The Texas Hill Country Custom-Build Project Control Center

The level of control you need depends on the kind of home you are building. The three pathways below have different allowance, inspection, lien, and warranty profiles, so this guide points out where the process differs for each.

• Completed inventory home: The builder owns the property and has completed, or nearly completed, the house. Treat this primarily as a new-home purchase rather than an owner-controlled construction project. Concentrate on contract deadlines, financing, independent inspections, completion documents, title clearance, closing, and warranty tracking.
• Builder-owned, builder-financed production or semi-custom home: The builder owns the lot, finances construction, and sells the completed property to you. You may pay earnest money, an option fee, or selection deposits, but you generally do not administer the builder's construction draws or statutory reserved funds. Track selections, deposits, change orders, inspection access, completion requirements, closing conditions, and warranty deadlines.
• Owner-owned or borrower-financed build-on-your-lot project: You own or acquire the lot and hire the builder and design team. Construction is paid through your construction loan, your cash, or staged payments. This pathway creates the greatest site, change-order, draw, lien, schedule, and cost exposure. Every control table in this guide applies here.

The decisive questions are: Who owns the land during construction, who holds the construction loan, and who authorizes payments? Answer those questions before deciding which sections of this control center apply.

If you are choosing between building and buying an existing home, read our detailed cost and timeline comparison of a custom build versus resale in the Texas Hill Country before you commit to a lot. And if you are evaluating this while still living in California, the long-distance house-hunting playbook covers remote tours, option periods, and coordinating a purchase without flying in for every step.

The land-feasibility period is where an out-of-state buyer can prevent many of the most expensive Hill Country building surprises. Texas contracts do not use one universal 'contingency removal' process. Your termination rights and deadlines depend on the contract form and its negotiated terms. For example, a properly funded option period in a TREC contract may give the buyer an unrestricted right to terminate by delivering timely written notice. Other termination rights have separate conditions and deadlines. Calendar the exact date, time, delivery method, and recipient for every notice, and complete feasibility work early enough to act. A timely termination under an option provision generally returns the earnest money while leaving the option fee nonrefundable. Have your Texas real estate agent or attorney confirm the requirements of your specific contract [16].

For a more narrative look at the same land questions, see our guides on wells and groundwater, septic systems, and the water and infrastructure hub.

Permitting is parcel-specific. A Boerne mailing address does not necessarily mean the property is inside Boerne city limits. Depending on the location, approvals may involve a city, county engineer, fire marshal, floodplain administrator, OSSF authority, groundwater conservation district, utility provider, TxDOT, homeowners association, architectural-review committee, or another entity. Some unincorporated areas require development, driveway, floodplain, septic, or fire approvals without conducting a complete municipal-style residential building-code inspection. Identify every authority in writing before finalizing the lot purchase or construction contract.

Pull your parcel's official flood map yourself at the FEMA Flood Map Service Center [8], and confirm the septic path with the county or an OSSF permit authority [6][7]. More detail on these specific land hazards lives on our wells and groundwater guide and in companion pieces from Hill Country Homesteads on Hill Country flood zones and limestone and caliche site costs.

Before comparing prices, verify exactly which legal entity will sign the contract and perform the work. Confirm the company's legal and assumed names, physical address, responsible principals, local registrations, required trade licenses, insurance, recent projects, older completed projects, subcontractor relationships, and financial capacity to carry the job. Obtain insurance confirmation directly from the carrier or agent rather than relying solely on a certificate handed to you by the builder. Texas does not require most private employers to carry workers' compensation, so determine whether the builder and its subcontractors carry it and have qualified counsel or an insurance adviser explain the consequences if they do not [20].

