Historic Restoration, Fort Collins
The standards that govern this work say repair before replace. That is not sentiment — it is the criterion a review board applies and the one a tax credit turns on.
We restore, which is a narrower word than it sounds
Cordwell works on designated and district houses across Larimer County — Old Town, the Laurel School district, and the older streets of Loveland and Greeley. Most of what we do is on buildings somebody has already decided are worth keeping.
That constrains us in ways a remodeler is not constrained, and it is the whole point. Restoration means the historic fabric governs the decision: original material is repaired where it can be, matched where it cannot, and new work is compatible but honestly differentiated rather than pretending to be old. If what you want is a new house behind an old facade, we are genuinely the wrong firm, and we will say so on the first visit.
- ✓Designated, district and eligible properties
- ✓Secretary of the Interior's Standards as the working method
- ✓Landmark review and tax credit submissions prepared in-house
- ✓CO Class B Contractor #FC-20714
Restoration, and the paperwork that protects it
The building work is half of it. The other half is designation, review and the credit application — which have to happen in a particular order to be worth anything.
Four of the ten, and what they mean on site
Repair rather than replace
Standard 6. Deteriorated features are repaired where possible; replacement is for features that have genuinely failed. In practice most of a rotten porch post is sound above the bottom few inches, and the standard asks you to prove otherwise before removing it.
Match what you must replace
Where replacement is unavoidable, the new work matches the old in design, colour, texture and — where possible — material. That is why we mill profiles rather than buying the nearest stock moulding.
New work should be differentiated
Standard 9. An addition should be compatible in massing and materials but should not pretend to be original. Faux-historic detail on new work is one of the more common reasons a submission is refused.
Changes should be reversible
Standard 10. New work is done so that if it were removed later, the essential form and integrity of the historic property would be unimpaired. It shapes how we fix things as much as what we fix.
Four things that decide how this goes
Whether the house is designated
Local landmark, National Register listing, or a contributing property in a district — each carries different review requirements and different credit eligibility. Plenty of owners do not know which applies to them, and it is the first thing we establish.
What survives under the paint
A fabric survey before a design. Which material is original, which is a later alteration, and what is genuinely beyond repair. This is what a review board wants to see reasoning from, and it frequently makes the project cheaper rather than dearer.
The order of operations
Designation, review approval and the credit application each have to be in the right place in the sequence. Work done before approval is usually work that cannot be credited, and occasionally work that has to be undone.
What you actually want
Restoration and renovation are different objectives. If the aim is an open-plan kitchen and a primary suite, that is a legitimate thing to want and it is not what this method delivers. Better to establish that in week one.
Before and after in Larimer County
Most of that porch post is fine
The instinct with a hundred-year-old porch is to take it off and build a new one. It is faster to quote, faster to build, and it is what most contractors will offer you.
But old-growth timber is denser than anything you can buy today, and rot is almost always local. Water sits where the post meets the deck, so the bottom few inches go while the eight feet above them are sound. The standards ask you to establish that before removing anything — and once you have, splicing a new base onto a sound post is both cheaper and better material than a full replacement in modern softwood.
The same logic runs through the whole method. Re-key the plaster instead of skipping it. Repoint in a mortar softer than the brick instead of a hard modern mix that will spall the faces. Repair the sash rather than replace the window. It is slower per item and it routinely produces a smaller total number, because you are buying labour on the parts that failed instead of materials for the parts that did not.
- ✓Fabric survey before any removal is agreed
- ✓Splices and matched profiles rather than wholesale replacement
- ✓Mortar specified softer than the brick it sits against
The credit has to be approved before you start
Colorado offers an income tax credit for the rehabilitation of qualifying historic residential property, and for a substantial project it is real money — frequently more than an owner expects, and often enough to change what is affordable in the scope.
There are two conditions that catch people. The work has to meet the standards, which is a question of method rather than intention. And the application has to be reviewed and approved before the work begins. Owners who restore first and apply afterwards generally find they have forfeited it, which is a painful conversation to have at the end of a project rather than the start.
