My husband and I are interested in building a custom home on 10 acres we own outside of Navasota. We currently live in Cypress. The land is paid off, and our current home is about half paid off (9 years to go). The land currently has been cleared (approx 5 acres of it; it was so wooded when we bought it you couldn't walk on it) but has no utilities (they are available and I have quotes of approx $30000 total to get electricity, water and sewer to it).

My questions:

Do we need to arrange for the utilities to be put on first before finding a builder/starting plans? Or will they do that as part of the process?

Does anybody have builders or architects they recommend in the Houston/northwest Houston area? The land is about 40 min from everywhere (BCS, Brenham, Cypress, Woodlands/Conroe, etc). Closest is Magnolia/Pinehurst.

How do you go about getting a loan for this? We would continue living in this home until the other was done, and then would ideally sell this one (estimating getting around $250K for it).

Any ideas on what a custom home (I mean, nice but not crazy extravagant) runs for 5-6 bedrooms, 4-5 baths, guessing around 3500-4000 sq ft? We would really like to have a budget before really committing to know if we need to save for another year or two or should just go for it. I know the budget can obviously vary a lot based on how fancy you go.

Thanks for your help!

My thoughts based on our experience with our custom built home:

The builder that you select will most likely want to handle the utility portion of the job so that 1) they can coordinate exact location and timing of the utilities and 2) they can charge markup on utility invoices. If you got the cash you could pay that out of pocket and avoid builder MU but that's something to negotiate with them on the front end.

Sorry no recs on builders in that area as we built in NE Harris County.

We went with a modified one time close construction loan. We used Frank Sheehy with IMG integrity mortgage group. Was able to set us up with a great final product and he made sure everything went smooth.

I've seen custom homes range from $100/sqft to $250-300+/sqft. It all depends on the finishings and other touches you want. I also didnt realize a good amount of the price depends on the actual layout of the house.. square houses (less corners) are cheaper. Duh right.. just something i never thought about.

We ended up right around $135/sqft and got all the finishes/furnishings and other things that we wanted. I guess that means our tastes werent too refined. lol.

Good luck!

We're building new right now in Houston and happy to answer any questions you've got regarding the process. I'd estimate at least $200/ft for anything truly custom. Not saying you can't do it for less, but I'd estimate that number now and try to work it down later if you want. It can very easily be more.

Ronnie White and Rick Thompson are both builders from BCS and both builders have done jobs far from BCS, Navasota, Brenham, Chappell Hill, just to name a few.

I'd like to have the chance to discuss the construction financing with you. It's a big part of our business using a one time close. Ronnie White was mentioned here as a builder. We recently finished a project with a borrower who used him as the builder and were very pleased. My contact information is in my profile if you'd like to discuss the financing.

Is the prices per sq foot being discussed is that for heating and cooled space or is that under roof? Stated another way, if the house is 4,000 sq ft heated and cooled and then there is another 1,000 sq ft of porches and 1,000 sq ft for 3 car garage, then what price per sq foot should be used to estimate? I keep hearing in FTW area that prices for custom home ranges from $95 to about $120 (I already own land so just build cost) but I can't get a good handle if those prices include the non-heated and cooled locations.

Thanks.

We recently built in College Station with Raven Homes. They are fully custom, and I know they build as far out as Franklin, and Anderson, so I bet they would do Navasota.

I would let the builder handle the utilities and pulling the permits.

For pricing, I would say to expect between $150-$200 a sq ft depending on your floor plan and finish outs.

Good luck!

Also, keep an eye out for the BCS parade of homes in October. You could come for the weekend and meet several builders, see their work and talk to them about how far they will travel.

For BCS the cost per sqft is based on the heated area, with average amount of porch and garage. All of the costs breakdown to porches, garages, heated, unheated, but without giving all of those numbers, the builders add all of the numbers together and give one number based on heated sqft.