Builder due-diligence checklist

• Legal entity and assumed name verified
• Contract-signing entity matches bids, insurance, invoices, and warranty
• At least three recent-client references contacted
• At least two owners of homes completed several years ago contacted
• One active jobsite and one completed home visited
• General-liability coverage verified directly
• Workers' compensation status verified
• Builder's-risk responsibility confirmed
• Licensed trade contractors identified
• Pending litigation, recorded liens, and material disputes reviewed with counsel
• Change-order and allowance history discussed with past clients
• Construction attorney has reviewed the proposed agreement

Phase two is where you turn the feasibility findings into a defined scope of work and, most important, a baseline budget. The baseline budget begins with the signed contract price, plus project costs expressly excluded from that price, forecast financing and construction-interest costs, and the owner's contingency. Allowances commonly are components of the contract price; do not add them again unless the contract expressly excludes them. Track the allowance budget and the projected allowance variance separately. Every dollar that comes later, in every change order and every draw, is compared against this number. If you do not lock a baseline in writing, you have nothing to measure against and the financial control phase below cannot work.

• Plans and specifications: A coordinated, permit-ready set of construction documents, together with written specifications describing materials, systems, installation standards, and exclusions. Include the revision date and revision number on every document. Architectural or engineering seals should be included wherever required by law, the permitting authority, the lender, or the project's technical scope. Do not assume that every single-family plan must carry the same type of professional stamp.
• Allowance schedule: The list of selections (cabinets, counters, flooring, tile, plumbing, lighting, appliances) with a dollars-per-item allowance assigned. This is where semi-custom and custom builds differ most: production builders offer fixed option menus, while a true custom build tends to carry larger, open-ended allowances.
• Finish schedule: A room-by-room schedule of finish materials so the floor plan and the allowances line up. A change here in phase three is an expensive change order.
• Engineering: Structural engineering for the foundation and framing, together with the geotechnical follow-through from phase one. On a sloped, rocky, or geotechnically complex lot, this work reduces, but does not eliminate, foundation and excavation uncertainty before the contract price is locked.
• Permits and approvals: Identify every applicable permit and approval for the parcel and assign responsibility for each one. Inside Boerne city limits, residential permits, plan review, and inspections are administered by the City of Boerne. A property outside the city limits may follow a materially different county, fire, floodplain, septic, groundwater, utility, or private-inspection process [13][17].
• Insurance: Identify in writing who purchases and maintains builder's-risk coverage; whose property and interests are insured; the deductible; coverage for materials in transit or stored off-site; and the policy's start and end dates. Verify the builder's general-liability coverage and workers' compensation status directly with the carrier or agent. Confirm with the insurer and lender whether the owner and lender must be listed as a named insured, additional insured, mortgagee, or loss payee; those terms are not interchangeable.
• Construction-loan closing: The draw-based funding that pays the builder in stages. Know the loan terms, the interest reserve, and the draw procedure before a single trade starts. See the California versus Texas mortgage guide for how lending works across state lines, and the CFPB explanation of construction loans [11].
• Construction-loan term-sheet checklist: Get every term below in writing and confirm it before the loan closes:
  • Single-close or two-close structure
  • Maximum construction period
  • Maturity date and extension options
  • Extension fees
  • Interest rate and adjustment terms
  • Interest reserve and payment start
  • Borrower equity credited
  • Whether borrower funds are advanced first
  • Approved builder requirement
  • Draw frequency and draw fees
  • Inspection requirements
  • Change-order approval threshold
  • Contingency requirement
  • Undisbursed-funds treatment
  • As-completed appraisal method
  • Cost-overrun treatment
  • Cash-to-complete testing
  • Requalification or updated asset requirements
  • Conversion conditions
  • Final inspection and completion report
  • Title update and lien-document requirements
  • Required final holdback or reserved funds
• Baseline budget and baseline schedule: Record the signed contract price; treatment of allowances; contract-excluded and owner-paid costs; forecast financing costs; original contingency; and the approved baseline start, milestone, substantial-completion, and final-completion dates. These are the financial and scheduling references against which every later variance is measured.