So we ask about designation on the first call and we will pause a project to get the sequencing right. Losing a month at the beginning is a much better trade than losing the credit at the end.
- ✓Designation and eligibility established on the first visit
- ✓Application prepared and approved before work begins
- ✓We will delay a start date rather than forfeit the credit
About to start work on an old house?
Two questions are worth answering first: is it designated, and would the work qualify. Both are quick, and both are much cheaper to answer now than in month four.
What owners say
We had a contractor ready to tear off the porch and rebuild it in cedar. Cordwell showed us that most of the original posts were sound below the paint and only the bottom eight inches had gone. They spliced in new footings, matched the turned profile for the two that were beyond saving, and the review board approved it in one meeting.
The part I did not know is that the application has to be approved before you start. We were about a month from beginning work. Cordwell paused us, prepared the submission, and we kept a credit worth more than the entire kitchen.
Every other quote assumed the plaster would come out and drywall would go in. They repaired it, re-keyed what had let go, and ran the new wiring through the floor cavities instead of trenching the walls. The house still sounds like the house.
Historic restoration, answered
How do I find out if my house is historic?
There are three things it could be, and they are not the same: a locally designated landmark, a property listed on the National Register, or a contributing building inside a historic district. Each carries different review requirements and different credit eligibility. Fort Collins keeps records of local designations and district boundaries, and we check all three on the first visit — a good number of owners are surprised in both directions.
Does designation mean I cannot change anything?
No, and this is the most common fear. Designation generally governs work that affects the exterior and any character-defining features, through a review process rather than a prohibition. Interiors are frequently not reviewed at all unless the interior itself is designated. What it does mean is that alterations need approval before they happen, and that the reasoning matters as much as the drawing.
Should I get my house designated?
It depends on what you want. Designation brings review obligations, and it also unlocks the rehabilitation tax credits and, in many owners' experience, protects the value of what makes the house worth owning. We will lay out both sides honestly — it is not a decision we should be making for you, and we do restoration work on undesignated houses too.
Why repair when replacement is cheaper?
Often it is not, once you compare like with like. Rot in old timber is usually local — the bottom few inches of a post while the rest is sound old-growth material denser than anything sold today. Splicing a new base is labour on the failed part rather than material for the whole. It is slower per item and frequently produces a smaller total. It is also what the standards require, so on a designated property it is the difference between an approval and a refusal.
Can I get modern comfort in an old house?
Yes, and it is most of what we do alongside the restoration. Wiring, heating and insulation can be routed through floor cavities, closets and chases rather than trenched through original plaster and trim. The constraint is not comfort, it is method — the systems go in around the historic fabric rather than through it, which takes longer and leaves the house intact.
Do you do additions?
Yes, designed to be compatible in scale and material but readable as new work rather than imitation period detail. That is what the standards ask for and, in practice, what a review board is looking to see. Faux-historic trim on a new addition is one of the more common reasons a submission comes back.
How much does historic restoration cost?
It varies more than ordinary renovation because the scope follows what has actually failed rather than a specification. A porch restoration commonly runs in the mid five figures; a whole-house exterior restoration considerably more. What we can promise is that the number follows a fabric survey rather than an assumption, and that the survey often reduces the scope rather than expanding it.
How do the tax credits work?
Colorado offers an income tax credit for qualifying rehabilitation of historic residential property. The two conditions that matter are that the work meets the standards, and that the application is reviewed and approved before the work begins. Restoring first and applying afterwards generally forfeits it. We establish eligibility on the first visit and will hold a start date rather than lose it.
How long does the approval stage take?
Landmark review typically depends on how often the commission meets — often monthly — and a well-prepared submission with a fabric survey, photographs and clear reasoning usually clears in one cycle rather than three. Credit approval runs alongside it. Plan on a couple of months before work starts, and treat anybody promising to begin next week on a designated property with some caution.
Tell us about the house
Roughly when it was built, whether it is designated or in a district, and what is worrying you. If you are close to starting work, say so — the order things happen in matters more here than in most trades.