The Denver Business Journal had a story recently about the high cost of water for new homes up and down the Front Range. Many communities require an annual supply of a half-acre-foot per home or 162,925 gallons per new home built.
How much does water cost? New homes served by Denver Water are charged only $3,030 per single-family home for a water tap and this fee hasn’t changed since 2013.
The cost of bringing this water to northern suburbs lie Frederick and Erie “quadrupled between 2010 and 2020 to nearly $60k.” Down south Lower South Platte Water Conservancy District which serves the areas around Parker charges between $37k and $42k per new home.
With the cost of water I imagine builders have to pay at least $150k to develop a small lot and possibly as much as $200k and this is before they dig dirt for the new home. This is why it’s so difficult to build a new detached home for < $500k.