TREC publishes residential real-estate sales contracts, including forms for completed and incomplete new construction. Those forms may apply when a builder is selling the land and home to the buyer. A true build-on-your-lot project in which the owner hires a builder may use a separate owner-builder construction agreement instead. Do not assume that a TREC sales form covers the construction relationship. Have a Texas attorney experienced in residential construction review the agreement before signing, including responsibility for plans, permits, insurance, allowances, change orders, schedule extensions, inspections, draws, lien compliance, dispute resolution, termination, and warranty obligations [4]. The short version of the builder's side of new-construction paperwork is covered in our post on buying new construction in Texas.

Construction is a sequence of defined stages, but required inspections and funding milestones vary by project pathway, contract, lender, jurisdiction, design professional, and construction plan. For an owner-controlled build, track each stage with the verification and funding milestone that actually applies. There is no single Hill Country custom-build duration. Track land acquisition and preconstruction, active construction through move-in, and the first warranty year as separate periods. Require the builder's baseline schedule to identify assumptions, milestones, owner-decision deadlines, permitting time, procurement lead times, weather allowances, substantial completion, final completion, and permitted schedule extensions.

Where the owner controls construction funding, do not approve a stage as complete until the contractually required work verification, inspections, corrections, and draw documentation are complete. In a builder-owned, builder-financed community, the buyer ordinarily does not fund construction draws; instead, track the contract's inspection access, selection deadlines, completion conditions, and closing requirements. In an owner-financed custom build, use the leverage granted by the contract and lender to establish inspection and approval points before construction begins.

Managing a Build From Out of State

If you are building from California or anywhere else out of state, write the remote-management requirements directly into the scope of work before you sign, not as a courtesy the builder happens to offer later. For a long-distance build, these four requirements matter most:

• One digital platform as the single paper trail: Require a unified project-management platform, such as Buildertrend, which has incorporated CoConstruct, or another builder platform that provides owner access, approvals, version history, and document export, as the formal home for documents, approvals, and change orders. When every plan revision, signed decision, and change order lives in one shared place, it materially reduces later disputes about what was approved, when, and by whom.
• Weekly photos and milestone video: Require weekly high-resolution photos plus video walkthroughs at the major milestones specified in the contract or project plan, such as foundation, framing, rough-in, pre-drywall, final, and completion of final corrections. The video improves remote visibility and creates a dated visual record of conditions visible at that time; it does not prove that concealed or unrecorded work was installed correctly.
• Independent reports delivered directly to the owner: Require the owner-hired inspector or engineer to send the complete report directly to you. A copy may then be uploaded to the shared platform. Do not make a builder-controlled portal the only delivery channel or the only retained copy.
• Draw-review meetings before funding: For an owner-controlled construction loan or cash-funded build, schedule a virtual review among the owner, builder, and lender, if applicable, before each draw request is approved. During active construction, review progress at least every two weeks even if no draw is scheduled. Compare the verified stage, invoices, required lien-control documents, budget, and schedule before money moves. This procedure does not apply in the same way when the builder owns the property and finances construction.

Define authority in writing. A local representative may observe, photograph, attend meetings, and report, but should not approve changes, certify workmanship, authorize draws, or waive contract rights unless the owner deliberately grants that authority in writing. Use the matrix below to make clear, for each action, whether the builder prepares, the inspector or engineer verifies, the local representative merely observes, the owner must approve, and the lender or title must authorize funds.

These are the same disciplines as the rest of this control center, made explicit because distance removes routine site visibility. Buildertrend is named only as an example, not an endorsement [18]. Whatever system is used, the owner should retain independent copies of signed contracts, plans, revisions, change orders, inspection reports, draw packages, photographs, and warranty records. Do not rely on continued access to a builder-controlled portal after closing.

The financial tracker must separate project cost, cash flow, loan availability, and contingency. Those are different measurements. Begin with the signed contract price, confirm how allowances are treated, add each cost only once, and update the forecast whenever a change order, allowance variance, owner-paid item, financing cost, or schedule extension occurs. Draws funded to date are cash-flow information; they are not an additional project cost.

