Build On Your Land
Building a Custom Home On Your Own Lot
Already own the land, or looking at a parcel? Here's how it actually works. License # CRC043725.
On Your Lot
Your land, your plan, one builder
Most production builders want you to buy in their subdivision, on their lot, from their plan book. Building on your own land is a different proposition: the site comes first, and the house is designed to suit it.
That's the only kind of building we've ever done. In forty years and more than 600 homes and renovations, essentially all of our work has been on land the owner chose, across Volusia, Lake, Marion, and Seminole counties.
The trade-off is that no two lots cost the same to build on. A cleared, sewered parcel on an established Deltona street and a wooded riverfront lot in DeBary can carry a five-figure difference in site work before the foundation is poured. Which is why we start by looking at the dirt.
Lot Evaluation
What we look at before you commit
We'll do this with you whether or not you've bought the lot yet, and whether or not you end up building with us. It's a better use of an afternoon than any brochure.
Soil and drainage
Where the water goes in a heavy afternoon storm decides how much fill and grading the site needs. This is the single most common source of surprise cost, and a walk-through catches most of it.
Utilities at the road
Water, sewer, power, and internet either reach your lot or they don't. A well and septic system, or several hundred feet of power run, is real money that has nothing to do with the house itself.
Flood zone and elevation
FEMA flood designation drives your required finished floor elevation, which drives foundation cost and sometimes the whole design. It also drives your insurance premium for as long as you own the home.
Setbacks and easements
Front, side, and rear setbacks plus any utility easements define the actual buildable footprint, which is usually smaller than owners expect. This is what determines whether the plan you like fits.
Trees and clearing
Protected trees can't simply be removed, and mature canopy is often worth designing around anyway. Either way it affects where the house sits on the lot.
Zoning, HOA, and deed restrictions
Minimum square footage, allowed materials, roof pitch, garage orientation, and outbuilding rules all vary. We check these before design rather than after.
The Process
From bare lot to move-in
- № 01
Walk the lot together
Before anything is drawn or priced, we visit the property with you. If you haven't bought yet, this is the most valuable hour in the whole process, because it's the last point where you can still walk away from a difficult lot.
- № 02
Plan and preliminary budget
We work from your plan, adapt one, or start clean. The budget attached to it reflects your actual lot, not a generic per-square-foot number that ignores site work.
- № 03
Financing
Most owners use a construction-to-permanent loan, where the land often serves as part or all of the down payment. Your lender will want the builder's contract and plans, and we're used to supplying what they ask for.
- № 04
Permitting
Plans go to whichever authority governs your lot. Orange City, DeBary, DeLand, Deltona, and New Smyrna Beach each run their own building departments; unincorporated parcels go through Volusia County.
- № 05
Construction
Site work, foundation, frame, dry-in, mechanicals, finishes. You'll deal with Tom directly throughout, and with subcontractors many of whom have worked with him for decades.
- № 06
Walk-through and warranty
We finish the punch list before you move in, not after, and we're still reachable when you call a year later.
Don't Have a Lot Yet?
We'll look at parcels with you
Plenty of people come to us before they own anything. We're happy to look at listings with you and give a straight read on what each one would cost to build on, which is information a listing agent generally can't give you.
A cheap lot with a drainage problem and no sewer is not a cheap lot. That distinction has saved our clients more money than any other single thing we do.
Building on your lot in:
Let's Build
Have a lot in mind?
Send us the address or the listing. We'll tell you what building on it really involves.