covered a part of the Great Salt Lake, much to the delight of local wildlife who thought the salted timbers were dessert. Using reclaimed timber was a great choice to create the look that was desired for this home, as well as a way to continue in our efforts of creating an environmentally friendly home.

Reclaimed timber beams are also a great choice because aged wood is seasoned, which means it is more stable than newly cut wood. Along with using reclaimed timber beams, wood that has is historic, recycled, or reclaimed can also be used for flooring and walls in new construction. Recycled wood can also be useful as garden or yard art, or to create new furniture. Using reclaimed and recycled wood doesn’t have to stop at the framing of a home.

Here at Trilogy Partners, we strive to be as environmentally responsible as possible in our building practices. Using reclaimed timber and recycled wood is just one way we achieve that goal.

Reclaimed Timber Frame house

Five Things a Home Audio System Does to Enhance the Value of Your Residence

By: Jessica Kane

When a person begins planning a home redecorating project, a great deal of the focus is on how the residence will look when the endeavor is over. The reality is that people have more than the sense of sight. Perfecting a residence via a redecorating project needs to take the other senses into consideration as well. This includes the sense of sound

Sound, including music, can grealy enhance the livability of a residence. In fact, there are five ways in which you can improve the overall livability of your home by incorporating sound and music more thoroughly in your home. Embarking on a home remodel or redecorating project provides the perfect opportunity to enhance the sound and music availabilities in your residence.

Fully Realize the Potential of Your Living Space

As noted a moment ago, the typical redecorating or remodeling project understandably focuses intensely on what a residence will look like after a job is done. In that regard, consideration is made to the more ubiquitous, and yet vague, consideration of what your home will “feel like” when your project is over. Part of how your home will feels depends not only on sight, but sound as well.
Installing an up-to-date, dynamic sound system, capable of bringing music and interesting soundscapes, throughout your residence is the step to take when it comes to the audio element of a residential improvement project. This can be accomplished by selecting a system that fits your budget and meets the specific needs, goals, and objectives you have for your home.

It’s Not Just About Music

If you are like most people, you may immediately think that a sound system in your residence is just about music. Of course, that is a primary focus of a residential audio system for most people. However, a residence-wide audio system included in your home improvement efforts provides much more.

For example, a quality and yet affordable home audio system can allow you to implement different soundscapes for your residence. You can utilize relaxing soundscapes in different locations in your home, depending on your mood. Moreover, your family can take advantage of customized soundscapes in their rooms, audio presentations that have been demonstrated to enhance sleep.

Enhance Your Other Entertainment Systems

Like most people, your residence is already outfitted with different types of entertainment systems. These likely include televisions and perhaps gaming equipment. The reality is that the addition of a home sound system as part of your residential upgrade endeavors can also work to enhance the functionality of other electronics in your residence. Television viewing and gaming can be taken to a whole new level when existing equipment is tied in with an audio upgrade available via a home sound system.

Sound Technology Provides the Ultimate in Control

Long, long gone are the days when you needed to fiddle with a turntable, tape deck, or CD rack. Rather, there is an abundance of technology that can render coordinating your residential music and soundscapes a breeze. Indeed, there are easy to use apps that aid you turning on or off music or soundscapes from offsite, from wherever you happen to be at the moment.

As part of your remodeling or redecorating efforts, you can add the latest in audio technology. Moreover, you can install this technology at your home at a highly reasonable cost. In other words, you will not break the proverbial bank by really brining your home into the 21st century when it comes to its sound system.

One point needs to be made in digression. You may be like many individuals and wonder why in the world would you care about regulating sound, adjusting music our soundscapes, when you are not at home. If you are a dog or cat owner, you likely do understand how sound in the residence during your absence can help keep your pets at peace. A remotely controlled sound system allows you the ability to accomplish this task with ease.

A more important consideration involves home security. You can significantly enhance the overall effectiveness of your home security endeavors when you have the ability to activate and adjust music and soundscapes from afar. With this type of access, you can really make your home feel as if it is fully occupied, even when you are traveling.

Up the Value of Your Residence

When a person like you embarks on a home improvement project, one of the objectives typically is to increase the value of a residence. In the final tabulation, adding a quality sound system to your residence is a solid way to increase the overall value of your residence.

