Local contracting family builds their dream home
By Kendra Walker
Twenty years ago, Jason Kidd started working for a local general contracting business dedicated to building dream homes for families here in paradise. Little did he know, he would someday take over that business and create a dream home of his own with his family.
“Sometimes things just happen well when Jason and I are together. Things have always felt like they happened how they were supposed to,” says Julia Kidd, who teaches business and social studies at Crested Butte Community School. She says she and Jason met each other here, having both moved to the Gunnison Valley sight unseen.
In 2004, Jason started working for Scott Hargrove’s contracting business. “He just grew in that job, and we eventually went into business with them,” says Julia. The company became Hargrove & Kidd Construction.
In 2007, the Kidds built their home in the Larkspur subdivision and began raising their two boys, Beckett and Cole, now aged 15 and 13.
When Scott and Kristi Hargrove retired in 2020, they transferred the business to Jason and Julia. The pair now run Hargrove & Kidd, with Jason serving as president and general contractor and Julia overseeing business functions, managing financial operations and providing client support.
“We inherited all of Scott’s practices that Jason learned over the years, and I learned the office side from Kristi. We have so much respect for how they ran their business and want to keep that going.”
When looking for a bigger space, the Kidd family lucked out with the perfect plot of land…right across the street in their little Larkspur cul-de-sac. “My mom bought this lot in 2009 and was willing to sell it to us,” says Julia. “We wanted more space for our family and knew we wanted to have the contracting office and a space to show clients.”
Julia feels fortunate that they could build their dream home using Jason’s extensive experience, connections and resources he had built in the industry. “He could do those things he’s learned to do over the last 20 years. There were so many specific things Jason knew to do because he’d watched it and knew what to care about and how to feel what the clients felt. We spent thousands of hours just looking at things and trying to decide.”
The Kidds broke ground in May 2022 and finished last December 2023, “all this while Jason was building eight other houses for the business,” Julia muses.
Their home build truly was a family affair. “Having it right across the street was so helpful, and our team did a lot of work on it, too. I was a little more hands-on this time,” she says, recalling being pregnant while working on their previous home. “It was a family project; our boys helped out a ton. They usually work for us during the summers, and they learned a lot watching this build. My son would come over and inspect all the work every day after school,” she laughs. “We all worked really well together. It’s the family business, a part of our whole being. It’s so ingrained. For them to be a part of this build was pretty special.”
The parcel sits on a bit of a slope, Julia explains, so they built the house to fit with the land’s natural topography. The 3,900-square-foot home has four bedrooms and four bathrooms and includes the Hargrove & Kidd office above the garage.
“Having our office here is so convenient, and it’s really nice to show off the quality of work we do when clients come in here.”
They utilized many of their contracting connections during the build, working with Jennifer Hartman of Sunlit Architecture, Top Tier Construction for roofing, Heath Nold from Innovative Woodworks for custom cabinets and Rob Dickinson at Precise Painting. “They were all such pros to work with,” she says.
Julia says their vision for the home was all about utilizing the space and maximizing the value of the family being together. “We live in our house, this is for real,” she says. “I want nothing more than to have us all down on the couch together or hanging around the kitchen. It’s nice and open, nothing is too far away from anything. We really value being all together, and this house naturally brings us there.”
Julia says it was also important to balance what’s trendy in the home design scene versus what they like. “Sometimes you walk into a house and you can time stamp what year or era it was built based on the design,” she says. “We wanted to just be true to what we like.”
Many elements throughout the house reflect the family’s experience and knowledge in homebuilding. Julia is happy with so many of the details. “Some of the elements that Jason came up with bring these great visuals that I would have never thought of,” she says, noting how the flagstone from the front patio carries inside into the entryway, reclaimed wooden beams and paneling on the ceiling show off extra textures. Subtle color details, including a navy front door and taupe kitchen cabinets, complement the space’s warm yet light wood tones. They have not one but two Murphy beds that allow them to maximize their space day-to-day, and then host company from out of town. And bountiful windows maximize light and offer expansive views of Whetstone Mountain and Crested Butte Mountain.
But Julia’s favorite part of the house? “My blinds go down with a button. It brings me so much joy,” she smiles.
Julia is grateful for where they’ve landed. “My kids get to grow up here. We never came here ever thinking we’d be building a business and a home and a life that’s sustainable. I love living in Larkspur. If the town is crazy, we have no idea, and I’m four minutes away from getting the kids from school. And I’ve got so many connections here, teaching our neighbors’ kids and watching my students grow up around us,” she says.
“We got really lucky, it’s everything we could ever want. Taking over the business changed the trajectory of our lives. We help bring people to Crested Butte who love it so much here. We love it so much.”