The financial-control flow

Money moves through the project in a predictable order. Start with the baseline budget, spend within the allowances, authorize only signed change orders, and fund progress only through approved draws. The contingency sits on top as the reserve that absorbs the surprises. Track it in this order:

Approved baseline → selection checked against its allowance → proposed change fully priced with schedule impact → owner and lender approval where required → work and inspection verification → correct lien-control documents assembled → draw funded → budget, schedule, contingency, and document register updated.

Contingency management

A contingency is a reserve for project-specific unforeseen conditions and required corrective work, not a general funding source for every change order. Establish the amount only after reviewing the completeness of the plans and specifications, geotechnical findings, excavation risk, allowances, utility work, lender requirements, and unresolved selections. Ask the builder and lender to state their recommended amount in writing. Keep elective upgrades separate so the contingency remains available for the risks it was created to cover.

Appraisal and cash-to-complete risk

Construction financing is underwritten against the lender's approved project cost, loan program, borrower equity, and an appraisal of the property as completed. A construction draw does not itself cause the loan balance to move 'past' the appraisal, and the lender ordinarily will not simply advance more than its approved commitment. Risk develops when the completed-value appraisal does not support the requested leverage, project costs exceed the approved budget, a change order is ineligible for financing, or remaining loan funds are insufficient to complete the work. Track the lender's current cash-to-complete calculation rather than an informal 'loan balance versus value' figure. Ask the lender to explain in writing how it handles appraisals, cost overruns, change orders, requalification, loan maturity, extensions, and additional borrower funds [11][12].

There are three forms of review that are easy to confuse. The builder's internal quality walk is not independent and is not a substitute for owner-side review. An inspection by the applicable permitting authority, when required, evaluates specified work for compliance with the codes and scope enforced by that authority. It is not an independent quality-control inspection, does not cover every component or finish, and does not guarantee that every defect or code issue will be found. An owner-hired Texas-licensed inspector, engineer, or other appropriately qualified professional provides an independent review for the owner. The appropriate professional depends on the phase and technical scope; a general real-estate inspection is not a substitute for required engineering or trade-specific review. TREC licenses real-estate inspectors in Texas [5].

Distance is not a reason to omit owner-side review. Subject to the contract's access and notice provisions, an owner-hired inspector, engineer, or other qualified specialist can review the applicable phases and send the report directly to the owner; a local representative may observe if authorized. Define which professional reviews each gate before signing, and use the log below so findings and corrections are tracked before related work is covered or owner-controlled payment is released. See the Hill Country Homesteads home inspection checklist for items to consider at a finished home.

Every correction an inspector flags should be written down with a date, and then confirmed fixed before the next draw or the next stage proceeds. A flagged item that is not resolved, but that you fund past, has a way of never getting fixed. OSSF work is permit- and installer-driven. Well work requires licensed drilling and pump professionals and may also be regulated by a groundwater conservation district or local authority. Treat each required startup, test, report, and final approval as a separate gate [6][9].

This phase applies directly when you own the lot or control construction-loan or cash payments to the builder. If the builder owns the property and finances construction, you ordinarily will not administer construction draws; your title company and lender, if any, will address title and lien clearance at closing, while you track deposits, inspections, completion obligations, and closing documents. This phase is where out-of-state buyers get burned most, because they are not on site and a builder or subcontractor paid early or without lien documentation can create a claim against the property.

Texas Property Code Chapter 53 allows qualifying unpaid contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers to assert lien claims against the property [1]. Paying the general contractor does not, by itself, prove that every lower-tier party was paid. Because notice, waiver, reserved-fund, and filing rules are technical, establish the draw procedure with the construction lender, title company, and a Texas construction attorney before the first payment. Texas law prescribes separate conditional and unconditional waiver-and-release forms [19]. For a current progress or final payment that has not yet been received in good funds, use the applicable conditional form. An unconditional waiver is used to document payment already received in good and sufficient funds; it should not be demanded before that payment has been received. A lien affidavit is a document used to assert a lien claim, not an owner-protection document and not a synonym for a lien release. When Section 53.101 applies, the owner must reserve, or cause the lender to reserve, 10 percent of the contract price, or the statutory amount based on value when there is no fixed contract price, during the work and for 30 days after completion [1]. Statutory reserved funds are not necessarily the same thing as a separately negotiated contractual holdback. Failure to follow Chapter 53 can create owner exposure. Have the lender, title company, or construction attorney specify the required waivers, contractor payment affidavits, notices, reserved funds, title updates, and release timing for each draw.

