What Sugarloaf Wells Cost, Produce, and Require

How deep are wells around Sugarloaf?

How much water do wells make near Sugarloaf?

Sugarloaf well depths reflect fractured mountain bedrock

Among permitted wells within the Sugarloaf area, the median reported depth is 300 feet. The middle half runs from 185 to 430 feet, so a driller bidding a typical site should not assume one standard depth. The 90th-percentile depth is 580 feet, and the deepest record reaches 1,402 feet.

Depths are spread across the area: 9% are under 100 feet, 38% fall from 100 to 300 feet, 43% from 300 to 600 feet, and 9% exceed 600 feet. Most permits identify unnamed fractured bedrock. A few identify fractured crystalline or fractured granite, while none identify Denver Basin aquifers. Granite and gneiss fractures can change abruptly across a lot, making neighboring well records useful but not conclusive.

Most Sugarloaf wells make useful household yields

Reported well yields have a 7.0-gallon-per-minute median, with the middle half between 5.0 and 10.0 gallons per minute. The largest group, 72%, reports 5 to 15 gallons per minute. Another 9% reports more than 15 gallons per minute.

Low production is still part of the local picture. Seventeen percent of reported wells fall from 1 to 5 gallons per minute, and 3% are under 1 gallon per minute. Only 999 wells report a pump yield, so these figures describe the reporting subset rather than every constructed well. Ask for a yield test and storage-tank plan. A low-yield well may still serve a household with adequate storage, but it gives less margin for irrigation or unusually high demand. Exempt household-use wells also have a 35-gpm pumping limit.

Sugarloaf water levels show a deeper recent pattern

The overall median static water level is 60 feet below ground surface, with the middle half from 27 to 100 feet. Only 97 wells report a static water level, so this is a limited sample and not a direct measurement for a property you are considering.

The decade figures do show a change in the reported measurements: the median was 35 feet below surface in the 1970s, 65 feet in the 1980s, 90 feet in the 2010s, and 80 feet in the 2020s. That pattern suggests water was measured deeper in the later records than in the earliest decade, but it does not prove a uniform, area-wide decline. Measurement methods, locations, well depths, and seasonal conditions can differ. Have a contractor measure the subject well rather than relying only on the area summary.

Sugarloaf permit history shows long local drilling activity

The DWR record contains 3,128 permitted wells within the mapped area, with 2,147 recorded as constructed. The records include permits from the 1950s through the newest permit year, 2025. Permit activity was highest in the 1970s, with 767 permits, followed by 538 in the 1990s, 532 in the 1980s, and 283 in the 2000s.

Ground Water Systems Inc. (Wilson, Richard R.) appears most often, with 907 records. Ingram Drilling Inc. (Ingram, Stephen E.) has 266, and Norris & Sons (Norris, T A) has 165. Those names show who has worked in the records; they are not a guarantee of current availability or performance. Confirm the driller's current license, insurance, scope of work, and references before signing a contract.

A median-depth Sugarloaf well can cost $25,500 to $42,000 finished

Local drilling conditions are fractured granite and gneiss. The drilling model uses $65 to $100 per foot. At the 300-foot median depth, the drilled hole works out to about $19,500 to $30,000.

A finished well, including the pump, pressure tank, trenching, and electrical work, is modeled at about $25,500 to $42,000. That range is an estimate, not a guaranteed bid. A deeper-than-typical hole, difficult access, casing and grout requirements, unexpected bedrock conditions, or longer utility runs can change the total. Get the bid in writing and ask what happens if the hole is dry or the yield is below the target. Confirm whether testing, permitting, storage, treatment, and site restoration are included.

Check Sugarloaf water quality, dry-hole risk, and site layout

Water quality deserves its own investigation. The mapped area has 57 PFAS sampling or contamination sites, 901 historic mine features, and 62 EPA Superfund or cleanup sites within about 10 miles. These findings do not establish contamination at a particular lot, but they are a reason to test the well for site-relevant contaminants and review nearby land uses, mine features, and cleanup records.

Low yield and dry holes are also possible in fractured mountain rock. Before building, confirm the well permit, production capacity, static level, casing and grout details, and pump equipment. Check septic setbacks, replacement-area needs, access for drilling and excavation, and the route for power and water lines. In an over-appropriated basin, an augmentation plan may be required for some uses. Do not assume a household permit supports irrigation or additional demands.

Buying or building near Mountain Meadows and Gold Hill

For a purchase, make the well a condition of due diligence. Obtain the DWR permit and construction record, compare nearby wells in Mountain Meadows, Crisman, Gold Hill, Tall Timber, St. Ann Highlands, and Sunshine, and have the current well tested for flow, pressure, static level, and water quality. Neighboring records can reveal the range of depths and yields, but fractured bedrock can vary over short distances.

For a new lot, price the access road and drilling platform before choosing the house location. A contractor should review equipment access, slope stability, trench routes, septic placement, and storage needs together. Plan around the measured well yield, not the best nearby record. If the property will need more than ordinary household use, verify the permit terms and water-rights requirements before construction.

Well permits by decade near Sugarloaf

What a new well costs in Sugarloaf, CO

How this is built: the median permitted depth here times the per-foot range for this ground, plus the normal system costs. A lot at the 75th-percentile depth (430 ft) would run roughly $33,950–$55,000. See the full Colorado well cost guide.

Environmental sites mapped within about 10 miles

Counts come from EPA, USGS and state datasets layered on the Colorado Well Finder map. A count is not a verdict on any one well; it tells you what to test for.

Buying land near Sugarloaf? Know what it costs to build before you buy the dirt.

A listing photo can't tell you whether a lot is a dream or a money pit. Two parcels near Sugarloaf can carry the same asking price while one needs an $80,000 driveway and a $45,000 engineered septic the other doesn't. The well numbers on this page are the start of that answer. A Tri-Lakes Site Feasibility Report is the rest of it: a licensed general contractor, excavator and septic installer reads the parcel the way we would if we were about to build on it, and puts the real cost in writing before your money is committed.

Spend a little to know. Or gamble a lot to guess. Realtors sell the view and inspectors look at houses that already exist. We're the people who'd build it, so we catch what quietly turns a "great deal" into a budget disaster: bad access, buried rock, steep grade, soil that won't pass for a normal septic, water that's a fortune to reach. And if the lot is good, you've already got a builder ready to do the work, driveway to drywall.

• Instant Online Report, $99 — type the address and get a buildability read on the spot: parcel, terrain and slope, soil and septic outlook. Cheap enough to run on every lot you're shopping.
• Desktop Report, $500 — a contractor's from-the-desk feasibility read: Regulation 43 and county code, GIS parcel data, terrain, flood and drainage, soil and septic viability, setbacks and buildable envelope, nearby well depths from our 591,000-well database, the likely driveway route, and a preliminary site-development cost breakdown.
• On-Site Report, $2,000 — everything above, then boots and a drone on the actual ground: house pad and septic zone located, access and winter conditions checked, rock and soil observed in person, a 15 to 20 page written opinion you can hand a lender or seller. Credited toward your project if you build with us.

Under contract, comparing parcels, or a realtor with a rural listing whose buyers keep asking "what will it cost to build here?" This is the due-diligence step almost everyone skips, and the one that saves the most.

Common questions about wells in Sugarloaf

Keep researching

More in Boulder County

All wells in Boulder County — county-wide depth, yield and cost figures.

Nearby areas