January 7, 2022 • EPE Related News
Hakes Brothers charges ahead with home construction
Hakes Brothers charges ahead with home construction
- By David Crowder / El Paso Inc. staff writer
- Jan 2, 2022 Updated Jan 3, 2022
Building homes is tough these days because of supply chain problems nationally and land availability in El Paso, but just outside of the city, Hakes Brothers homes are going up and selling fast.
“It’s never been harder to build a house, but it’s never been easier to sell houses,” said Daniel Nielsen, president of Hakes Brothers, a 15-year-old company that’s building and selling homes from Albuquerque to San Antonio.
“Overall, we’re hoping that the Rio Grande division, which is Las Cruces, El Paso and San Antonio, will close around 500 homes this year, which is great growth from last year.
“They’re flying off the shelves.”
Hakes has developments in New Mexico from Albuquerque to Las Cruces and in El Paso from Mission Ridge and Cimarron Canyon in Northwest to Sunland Park’s La Entrada development and seven more developments in the Lower Valley close to Socorro.
Just inside the New Mexico state line in Sunland Park, Hakes has the La Entrada development where 93 lots and houses are going up. They start at $255,000.
Asked if that’s high for the market, Nielsen said, supply chain problems have inflated home prices and slowed construction.
“Getting appliances has been a nightmare, and lumber has been a nightmare,” Nielsen said. “We’re just trying to think outside of the box to make sure we can get all of our materials here.
“It’s something new every month. I’ve been doing this for a little over 10 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
He called Sunland Park “a sweet spot” because of the brisk demand and an easy working relationship with city government.
They’re also looking at a 2,300-lot project near Santa Teresa High School.
“It’s one of the first major master-planned communities that’s going to happen in the city of Sunland Park,” Nielsen said. “We haven’t inked the deal, but we are definitely in communication with the developer now.”
One of the features their new homes may come with are battery backup systems in cooperation with El Paso Electric.
“If the grid fails there, they’re going to have batteries that will back it up and turn on automatically to keep the whole community’s power on,” he said. “That’s so that whole freeze in Texas can’t happen. It’s really cool that they’re working on the infrastructure.”
In the Socorro area, Hakes is working with other developers and acquiring lots at very reasonable prices.
“That allows us to build a good product and provide more homes for people,” Nielsen said. “This was our first run at Socorro, and we’re excited to get in there.”
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