Meet Scott Houdek | Mountain Home Designer & Developer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Scott Houdek and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Scott, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
Risk taking has always been a big part of my story. I’ve left comfortable jobs for new endeavors three times over my career. One failed. One worked. And the third one, well, I guess we will have to wait and see! But regardless of the ultimate outcome of this one, I have never regretted taking a risk because I have never known someone who achieved their dreams without it.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
We are a design and build firm based in Crested Butte, Colorado. My path to this dream career was not a straight line! I was working for a Wall Street firm leading a team mostly based in New York. I was commuting to Midtown Manhattan weekly (hence the business name). We were building a second home for our family in Crested Butte during that time. I was working on the design with a close friend, who is a professional interior designer, and she kept telling me I had a real eye for design. The joy and satisfaction I got out of that project and the encouragement from that friend (and my family) were transformative. I knew I had to figure out how to make home design a bigger part of my life. After this first project and while still working my finance “day job”, I designed and built another home for a friend, and then another, and then decided to take the chance and do it full time. I’ve never looked back.

I think a key factor to our success is focus. We only do one project at a time. We treat each project as if we are designing and building our own dream house. We don’t cut corners, ever. If anything, we over engineer and design our homes. We obsess over details but always feel we get rewarded when a design feature turns out perfect. Our goal is to make each home we build a place where the families we serve can create lifelong memories. I consider it both a passion and a privilege to be in this profession.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
What a great question. I would pick a summer visit for my friend. There’s a lot to choose from so I’d select a different activity to base each day around. We’d hike one of the great hikes out of town one day, like Rustler’s Gulch, Dark Canyon Loop or the 403. We’d float the Gunnison one day chasing browns and rainbows with my favorite guide out of Dragonfly Anglers. We’d spend a day on the bike riding some of the numerous trails near CB. And one day, we would take it easy and play some golf at the Club at Crested Butte. Food would be a big part of our time and would certainly include coffee at Camp4, a breakfast sandwich from the Gas Cafe and maybe a chorizo pork breakfast burrito from the Burrito Bike at the 4-way. Lunch would be one of many great spots like a burger at Public House, pizza at the iconic Secret Stash, or tacos at Teocalli Tamale. At night we’d start with a drink at the Dogwood or Montanya and then rotate dinner with steaks at Elk Avenue Prime, sushi at Izakaya Cabin (my absolute favorite), Italian at Marchitelli’s Gourmet Noodle, and finally a fancy French/American meal at Soupcon. We might have to finish off the evening with one more at Kochevar’s or the Birdie Bar.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I had a lot of friends along the way encouraging me to take the chance to do this business full time, but if I had to pick one, it would definitely be my amazing wife, Amy. She was willing to make the sacrifices as well for me to pursue a career in design and development.

Website: midtownmountain.com

Instagram: midtownmountain

Linkedin: Scott Houdek