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Fred Loucks is CEO of Dunn & Stone Builders. He joined the company in 2010 as purchasing manager, bought it in 2019, and works with families on plan design. Dunn & Stone has built more than 1,000 homes in the Greater Houston area since 1999.
Most first-time custom home buyers plan around the months of construction. Design, permitting, and the construction loan often take as long as the house itself.
We've built more than 1,000 homes in the Houston area since 1999. Design, permits, and the loan have to finish before the slab. When they do, crews are not standing around waiting on paperwork.
This guide walks the process of building a custom home in Texas from the first budget conversation to keys.
The process of building a custom home runs through three stages: pre-construction, construction, and closeout.
Pre-construction covers financing, the lot, design, approved finish selections, soils, construction drawings, the permit, and the loan. Construction is site work through finishes. Closeout is final inspections, the certificate of occupancy, the walkthrough, and keys.
Most of the decisions that affect timeline and budget happen in the first stage, before anyone breaks ground.
| Stage | Typical window | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-construction | 2 to 6 months | Financing, lot work, design, selections, soils, permit, loan |
| Site and foundation | 2 to 4 weeks | Clearing, grade, slab or piers, cure, inspection |
| Framing and weather-tight shell | 1 to 2 months | Walls, roof, windows, wrap |
| Mechanical rough-in | 1 to 2 months | Plumbing, electrical, HVAC, inspections |
| Insulation, drywall, and finishes | 8 to 14 weeks | Drywall, cabinets, tile, paint, flooring, trim, siding or brick |
| Inspections and closeout | 2 to 4 weeks | Final inspection, certificate of occupancy, walkthrough, keys |
The version we walk with a family, from first meeting through construction, is in the 5 steps to building a custom home.
You can't design the right house until you know what you can spend.
Most Texas custom builds use a construction-to-permanent loan, also called a one-time close loan. It funds construction in draws, then converts to a standard mortgage when the house is complete. During construction you pay interest on the amount drawn. One closing covers the conversion.
A construction-only loan funds the build and then requires a second closing into a permanent mortgage. That path adds a second round of paperwork. Owner-builder loans exist for people who act as their own contractor. Those loans are stricter, and they are not how we work.
A realistic budget includes the house, lot work above what the base price already covers, design and permit fees, a 10% to 15% down payment on the construction loan, and a contingency. Texas property taxes belong in the monthly payment once the house is complete.
Get a lender's range before you pick a floor plan. The loan types and draw schedule are covered in how to get a loan to build a house.
Where you build shapes the foundation, the utilities, the permit path, and the floor plan. If you already own the land, check whether it can take the house.
Look past the listing price. Houston-area clay often needs an engineered slab. A lot without water or sewer at the property line needs a well, a septic design, or a utility extension. Deed restrictions and HOA architectural rules can limit exterior materials and lot coverage.
Flood zone status matters in Southeast Texas. A lot in or near a FEMA flood map zone may need elevation and flood insurance.
Lot work above what the base house already includes currently averages $20,000 to $30,000. Slope down to water is a different problem and can require pier-and-beam work.
Have the builder walk the tract before you commit to a plan. Soil, drainage, and utility distance belong in the price you see before you sign. For Houston-area land questions, how to build a home on land you own covers the evaluation items in more detail.
The builder runs the rest of the process: trades, permits, inspections, and the weekly updates you will live with for a year.
Ask how many houses like yours they have finished, and walk one. Ask who you call during construction, and what a change after the final contract actually looks like.
Local experience matters in Harris and Montgomery Counties. Permit habits, clay soils, and the subcontractors a builder already uses are not the same from one county line to the next. Warranty coverage and how claims actually get handled belong in the same conversation.
Walk a finished house before you hire the builder. Website photos leave out the rooms you actually live in.
Design is the stretch where the floor plan, the outside of the house, and the finishes get decided. If those choices stay open, the permit and the loan wait.
On a design-build path, you start from a proven plan, then settle the floor plan, the look of the outside, and the interior selections with the same team that will build the house. Working with a separate architect first gives more freedom on a blank page. It also adds a handoff before anyone can price or permit the drawings.
I see meetings run long when a floor plan that was already settled gets opened again. Finish the plan, then the outside of the house, then the exterior and interior selections. A new layout at the last design meeting pushes the permit and the loan.
Special-order cabinets, windows, and tile carry lead times that start when the choice is locked, not when the installer arrives. Changes after framing cost more than changes on paper.
Materials and finishes belong in this same stretch. Work inside the products your builder can warrant and restock later.
Most buyers are surprised by how much still sits between a signed design and the first crew.
The builder submits the construction drawings and applies for the building permit. In our Texas counties, a clean county application usually turns around in two to three weeks. Harris County has gotten stricter on fill in floodplain areas. Montgomery County is moving in the same direction. Inside a city, permitting commonly starts at $5,000, and extra city code items can add another $3,000 to $6,000.
