Monica LaSalle, Nederland.   “You know how cold it got the night before if your toothpaste is frozen when you wake up”, Mark Stringfellow says with a chuckle, as he describes how he first got into the construction business. It was 1977 and he was living on Sugarloaf in a garage with a dirt floor that he had converted into his living quarters. But when his wife got pregnant, he realized quickly that he was going to need to provide an actual home for his new family. He looked around the area and found many houses that he liked, but they were all way out of his price range. So he got busy building his first home. When he first started, he had a chainsaw and a hammer.

That’s it. But he got to work and soon thereafter he had built his first home on the same plot of land as his garage. One could say that is where his passion for building affordable housing stems from, for he has been building and planning in the Nederland area for 30 years. He spent some time building in the Boulder area but soon grew bored with the subdivisions and mansions he was being asked to build because he didn’t feel they were serving the community.

Mark Stringfellow’s latest contribution towards affordable housing in Nederland is on Conger Street. The plot he has owned for 8 years had finally been approved for development by the BOT and rather than putting three duplexes in as he had hoped for, he had to compromise and plan for 3 single family modular homes.

Mark designed the homes in partnership with Nicholas Brodsky, who is a long time realtor in the Nederland area. After spending years talking to local residents, they feel they have narrowed down affordable housing needs while addressing energy efficiency at an end cost that is half the average cost of new build construction homes in the area. While the median cost of a new build construction home in Nederland area averages around 748,000.00, Stringfellow will be able to sell his homes for high 300K to low 400K, which he figures is the average amount paid in rent for the equivalent. The homes will have enough room for a couple to have a roommate or for a single family. These homes are all part of his vision for providing affordable housing to the area. “I am doing it not because I have to, but because I want to” he says. He believes there are too many kids living in their parent’s basements due to a lack of affordable housing. Decades ago, he chose Nederland not only for his home but to focus on achieving his dream because he likes small town accountability. He is determined to “leave it better than I found it”.

He admits to having experienced frustration working with the BOT - after working over the years with several different municipalities in Colorado, he feels he has “never seen a town put so much energy into doing so little”.

Despite these expressions, he truly loves the Town of Nederland and is determined to continue to provide affordable housing however he can feasibly do it. “Life is good, we’re all in this together and none of us is getting out alive,” he says with a chuckle. “I’m just going to do what I do. I sleep well at night”. The first of three homes on Conger is due to be completed in the beginning of January 2019.

(Originally published in the November 15, 2018, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)