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Cattle Ranch San Luis Valley

From Septic, Electrical & Concrete work to Framing and changing all interior Finishes on this 1994 Ohio made Manufactured Home.

By High Altitude Finishes

October 18^th, 2025

We have been working on and off for the same clients since we first started our company in 2003. In 2023, our clients purchased a majestic 2,400 acres cattle ranch in the gorgeous San Luis Valley. If you have ever drank a Coors Beer, then you have tasted the barley grown in the San Luis Valley. Most of the barley used in the production of Coors, comes from the San Luis Valley.

We spent the majority of 2023 transforming a mobile home into a classic tasteful residence. Our client Alice is a talented architect with very unique artistic vision. In the past we helped her transform a Denver loft into an Antoni Gaudi inspired space.

What was different this time around is that Alice decided to work with a double wide manufactured home which is very customary for working class people. Double wide manufacture homes are pragmatic, affordable and convenient options in rural areas. Alice's vision (drawings) for the double wide was to reconfigure the laundry room to allow for a family sized sitting area in the kitchen. We enlarged the second bathroom enabling a full lite glass door facing the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and walk out to the added hot tub. We commissioned local, custom milled matching shiplap siding to be used as an interior finish. We also painted the kitchen cabinets and added a soaking tub with brass hardware in the master bath. Given the dated nature of the manufactured home, some of the electrical and much of the plumbing were upgraded to current building standards.

Our work equated to saving a beautifully pragmatic ranch style manufactured home. The spacious floor plan is capable of accommodating both guests and the management crew of this cattle ranch.

Septic System Troubleshooting

We began the project in sub zero temperatures. Upon arrival we discovered that all sewer lines as well as exterior septic lines were all frozen. Part of the problem that we discovered was that the tanks had not been pumped in over 25 years. We worked effectively with an amazing local company that managed to thaw the lines. We then insulated the septic tanks to help mitigate future freezing. In high desert temperatures can drop to -25F.

At times we used our expertise operating large machinery to help the local crew with ditch maintenance.

Building a concrete hot tub pad...

Interior Remodel

Electrical Work

We pulled all the wire and roughed in new fixtures all around. This home was originally manufactured in a factory and shipped in two parts. Manufactured homes are not designed to be remodeled. Upon moving walls and adding wall sconces, we learned that the electrical system in a manufactured home is typically bundled and grouped together in a way that makes it very difficult to run new circuits or decouple existing circuits in order to add new ceiling cans for island lighting. It was nearly impossible to fish wires through the walls or understand where the existing wires were bundled when the building was built. Manufactured homes adhere to a different set of building codes, not at all like a newly built home. There are typically no rough in boxes. When trying to alter switches or outlets, mobile home specific receptacles break upon removal.

Ship lap Siding

We milled our own ship lap siding working in tandem with a local sawmill, Mountain Valley Lumber. We decided to use regional beetle killed pine. Amy did an excellent job working with local partners. She also did a great job on the trim carpentry as not all boards were perfectly straight.

I will spare you the details of what it takes to paint cabinetry. After 20 years in business, I can make ANY kitchen look brand new. Alice had the choice of trashing all the cabinets and procuring new ones. Instead she decided to keep them and give them a fresh look something we truly appreciated.

Despite the tile backsplash having inherent installation and design issues, we opted to keep it in order to reduce how much trash construction projects generate.

We also installed wainscoting panels around the house to give the manufactured home a feeling of an old house. We added battens to all walls in order to remove the feeling of a "trailer home". Putting together green ship lap with white wainscoating and yellow board and batten walls makes the house feel more like a "ranch" rather than a manufactured home.