The same stretch includes the survey, the soils report, foundation engineering, water and sewer taps or a septic design, the lender's construction-loan file, and HOA architectural review when the community requires it. A builder's risk policy insures the house while it is under construction. Your homeowners policy takes over at completion.
File the survey, soils, permit, and loan paperwork as soon as the design is finished so the crew is not waiting on paper.
The crew clears the tract, grades for drainage, and stakes the foundation. In the Houston area the common foundation is a post-tension slab engineered for clay. Pier-and-beam shows up on sloped lots. Full basements are uncommon here because of soil and the water table.
After the pour, the slab has to cure. A city or county inspector signs off before framing starts. Problems under the house are the expensive ones, because nothing above it can be repaired without going back to the foundation.
This stage usually runs about two to four weeks when the weather cooperates.
Framing is when an empty slab starts to look like a house.
Walls, floors, and the roof system go up. Sheathing and house wrap go on so liquid water stays out of the wall while vapor can still leave. Windows and exterior door frames are set. Vaulted ceilings and long spans take shape here.
A framing inspection checks the structure against the approved plans. Walk the house during this stage if your builder allows it. A window that needs to move is still inexpensive to relocate before the wrap and the brick go on.
Framing and the weather-tight shell usually take one to two months.
During rough-in, plumbers, electricians, and HVAC crews install the systems that later sit behind the walls.
The plumber runs supply and drain lines and leaves pipe ends where sinks and toilets will go. The electrician sets the panel and pulls circuits, including any specialty runs for a shop, an EV charger, or extra lighting. HVAC crews set the air handler and the ductwork. Houses over 3,000 square feet typically get two air conditioners in the Houston area.
Each trade has its own inspection. All three have to pass before the walls close. Moving an outlet after drywall means opening the wall again. Confirm placements before the insulation goes in.
This stage usually takes one to two months.
Insulation, drywall, and finishes take the longest stretch of construction on most custom houses.
Insulation goes in the exterior walls and the attic. In Southeast Texas, attic heat is a real utility cost. After the insulation inspection, drywall goes up, gets taped, and gets primed. Outside, brick, stone, stucco, or siding can run at the same time.
Then the interior trades stack: doors and trim, paint, flooring, cabinets, countertops, fixtures, HVAC trim, and appliances. Driveways, final grade, and landscaping finish the site.
Cabinets, specialty tile, and hardwood have the longest lead times. Together, this stretch often runs eight to fourteen weeks.
The local building official inspects the finished house against the approved plans. When it passes, the municipality issues a certificate of occupancy. That document is what lets you occupy the house.
Before closing, you walk every room with the builder and mark repairs with blue painter's tape. It is the last pass while the builder still has crews assigned to fix what you find.
Bring a list. Open cabinets, run water, flip breakers, and look at paint in daylight. The blue tape walkthrough checklist is the room-by-room version of that visit.
On a one-time close loan, the construction loan converts to the permanent mortgage at this point. You do not start a second loan application from scratch. Homeowners insurance replaces builder's risk.
You get the keys after the certificate of occupancy and after the walkthrough items that have to be done before handover.
Once the site is ready, construction on Dunn & Stone custom homes in the Houston area averages 210 days. From first agreement through design, soils, permits, the loan, and keys, most families are on a 9 to 14 month calendar.
National single-family averages sit shorter because they mix production houses built for sale with contractor-built custom work, and they start the clock at the permit. Census construction time does not count the months a custom buyer spends on a plan and a loan.
Homes with a simple footprint and settled selections stay toward the short end. A larger house or a wet month on the slab pushes the calendar out. The month-by-month construction windows live in how long it takes to build a house.
Permit volume in growing Houston-area counties can add weeks if the drawings go in late. Custom cabinets and special-order windows carry lead times that start at the order, not at install.
Change orders after groundbreaking cost time and money. Heavy rain pauses slabs and brick or siding. Labor in the skilled trades is tight, and a builder without a stable crew list waits longer for the next trade.
The first step in the home building process is setting a budget and lining up financing. The loan range tells you what size and finish level the house can carry before anyone draws a plan.
Most custom homes in Texas take about a year from first agreement to keys when you count design, permits, and the loan, not only the months after groundbreaking.
Yes. You can build a custom home on land you already own if the tract can take a house. Soil, drainage, utilities or well and septic, floodplain rules, and any HOA review all have to clear before design is finished.
A one-time close construction loan funds the build in draws and converts to a permanent mortgage when the house is complete. There is one closing, which is why Texas buyers use it more often than a construction-only loan plus a second mortgage close.
A blue tape walkthrough is the pre-closing visit where you and the builder walk every room and mark repairs with painter's tape. It is the last chance to catch finish defects while the builder still has crews assigned to the house.
Custom homes that we build in the Houston area typically range from $500K - $1.5M (around $180 to $250 per square foot) depending on finish level and footprint. The rate covers the house. Land and extra lot work sit outside it. Use the cost to build a house calculator to see where a plan sits before you lock a design.
If you already have a lot and a budget range, schedule a free consultation and bring the tract information and the plan you are considering.
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