Jessica Kane is a writer for SoundStage Direct, the number one online source for the best vinyl records and turntables.

by Leo Wolfson| brought to you by Breckenridge Building Center

Fall is a time of transition and preparation in the High Country. As the leaves change color so turn the thoughts of Summit County residents to the winter (for better or worse) and six months of snowfall to come. This arctic onslaught is tough on almost any home and a few precautions need to be taken to ensure that yours is ready for winter’s grip.

Pipes: Preventing your pipes from freezing is an extremely important, cost-saving measure that must be taken before winter hits. Surrounding them with insulation or heat tape does the trick, as will heating the crawl space where the pipes are located. Jason Kompf of Antique Design Carpentry & Remodeling sees his fair share of poor winter prep in the High Country. “Wouldn’t be uncommon to have 20-something houses and (they are) flooded from         frozen pipes every winter,” he chuckled. Kompf recommends taking care of pipes no later than Thanksgiving.

Heating Systems & Furnaces: The last thing you’d ever want is to discover is that your furnace has given out when that first cold snap rolls around. Test your furnace now to make sure that it’s running effectively, which also helps with the frozen pipe issue. Often second-home owners will find out that their heating system has given out upon arrival, making for an inauspicious start to their vacation.

Close-up surfaces: Make sure all exposed wood is sealed up or caulked, which includes keeping paint up to date. “People neglect to paint up here. Every house should be painted on a three- to five-year cycle due to the UV rays and the sun and the weather,” explained Kompf. The extreme High Country elements do a number on the exterior of a house and the longer you wait to get it repainted the greater chance there’ll be wood damage. “I see that a lot — people calling me, they want (me to) repair siding or fix something. They haven’t painted in 15 years and it’s sunned,” said Kompf with a chuckle.

Keeping windows properly sealed is also important. This eliminates drafts and helps save on energy bills.

Gutters and other drainage fixtures: Make sure all leaves and other debris are cleaned out of your gutters. If you wait till spring it will likely be a muddy, moldy mess and could be harmful due to the weight that’s built up.

Decks: Kompf advises using a clear deck sealer on wood decks in the fall. The sealer protects from water damage and will help keep the color longer. Clean a deck frequently before applying the sealer and voilá! You’ll have a protected wood deck that even Old Man Winter can’t touch. If thinking of building a deck for your home this fall, consider a composite material, as it’s cheaper and less sensitive to nature’s elements.

The roof: As winter begins to ramp up, keep an eye out for the amount of snow that collects on your roof. Colorado powder may be light and dry but that hardly matters when 2 feet or more collects, often causing ice dams and structural damage. Kompf recommends shoveling a roof at least once a winter, but if Old Man Winter strikes with an early fury, a trip up to the top deck might be necessary in December.

“No matter how well your roof was done, water can get in there,” said Kompf. Before winter arrives look for loose or broken shingles. These small trouble spots can become large problems during the winter. On the interior, look for stains or damp spots in the crawlspace or top ceiling of your house which can lead to mold and roof damage if not taken care of.

Beware of the south: The south side of a structure may receive the most sun during the winter but this doesn’t mean it’s less exposed to the elements. The location actually creates a vicious melt/freeze cycle that chips away at paint and deteriorates the wood. Extra attention should be paid to this side regarding all previous preparations listed.

Article from Summit Daily courtesy of Breckenridge Building Center | 13445 Hwy. 9, Breckenridge (970) 453-2372 |http://www.breckenridgebuildingcenter.com

SketchUp is the cornerstone of our Project Management Modeling process. When they learned about what we were doing up here in Summit County, they came up with some cameras to see for themselves what this PMM thing was all about.

One of the best ways to understand what it is like to intimately know your home before construction starts and to have an active part in the design of your dream home, is to speak with people who have experienced it from the client end. Enter Donna and Bruce: Trilogy homeowners, retired professors and full-time Summit County residents in the Silverthorne neighborhood of Hamilton Creek.

