What if you could enjoy resort-style living while nestled in the unparalleled beauty of Durango? The new West Dalton Ranch community is your chance. Located just six miles north of beautiful Durango, West Dalton Ranch is the perfect place to build your custom home within the majestic landscape of the Animas River Valley.
Nestled at the base of the San Juan Mountains lies Durango’s newest premier community. West Dalton Ranch offers stunning scenery, rich culture and history, a caring community, delicious cuisine, and breathtaking views of Durango, without the bustle of the center of town. The subdivision offers one of the last opportunities to build a custom home in a less densely populated area, surrounded by the vast array of amenities that the Animas Valley offers, including the Dalton Ranch Golf Course, a grocery store, hardware and liquor stores, swimming pools, hot springs, and farm fresh dining just a few minutes away.
A premier Real Estate team located in Southwest Colorado, Team North Star, is at the helm of this development project. And they are thrilled to help you bring your Colorado dream home to fruition. Their partnership with myriad local and regional industry professionals ensures that you can create a bespoke custom home in one of our region’s most sought after locations.
They’ve teamed up with renowned builders and other premier real estate professionals to ensure you have the best experience possible while designing your home. One of their most trusted partners is Brian Huff, founder of Huff Architecture and one of their recommended architects.
Meet Brian Huff
Brian has been a resident of Southwest Colorado since 1999, and founded Huff Architecture in 2020. He and his team have been working for years to create design solutions that fulfill his clients’ requirements by reflecting both their lifestyles and ideal home criteria, while working within each unique natural environment.
Over the span of his career, he has worked on 30-acre commercial developments and office buildings, and has a large portfolio of residential work, with most of his designs ranging from contemporary to mountain traditional. Huff prides himself on his personal relationship with each client and works meticulously to understand each of his clients’ needs. They work closely from inception to completion to achieve an end result that meets, and often exceeds, the clients’ expectations
Brian was introduced to the West Dalton Ranch project by one of its developers who is building a custom home in the new community. Team North Star is part of The Wells Group of Durango. Brian has worked with many clients over the years that have been referred by agents at the Wells Group, designing custom homes as well as renovation re-designs. He is currently working as an architect on six custom homes for owners in West Dalton Ranch (including two for the developer ) and does other work throughout the region as well.
Why Brian Loves Durango
After graduating from college in Boulder, and working for a time with his father in Pagosa Springs, Brian and his wife realized that Durango was a great place to raise their children. Like so many Durango residents, Brian deeply enjoys living in this rare mountain town. He loves all that it has to offer him and his family year round, from fishing and summer river sports, to family ski jaunts on winter weekends. He also revels in the plentitude of great golf courses in the vicinity. “What’s not to love about Durango?” he laughs.
Unique Community and Lifestyle Benefits: Family Living
And for those who are also looking to raise a family in the Durango area, Brian views this neighborhood as a wonderful place to do that with comfort and ease. “West Dalton Ranch is a fantastic place to raise a family,” Huff says. “You can send your kids to the [golf] course, and the pool. There’s everything you’d want for a close-knit family to be able to have a relatively easy life.” All within walking distance are the grocery market, elementary school, and hot springs–and all surrounded by the beautiful Animas River Valley.
What it’s Like to Work with Brian
Huff and his team believe that the quality of his clients’ experience is as important as the structures they create. They build strong relationships with each of their clients to ensure a deep understanding of their particular needs and overall vision.
Brian typically begins working with his clients with an initial visit of touring their site, and beginning to identify what they need–and don’t need–in their house. They pay special attention to the topographical considerations such as potential views that they’d love to include in the home design, and other opportunities to capture any other specific on-site features of the property.
“So as we’re visiting the site with a client as part of the design process, a lot of the times we’ll tour the site and a client will say, ‘when I wake up in the morning, this is what I want to see.’” And then they work with the homeowner to ensure that the design captures that view from every angle, such as the master bedroom, kitchen, the great room, or even the bathtub of the master bathroom.
“Every aspect of the design is considering what the clients require,” Brian says.
Thereafter, they head to Brian’s office to start understanding their individual and collective lifestyle needs, including all members of the family (including children and pets!). He and his team view it as paramount to ensure that every single aspect of their day-to-day lives is prioritized in their home.
Brian and his team will then create a loose schematic floor plan, and thereafter begin creating three dimensional modeling of the home. Finally, they’ll create professional renderings so that the client can actually see the initial design.
After that process, they begin the construction drawing, which includes the structural engineering to gain a deeper understanding of the literal “nuts and bolts” of the house. The process can take between 4 months and a year, depending largely on client engagement and clarity of what they would like. “If the client is engaged, the entire design process usually takes between four and five months,” Huff says.
“Each house is an expression of the owners,” Huff says. The three houses that he is currently working on in the West Dalton Ranch neighborhood are categorically different. “They are all an expression of the client and the client’s design taste, rather than solely an expression of my thoughts on architecture. As an architect, it’s my job to help bring the client’s vision to life, rather than my own.”
“My favorite part of the design process, and really the most rewarding, is helping the client’s dreams come true.”
Balancing Design with the Natural Living Environment
Brian knows that one’s building design needs to respond to the piece of land upon which it will sit. “It’s great because it’s basically a blank slate up there [at West Dalton Ranch],” Huff says. “It’s kind of a treat to do whatever the client wants.” He recognizes that it’s a very rare building and design opportunity, especially in the Durango area.
“It is my job as an architect to artistically create something that reflects the client’s needs and program,” Brian says. “It’s really a failed project if it’s just about myself, and not a reflection of the clients I’ve been working for.”
Huff is becoming a master architect and artist at blending his architecture with the Animas Valley, both aesthetically and functionally. When meeting with clients, he makes sure to discern and fulfill their priorities and aspirations for their home.
Current Home Building Trends in the Community
There is a homeowners association and an architectural design committee that offers a few guidelines about home style in the West Dalton Ranch to maintain the standards of quality that are the benchmark of the community. However, there is quite a lot of flexibility and room for creativity in the design process of building a home in the neighborhood. Brian shares that it will be an elevated and eclectic mix of design styles in the community that reflect the desires of each owner.
Brian has seen quite a variety of home designs ranging from contemporary, mountain traditional, and mountain modern design types. Amongst those, there are quite a few single and multi-level homes of varying sizes. But the lot sizes are generous and leave plenty of room for open green space and outdoor living.
And while Brian incorporates myriad environmentally-conscious design elements into his West Dalton Ranch homes, he has noticed one particular trend emerging: adding a gentle berm between lots to help create secluded living areas for additional privacy while maximizing outdoor living space.
A Rare and Unique Opportunity
“I think it’s an exciting opportunity for the designers in town, for the builders in town, and for anyone who wants to be able to get a piece of property here and be able to build their dream home,” Brian says. “I think that West Dalton is going to be a fantastic spot.”
“It’s exciting being brought in on the West Dalton Ranch project due to the fact that it’s a new fresh clean start in our community,” says Huff. He recognizes what a privilege and opportunity it is to have his work featured in this unique and beautiful development. Contact Huff Architecture to learn more about how to work with Brian and his team to build your custom home in the West Dalton Ranch community.
Team North Star: Your Gateway into West Dalton Ranch
Team North Star at the Wells Group of Durango is passionate about sharing this opportunity with anyone interested in purchasing a lot to create their own custom home in this magnificent and desirable location in the Upper Animas River Valley. Their dynamic team of Colorado-based realtors helps each of their clients successfully achieve their mountain living dream.
Contact their Team today and start your exploration of the West Dalton Ranch neighborhood.