About OAK Construction

Who we are

The first train into our high mountain valley crossed Trout Creek Pass just after the narrow-gauge rails were laid in the spring of 1879. At the throttle of the steam locomotive was Otto Perschbacher, an engineer for the Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad. Our president, Kirby Perschbacher, is Otto's great-great-grandson.

We're a family enterprise.

Margo, Kirby's wife, holds a degree in art from Alfred Univesity in Alfred, New York. She is an artist, potter, and sculptor who designs interiors and handles some of the paperwork. Their son, Nick, is an experienced carpenter, and their daughter, Charis, was graduated from Western State College of Colorado in 2003 with a bachelor's degree in environmental architecture.

We don't do it all ourselves, of course. Kirby has been in construction in Central Colorado since 1975, working for a variety of companies before founding OAK Construction in 2001. That means we know all the local subcontractors. For you, that means we work with the firms who are reliable and conscientious, from site preparation to plumbing, wiring, roofing, and all other specialized work which goes into building a home you'll love to inhabit.

We are a regional construction company, with current and past projects in Salida, Buena Vista, Leadville, Poncha Springs, Crestone, Cotopaxi, and Howard Colorado.

Behind the OAK

The OAK in our business name stands for One of A Kind, and it fits because that's the kind of construction we do: One-of-A-Kind. We don't build cookie-cutter generic houses. We do build custom homes that use local materials to fit the local environment, and we feature the work of many talented local artists and artisans.

As for oak trees, our part of the world does not boast forests of towering oaks that grew from tiny acorns. Our hills do have the Gambel Oak (Quercus gambelii), which thrives here and provides excellent habitat -- and that's what we want to do, too.