The Custom Home Process:

Planning and Building Your Custom Home

A Note to our Prospective Clients...

When a prospective client comes to us about building their home, we provide the following precommitment services -

  • Determine a Budget to work with.
  • Take all your pictures, ideas, thoughts and sketches etc... and our in-house designer and Charlie (the builder) will consolidate it all into a sketch for you. You may take this sketch home and examine and rearrange it until your satisfied.
  • Charlie (the builder) will then go out to your lot/land and "shoot grades" (Place the house where you want it on the property).
  • Charlie will then give you a preliminary bid, free of charge.
  • When you are satisfied, you go to contract and your plans go to final print.

Building a custom home is the one sure way of having your home reflect your own personality and of having it suit your family's lifestyle. When you design and build your home with Greater Texas Builders, we go through the following steps:

  • Budget Management
  • Design of the Home
  • Financing Construction of the Custom Home
  • Obtaining the Land
  • Construction of the Home

Budget Management

The process of building a custom home starts with an understanding about how much money you are able and willing to spend on the home. With Greater Texas Builders, that amount remains the target throughout the building process - you are always kept up to date on what the expenditures have been to date and what it will cost to complete the home.

Greater Texas Builders works with you to stay within budget by presenting the various options available to you. That way you get the most of the kind of home you want for the dollars you are spending. Sometimes that may involve "trading" square footage for certain features or amenities, other times it may involve selecting lower cost items from among acceptable alternatives. Some examples: Exterior Coverings
  • There are many ways to cover the exterior of your home, including stone, brick, stucco, wood, Cement Fibre (Hardy Plank), and more. Each type of exterior will cost different amounts, and have different appearance and maintenance characteristics.
  • Roofs can be built with 20-year fiberglass, 25-, 30-, or 40-year dimensional shingles, or metal.
  • Floors can be covered with tile, wood, marble, vinyl, carpet.
  • Greater Texas Builders will also offer advice on building a home that is energy-efficient and will also advise you on programs and incentives offered by different utility companies to encourage the building of energy-efficient homes. Not only does this make for a more comfortable and enjoyable home, but the savings in utility bills leaves more room in the budget for the cost of the home.

Designing the Home

The design for a home can be obtained from several sources. Some national companies sell plans that home owners can select from what is essentially a catalog. In such cases it is very important that a builder or designer familiar with local building codes and climatic conditions review the plans to be sure they are suitable for South Texas and are in compliance with the applicable zoning and building codes. Using plans from other sources may involve some additional charges to bring them into compliance with local codes or deed restrictions, or to make changes to suit the home owner.

Assuming, however, that the home owner is going to have a truly custom home built, the owner should identify certain factors that will be necessary to consider when designing a home that will meet the specific needs of the owner, including:

  • Budget (as discussed above)
  • Number of children
  • Ages of children
  • Number and frequency of guests staying in the home
  • Hobbies such as woodworking or sewing that require space
  • Number and type of cars or other vehicles maintained at the home
  • Unique furniture items that need to be accommodated (e.g., piano)
  • Desired location
  • Budget
  • Kitchen appliances
  • Emphasis on energy-efficiency
  • Style preferences (e.g., vaulted ceilings, Jenn-Air appliances, Jacuzzi's, pools, gardens, etc.)

Keeping those factors in mind, the home owner will visit with a builder or designer and come up with a prospective floor plan showing the general layout and size of the different living areas. Once agreement is reached on the floor plan is agreed on, the designer will prepare a three-dimensional drawing of the home called an "elevation," which is a stylized rendition of what the home will look like when completed.

Financing Construction of the Custom Home

Financing a custom home starts with the owner obtaining a "commitment letter" from a source of permanent financing, e.g., a mortgage company, savings and loan or a bank. The owner then takes the commitment letter to a source of interim financing which essentially agrees to loan a fixed amount for construction costs and then makes periodic progress payments as the home is completed. This will involve an inspector acting on behalf of the interim lender actually inspecting the construction site to verify actual progress. This acts to protect both the lender and the home builder.

For information on financing, please contact Heston King, with Excellence Mortgage at www.excellencemortgage.com or by phone at (210) 930-5572.

If the home owner is using a builder who has been pre-approved by the lender, the process is relatively straight forward. Greater Texas Builders has been preapproved by a number of lenders including:






  • Excellence Mortgage
  • Bank of South Texas
  • San Antonio Credit Union (SACU)
  • Nations Bank
  • Jefferson Bank
  • Texas Bank
  • Norwest Mortgage
  • Harbor Financial Corporations
  • Old Kent Mortgage
    Obtaining the

Obtaining the Land

Working with the home owner, Greater Texas Builders will review the type of home desired and the general location preferred by the home owner. Based on this and an intimate familiarity with deed restrictions in major developments and local zoning ordinances, Greater Texas Builders can recommend certain locations.

For example, deed restrictions in one development area require the use of stone exteriors and tin roofs. As another example, if the home owner wants a type of floor plan that requires that the home be built on land having a particular type of slope or facing a particular location, this is where having a builder with decades of experience can be of invaluable assistance.

Charlie Hatzenbuehler will identify suitable locations for you and even drive you around particular areas of interest. Construction

Construction of the Home

Greater Texas Builders oversees every detail of the construction beginning with obtaining the necessary building permits and making arrangements to connect to the necessary utilities - gas, electric, water and sewage. Greater Texas Builders keeps you updated as the home is built, from the laying of the foundation, to the framing of the house, roofing, installation of electrical and plumbing, hanging of drywall, and finishing out. All along the way you are kept informed as the major milestones are reached.

Periodically the interim lender will have the home inspected to ensure that the home meets the necessary building codes, and as progress is documented, progress payments are authorized. When the home is built and passes the final inspection, the permanent loan is used to pay the interim lender.

When you've moved into your new home, Greater Texas Builders follows up on any problems that may not have been noticed before. With Greater Texas Builders, having your new home can be a dream come true!!

Greater Texas Builders would be happy to talk with you about getting your own custom home designed, financed and built. We can be reached in several ways:

Greater Texas Builders
8632 Fredericksburg Road, Suite 112
San Antonio, Texas 78240

(210) 341-8396; or (800) 721-4383
(210) 348-7836 Fax
E-mail: charlieh@greatertexas.com
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