For out-of-state buyers, three patterns deserve special attention as red flags: front-loading draws, where a request asks for more money early than the completed work justifies; out-of-sequence invoicing, where invoices do not match the stage or the order of work; and direct cash demands, where a builder or subcontractor asks you to pay them directly, outside the draw and the loan process. These are exactly where remote buyers get hurt, because a distance buyer cannot walk the site and an unchecked request is easy for a busy owner to accept. None of this is an accusation against every builder; most builds run straight. But a little structured caution is cheap next to a lien on your land, and the draw and lien table in this section is a control tool, not a guarantee against loss. For an owner-controlled project, do not fund a draw unless the contractually authorized milestone or supported material purchase is verified, the applicable inspection or progress review is complete, and the required lien-control package is in place.

Selections are decisions about finishes, fixtures, and features, and each one has a contract or project deadline. If a selection deadline is missed, the contract may permit the builder to use a default selection, charge resulting costs, extend the schedule, or take another stated action. For out-of-state buyers, deadlines are easy to miss without regular showroom visits. Confirm every deadline, selection, approval, and consequence in writing. Start long-lead selections early enough to protect the project-specific procurement schedule and budget.

Copy the columns above into a spreadsheet and add one row per selection (appliances, countertops, flooring, tile, plumbing fixtures, lighting, doors, paint colors, and so on). For a true custom build, selections often come back to you earlier and more often than they do in a production neighborhood, which is exactly why a tracker matters more there. In a semi-custom community the builder may supply a contract-specific deadline calendar and you are mostly responsible for hitting it; record every selection in writing with the responsible party named so a missed date is never a mystery.

The last phase is easy to rush and easy to drop. It is also where your finished home gets its final inspection, its paperwork, and the start of its warranty period. Work through it deliberately and keep a warranty-claim log from day one.

• Punch list: A written, dated list of every incomplete item and cosmetic defect you and your inspector find at substantial completion. Walk it with the builder and agree who fixes what and by when.
• Certificate of occupancy or other final approval: Obtain the certificate of occupancy or equivalent final approval if the governing jurisdiction issues or requires one. Do not imply that every unincorporated Hill Country home receives a municipal-style certificate of occupancy [13][17].
• Manuals and warranties: Collect every appliance, system, and component manual; manufacturer warranty; registration confirmation; and the builder's complete written warranty. Record the actual coverage periods and claim procedures rather than assuming a one-, two-, or longer warranty term.
• Final survey and record drawings: Obtain any final or as-built survey required by the contract, lender, title company, or permitting authority. Keep the OSSF as-built plan, utility locations, and other record drawings as separate documents unless the surveyor expressly includes them.
• Septic and well records: The OSSF permit and inspection records, the well log, the well driller's and pump installer's documentation, and any water quality test results [6][9][10].
• Final lien-control package: Obtain the conditional final waivers needed before final funding, unconditional waivers after the corresponding funds have cleared, the builder's required final payment or bills-paid affidavit, applicable subcontractor or supplier releases, title-company approval, and confirmation that statutory reserved funds or contractual holdbacks are handled correctly. These documents reduce lien risk but should not be described as guaranteeing that no possible claim exists.
• Final construction-document set: Retain the final issued-for-construction plans and specifications, every approved revision and change directive, and any record or as-built drawings required by the contract. Do not label design drawings 'as built' unless the responsible professional or contractor prepared them for that purpose.
• Complete change-order file: Every executed change order together with its supporting quotes, approvals, and schedule effects.
• Final inspections, permit closures, and correction notices: Collect evidence that every applicable permit received its required final inspection or closure, together with every correction notice and proof of resolution.
• Engineer letters and testing reports: Structural, geotechnical, concrete, and other engineer correspondence and test reports required by the design or the lender.
• Separate OSSF as-built plan, permit, startup, and required maintenance agreement: The complete on-site sewage facility package, including the as-built and the signed maintenance agreement if one is required.
• Well report, pump documentation, yield information, and water-quality results: The driller's log, pump installation records, any contracted yield or recovery test results, and any water-quality testing you paid for.
• HVAC startup, commissioning, balancing, and equipment-registration documents: Collect applicable manufacturer registrations and startup, commissioning, or balancing reports that document system setup and performance and satisfy any registration requirements stated in the warranty.
• Electrical, plumbing, propane, pool, and other specialty finals: The closing documentation for every specialty trade with a permit or final sign-off.
• Termite-protection documentation and transferable coverage: Collect the certificate or other documentation for the termite-protection method used and any transferable warranty or service agreement, if applicable.
• Roofing, window, waterproofing, appliance, equipment, and manufacturer warranties: Every manufacturer warranty that transfers with the home, registered in your name where required.
• Unresolved punch-list holdback or escrow terms: Any holdback or escrow must be authorized by the contract and applicable lender or title requirements. Document the amount, retained party, covered items, completion standard, inspection or verification method, release conditions, and deadline in writing.
• Keys, access codes, remotes, shutoff locations, and emergency contacts: Everything you need to operate and service the home, with utility and emergency contacts listed.
• Builder-portal archive: Download or export every document, photo, revision, approval, and message the platform permits before owner access ends. Separately retain executed contracts, change orders, inspection reports, draw packages, warranty submissions, and other critical records outside the builder-controlled portal.