Much of this home was designed during “real-time design sessions” in the Trilogy office. This is where everyone’s imagination runs wild and Michael sketches in the computer to give these ideas life and show what they would look like in a real world application. Donna’s water feature was dreamed up during a real-time design session at the Trilogy offices. Bruce’s office built-in’s were also done in a real-time design sessions. There was space in the lower level that could have been wasted in a lesser thought out design, that became a hidden office with a sliding bookcase for when their son visits. Bruce has a workshop space to fix his bikes. Every inch of the home was examined for efficiency and owner approved before we broke ground.

One of the most beautiful design aspects of their mountain modern home in Hamilton Creek is the chartreuse and yellow colors that pop throughout the home. When the aspen leaves turn gold in the fall it looks like Donna and Michael went for a walk in the woods to pluck the colors right from nature. You can see a few of those shots in this video.

Thanks to Donna and Bruce for graciously opening up their home to the SketchUp video crew, and to our friends at SketchUp for always being curious about how their product impacts industries and lives around the globe.

Enjoy!

Do you still use a rotary phone or have you upgraded to a smartphone? Do you use a map while driving or GPS? These may seem like funny questions as it may seem silly to continue using obsolete technologies for reasons other than nostalgia. Why is the design and construction industry still using 2D drawings to relay ideas to clients?

Our design and build industry has been business as usual for the past couple hundred years.  Clients are shown 2D drawings to understand their home or structure and then build based off of 2D drawings. Why is this?

Michael Rath, CEO of Trilogy Partners, asked himself this question in 2008, he was fed up of the old ways where clients had an architect, builder and designer all essentially speaking different languages and not communicating to each other. This old model of how to build leads to projects being over budget, over scheduled and not the exciting and satisfying process that building your dream should be. He decided that it was time to break the mold and figure out a way where he could bring everyone together in one efficient working process. Michael found the 3D Modeling program SketchUp and he knew that this was how he was going to change how things would be done.

Michael wanted to create a collaborative process where everyone works from an exact 3D virtual model of a structure that is to be built. Where everyone involved, especially the client, knows exactly how the structure will look, feel and that every design and construction detail, down to the last nut and bolt, is answered for ahead of time. Ahead of any expensive mistakes! And so, Project Management Modeling was born.

Project Management Modeling (PMM) is a residential BIM (Building Information Modeling) solution combining project management, interior design and BIM that creates the most transparency and best results for our clients while saving money every step of the way.

“I love technology, I love being creative, I love collaborating with my clients and my subs and my engineers and I wanted to create an environment where everyone can do the best work possible and show it with everyone else in a collaborative open environment.” Rath

In most design and construction, especially in the residential genre, an architect will take the project so far and then usually hand it off to the engineer who hands it off to the builder. And then an interior designer steps in and you realize your Grandma’s heirloom bed wont fit into the guest room! The client is looking one way and then the next while those disciplines are not talking to each other. Everyone is separate. “It’s not well integrated. It is frustrating!” There wasn’t a BIM alternative for residential projects and something had to change. For Michael, the clients are the most important thing. “It’s my job, my duty to create the best possible house for them.” And so it was important that he would create a solution in order to achieve this.

It is time for our industry to change. We need to take advantage of technological advances and have a little fun doing it. “We have VR now!” The subs, the builders, and the clients can “walk around” the model of the house to be built and see how it will look. They will witness where they need to make changes as if the structure is already built. This allows for changes to be made quickly and without any cost involved.

By utilizing the latest technologies we are able to avoid costly mistakes, be more efficient and sustainable but also be more creative and trying things we wouldn’t have been able to do before. Can you image having a waterfall in your living room? You don’t have to imagine, we can show you in a 3D Model. If you love it, we can build it! Trilogy’s Project Management Modeling is giving you the ability to try new things, to make a custom home truly unique for our clients. If we have the technologies to achieve great things then why not take advantage of this? At Trilogy, we are capitalizing on these technologies and we want you to join us on this exciting adventure.

To find out more about our Project Management Modeling that combines project management, interior design and residential BIM you can click here or contact us directly. We would love to chat to you.

From our Client:

My wife and I began our journey to build our custom vacation dream house in Breckenridge Colorado, by reviewing reputable contractors in the Summit area that were building inspired homes of high quality and exceptional craftsmanship. More importantly, we were looking for a design/build firm that would manage both the design and construction process. Since this was to be an extremely custom “period” home, we knew we needed a firm that would understand our unique vision, be collaborative and provide inspiration. We ultimately selected Trilogy for our project and were not disappointed.

