Steamboat Springs — Local homebuilder Paul Flood has found a way to bring three-bedroom townhomes in Hayden onto the market for less than $150,000.

Flood hopes to complete his four new townhome units near the Fairgrounds on Hayden’s south side in February.

Flood says his ability to bring the townhomes in at this price has a lot do with the property he was able to purchase. And he’s committed to delivering quality, stick-built units to the public.

“I bought the two original four-plex lots in 1996,” Flood explained. “The land cost was reasonable and most of the infrastructure was already in place. I had built a few single-family homes up the street and thought there might be an opportunity to build entry-level housing.”

Flood built the original four townhomes in 1998. They were two-story, two-bedroom, one-bath units measuring just 1,000 square feet.

The new project includes a third, garden level, boosting the overall square footage and allowing the inclusion of a family room. The bedroom areas on the garden and third levels are separated by the ground level kitchen and living room area.

“There’s no wasted space,” Flood said. “There are no hallways in the floor plan.”

Flood said building entry-level housing in the tricky Routt County market is a challenge he relishes.

“I enjoy building in this price range because people get excited. Plus, it’s a challenge,” Flood said. “That’s the fun part of it.”

The units themselves are mirror images of one another in terms of floor plan. Flood tries to remedy the sameness by offering buyers choices of linoleum patterns. They can also choose between oak or maple kitchen cabinets. He’s even putting gas fireplaces in two of the townhomes, and gas woodstoves in the two others.

“I try to make it so that when you walk out of one unit to have dinner at your neighbors’ (home) next door, they don’t look identical,” he said.

He also installed a soundboard, as well as insulation, between the units.

The exterior siding is vinyl for low initial cost and low maintenance.

The largest bedroom measures 14 feet by 15 feet and includes a walk-in closet. There’s also a “nicho” in the wall built to accommodate a television and stereo.

Flood takes pride in utilizing low-E windows.

“If you want to call something affordable, it has go to be energy efficient,” Flood said.