Texas does not automatically provide every new-home buyer with a uniform 1-2-6 warranty. The written warranty supplied by the builder determines the promised coverage, exclusions, claim procedure, notice method, dispute-resolution terms, and transferability. House Bill 2024 amended Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 16.009 [3]. When the contractor being sued provided a qualifying written warranty with minimum periods of one year for workmanship and materials, two years for specified plumbing, electrical, heating, and air-conditioning delivery systems, and six years for major structural components, the statute generally requires the applicable construction-defect suit against that contractor to be brought within six years after substantial completion [15]. Without that qualifying warranty, the general repose period described by the statute is ten years. A statute of repose is an outside deadline for filing certain litigation; it is not itself a warranty, does not define everything covered, and is not the same as the builder's warranty-claim deadline. Texas Property Code Chapter 27 establishes pre-suit notice, inspection, and settlement procedures for residential construction-defect claims; it does not supply a uniform warranty package [2]. Have a Texas construction attorney interpret the law and the actual warranty for the specific project.

Some builders offer scheduled warranty reviews, but the owner should not assume that 30-day, six-month, or eleven-month visits are automatic. Calendar the actual written warranty deadlines and independently schedule inspections early enough to document and submit claims before those deadlines. Keep a warranty-claim log from move-in:

Every warranty issue should be reported in writing, with a photo if possible, and dated. If the issue is a design or installation matter rather than a workmanship matter, note that too. A written log becomes your record if a claim is ever disputed, and it is the difference between a smooth first year and a frustrating one.

The strength of this system is consistency, not complexity. Keep the tables in one controlled digital workbook and retain independent copies of critical signed records. During active construction, review the budget, schedule, inspections, selections, open decisions, and owner-controlled draws at least every two weeks and before any owner-authorized payment. During preconstruction and warranty, use the cadence required by the current deadlines and open issues. When something changes, document the approval and update every affected table promptly. One current source of truth makes a long-distance build easier to manage without implying that the workbook replaces the builder, inspector, engineer, attorney, lender, title company, or construction manager.

For the surrounding calendar of a full relocation, our 12-month relocation timeline and 6-month cross-state master checklist keep the move itself on schedule alongside the build. And if you are coordinating a California home sale at the same time, the California sale and Texas purchase coordination guide covers the financing and timing overlap.