Garland’s custom home builder.
Established neighborhoods with mature trees, post-war lots and utilities already in the ground.
Talk to Aaronor call (972) 528-5668
Building a house in Garland
Every Garland build starts the same way for me: on the dirt, before a single line is drawn.
You’re going to live with the decisions made in the first sixty days for as long as you own the house. That’s where I spend my attention.
Energy performance is mostly decided in the walls, not the equipment. Insulation that’s actually installed to its rated value rather than stuffed around wiring, an air barrier that’s continuous instead of theoretical, windows specified for the elevation they sit on, and ductwork inside conditioned space where it belongs. I run thermal scans on my jobs because a camera finds a gap that a walk-through never will. A house built tight and ventilated correctly is quieter, more comfortable in August, and cheaper to run for as long as it stands.
I bring the trades out early. The framer and the concrete crew see the site before the plans are final, because they catch things a drawing doesn’t show.
The walk-through isn’t the end. There’s a punch list, and then there’s the first year, when a new house dries out and settles and reveals the things that only appear under real use. Nail pops, a door that needs adjusting, a grout line that wants attention. I expect those calls and I answer them. A builder who disappears at closing was never really building for you; he was building to hand something over.
Nothing gets covered up that I wouldn't want to look at myself in five years.
That’s the standard, and it doesn’t move depending on the size of the job.
Wood, stone and steel all start imperfect. The job is refining them, not pretending otherwise.
Framing is where a house stops being a drawing. It’s also the last moment when changes are still reasonable, which is why I want owners walking the frame with me while the structure is open. You can stand in the room and understand the ceiling height in a way no elevation communicates. You can see where the light actually falls in the afternoon. Moving a window while the wall is open is a conversation. Moving it after drywall, paint and trim is demolition, and everyone in the process pays for it in time as well as money.
Most of what people think of as builder quality is really trade quality. The framer who keeps walls plumb, the plumber who thinks about access before he thinks about speed, the finish carpenter who cares what a return looks like from four feet away. I don’t rebid those relationships every job to shave a percentage point. The trades on my sites have been with me for years, they know the standard I’m going to hold them to, and they know I will pay them fairly to meet it. That isn’t sentiment. It’s the only reliable way I know to make good work repeatable.
Utility service is the item people never price. If the meter is at the road and the house sits two hundred feet back, that trench costs real money, and it has to be coordinated with the drive and the drainage so nothing gets dug twice. On acreage you may be looking at a well, a septic field and a longer electrical run than the house itself needs.
Work from around here
Each of these homes has its own gallery in the portfolio.
Garland and the rest of Dallas County
1The lot
We walk it together. Grade, drainage, trees, access, where the sun comes from. I tell you what the site will and won't allow before anyone draws a plan.
2The plan
This is where we decide the things that can't be undone later: where the house sits, which way it faces and how the rooms stack.
3The numbers
A real budget separates what the dirt costs from what the house costs. Most surprises in this business are site surprises, so that line gets honest numbers first.
4The dirt
Pad, drainage and foundation. The least photogenic phase and the one that decides whether the house is still square in twenty years.
5The frame
The skeleton goes up and suddenly the plan is a building. It's also the last cheap moment to move a window or raise a ceiling.
6The finish
Millwork, surfaces and paint. The phase that takes the longest per square foot and the one people remember when they walk in.
7The keys
We walk it together, write down what isn't right, and I fix it. Then I'm still reachable through the first year while the house settles.
Drop in any time. During framing I'd rather you came twice, because a change then is a conversation instead of a demolition bill.
What the site tells you
Dirt, drainage and structure from real jobs. The unglamorous phase that decides the house.
Questions I get asked
Do you build in Garland?
I do. Garland is close enough that I'm not planning a day around the drive, which is the only reason I take work anywhere.
What is different about building in Garland?
Established neighborhoods with mature trees, post-war lots and utilities already in the ground. That shapes the foundation and the footprint before anything else.
Do I need a lot first?
Not at all. Some of my best builds started with a conversation about which lot to buy rather than what to put on it.
How long will it take?
The site decides more of the schedule than the house does. Difficult dirt, long utility runs or HOA review all add time, and I will tell you which apply to your lot.
Do you handle the permits?
Yes. Each jurisdiction here runs a little differently and I deal with all of it.
What happens if something goes wrong?
You hear it from me first, and you hear the fix in the same conversation.
Thinking about a build in Garland?
There's no pressure on a first call about a Garland home. Ask what you want to ask.