Building a second home a thousand miles from where you live, can be a scary proposition. However, it can be accomplished if you don’t have to separately manage an architect, interior designer and builder. This is where Trilogy, as a “Design/Build” contractor, truly shined. Additionally, what made Trilogy stand out for us was the 3-D modeling services that were provided every step of the way. From schematic design to interior finishes and ultimately furniture selections, the 3D modeling process and the ability to view and edit the design remotely and real time, made the project not only that more successful but a lot less stressful.

Trilogy is a true “concierge” builder. They handled every step of the process from site surveys and initial schematic design, to assisting with the final furniture selections and sourcing of antique reproductions. Monthly budget forecasting allowed us to make informed decisions of where to best spend our money. This is our third custom home, and the Trilogy staff, without exception, were some of the best professionals and craftsman we have ever had the pleasure to work with.

From our Design Build team:

This home was another unique collaboration between owner (an engineer with decades of construction experience) and Trilogy Partners. Trilogy was entrusted as Design Build Project Manager and retained bhh Partners of Breckenridge, Colorado for basic architectural design. The home concept is based on a family homestead that grew over the years from a simple sheep station to a farm and then an entire 3 wing house with a completely separate but attached in-law dwelling. Trilogy modeled the entire home in 3D in preparation for an exquisitely detailed interior design selection process. Trilogy’s Project Management Modeling process allowed the owners to be involved in every design decision from thousands of miles away. This home is energy efficient due to closed cell foam insulation. An air exchange and humidification system provide optimal indoor air quality. Passive solar enhances a high efficiency in floor radiant heating system. The outcome is a unique home that encapsulates the historical vision of the owners and functionality of two separate living quarters in one homestead.

THE HOMESTEAD STORY

This home, though built recently, has a long history. It’s an old story about a family with a hardworking father and a loving mother and three kids who lived in Denver, butloved the mountains more than anything. About 1908 they decided to buy an old sheep station outside of Breckenridge.

At first they lived in the simple shepherd’s cabin they referred to as the “Station House.” As the children grew, so did the family’s passion for horses, ranching, hunting, and fishing and the great outdoors, and it wasn’t long before everyone in the family began to refer to the Station House as home. Denver just became Denver, and it was certainly not where their hearts longed to be. A heavy bell large enough to be heard for several miles, which became known as the “Dinner Bell,” was installed by the front door to call the kids home for supper. After a few years, the family built a pole barn for the horses and a carriage, and then it became the place where they parked the Model T.

About 1923 the eldest son returned from college. His first duty was to supervise the construction of “The Manor House.” Now that mother and father had the time to spend not just summer, but most of the year in the valley, it made sense that they build a real house. The Station House could be used by guests. The son had a lot to do and not much time because the house had to be finished in time for a very important event. A wedding, his wedding, was to happen in the spring, barely a year away. So the Manor House, built with local timbers and many local hands, rose up between the old Station House and the Pole Barn. And there was a first marriage at the house. As the family continued to grow, it seemed the Manor House had to grow with them and over the years, it reached out to either side until finally, it was connected by a long front porch to the Station House, just to the south, and the Pole Barn just to the north. The dinner Bell was installed beneath the gable in the front porch because children still needed to be called home from the hills.

Fifty years passed and the fact that dozens of mothers, fathers, children, and grand children and even great grandchildren spread all over the country still called it Home didn’t seem strange to any of them. For this was where they came to share the most important things with the rest of their family. They came in the summers and winters, stayed sometimes a week, often longer, but at least once a year, if not a couple times more.

They came for the most memorable days of their lives, anniversaries, birthdays, weddings, and sometimes for no reason other than they needed to be with their kin. On those saddest days, when one had passed away, they gathered to remember at the Manor House. They would bury their own in the family plot where the sheep once graced in a meadow that the elk favored in winter. There would be hugs, and tears. But for all, it was far better being sad ere than anywhere else.

And now, a hundred years have passed since a family of five first set for in the valley. And the Manor House, the Station House, and Pole Barn all deserve a little sprucing up in time for another important event. For in the spring comes wedding number 32.