Custom Homes & New Construction in Montrose, TX

Nearly every custom home in Montrose starts with something already on the lot, usually a cottage from the 1920s to 1940s that has reached the end of its economic life or a small house that a previous owner already gutted. Before demolition we look at whether anything on the site is worth saving, from a mature live oak that shades the yard to a detached garage that could stay. Then the teardown is planned like a construction phase: utility disconnects, a demolition permit, a look at whether the old house holds materials that need careful removal, and a haul-off route that works on a block where the trucks cannot turn around.

A vacant infill lot skips the demolition but not the site work. Old foundations, buried piers, and abandoned sewer lines from the house that used to be there are common under Montrose lots, and they have to come out or be accounted for before a new foundation is designed. We also confirm the lot dimensions against the survey, because platted widths and fence lines on these blocks do not always agree. Close neighbors on both sides mean construction fencing, a staging plan for materials, and a conversation about hours and parking before the first day of work.

Inner-loop Houston sits on expansive clay that swells in a wet spring and shrinks in an August drought, and the foundation of a new home has to be designed for that movement rather than hoping it will not happen. A geotechnical boring on the lot tells the engineer what the soil actually does at depth, and from that the slab is designed, usually a post-tension or conventionally reinforced slab with grade beams sized to the soil report. On a narrow lot the beams and any piers are laid out to keep the house's weight off the edges near the property lines, where the neighbor's foundation is also working the same soil.

Drainage around the slab is part of the foundation design, not landscaping to be figured out later. Grading has to carry water away from the house on a lot that may be only a few feet wider than the house itself, and downspouts often tie to a buried drain to the street rather than discharging beside the slab. A pier and beam foundation is still an option for a new house that wants to match the porches and floor height of the prewar neighbors, and it has real advantages for plumbing access, but it is an engineering choice made with the soil report in hand rather than a style preference alone.

A new home in Montrose is built to the wind loads of the Gulf Coast, which shape the framing in ways you will not see once the drywall is up: continuous load paths from the roof to the foundation, hurricane straps at every rafter, sheathing nailed to a schedule, and windows and doors rated for the design pressure. We build those details into the drawings and have them inspected at framing rather than treating them as optional upgrades. On a three-story plan common to inner-loop lots, the shear walls that resist wind are placed early, because they limit where the big openings can go.

The envelope is the second half of storm resilience and most of energy performance. A continuous air and water barrier behind the siding or brick, flashed openings, a roof with a sealed deck, and insulation that is actually continuous rather than stuffed around wiring make the difference between a house that stays dry and cool and one that fights the climate. Houston's humidity argues for a wall assembly that can dry outward and for a ventilated or conditioned attic depending on where the ductwork lives. These are decisions made in design, and they cost far less then than as a repair after the first tropical storm.

A tall, narrow inner-loop plan makes mechanical layout a design problem. Two or three floors want zoned air conditioning, and each air handler needs a location that does not steal a closet or sit over a bedroom ceiling where it will be heard. We typically place equipment in a conditioned attic or a dedicated mechanical room, run the ductwork inside the thermal envelope, and locate the electrical panel where the utility can reach it and you can too. The tankless water heater, the gas meter, and the condensing units all need exterior wall positions that clear the side setback and the neighbor's windows.

Energy decisions in Houston are mostly about cooling and humidity. Higher-efficiency air conditioning with variable speed, a well-sealed duct system, low solar-gain glass on the west side, and a dehumidification strategy for the shoulder seasons pay back in a climate that runs the air conditioner most of the year. Solar-ready conduit to the roof and a circuit for an electric vehicle charger in the garage are inexpensive during construction. We walk through each of these as line items rather than a package, so you decide which ones belong in your house and which ones do not.

The selections you make, from cabinetry and tile to plumbing fixtures and light fixtures, are where a custom home's budget and schedule are actually set. Every one of them is carried in the contract as an allowance, a stated scope with a stated quality level, and the itemized budget shows each allowance as its own line so you can move money between them. Selections have lead times, and a custom home in Montrose with windows, cabinets, and specialty tile on order can only move as fast as the slowest of them arrives. We build a selection calendar into the schedule so decisions come before the point they hold up the crew.

The overall schedule runs from design and engineering, through City of Houston plan review, into demolition and foundation, framing, dry-in, rough mechanical and their inspections, insulation and drywall, then finishes and the final inspections through certificate of occupancy. Each phase has its own soft duration, and the whole arc is measured in months rather than weeks. Weather, inspection scheduling, and selection lead times are the usual reasons a date moves. We report progress against the schedule you signed, so you always know which phase the house is in and what decision is coming next.