Princeton’s custom home builder.
Lots where soil, drainage and orientation decide the foundation before anything else.
Talk to Aaronor call (972) 528-5668
Building a house in Princeton
Building in Princeton is straightforward if you respect the site. It’s expensive if you don’t.
I’d rather spend an extra two weeks in planning than an extra two months in the field. That trade has never once gone the other way.
The foundation is the part of your house you’ll never look at and never stop depending on. In this part of Texas the soil is heavy clay that swells when it rains and shrinks when it doesn’t, which means the slab is designed for movement rather than pretending movement won’t happen. That means real engineering, correct moisture conditioning before the pour, post-tension cable laid where the drawings say and not where it’s convenient, and drainage that carries water away from the perimeter for the life of the house. Skipping any of it saves money in month three and costs a great deal in year eight.
Setbacks, easements and whatever the HOA reviews will shape the footprint before you choose a single finish. Better to know the envelope early and design inside it.
Mechanical, electrical and plumbing get coordinated before anyone cuts anything. Where the ducts run, whether the trusses can carry them, where the panel sits and how far the longest plumbing run has to travel. Done early, on paper, it costs a few meetings. Done in the field by whoever shows up first, it produces drilled structural members, soffits nobody planned for, and rooms that are colder than the rest of the house for reasons no one can trace.
I don't chase the lowest bid on trades. The cheapest framer is expensive twice.
You’re welcome to ask any trade on my site whether that’s how we work.
If something goes wrong, you hear it from me first, and you hear the plan to fix it in the same conversation.
Change orders aren’t inherently bad. They are how a house adapts to what you learn while standing in it. What is bad is a change order you find out about after the work is done, or one priced as a favor and settled at the end. Mine are written before the work happens, with the cost and the schedule impact stated, and you sign them or you don’t. That’s it. It keeps the conversation about the house rather than about the invoice.
A custom home is a long relationship with whoever builds it. You’ll talk to me more in eighteen months than you talk to most people in your life, and a good portion of those conversations will be about things that didn’t go to plan. That’s normal. Weather moves, materials arrive damaged, an inspector reads something differently than expected. What matters is whether the person telling you has a plan attached to the news, and whether the same person is still answering the phone a year after you move in. One family has brought me back for a fourth project. That only happens if the earlier ones went right.
Slope is the difference between a slab and a much larger number. A lot that falls three feet across the building pad can mean retaining, extra fill, a stepped foundation or a walk-out basement that turns out to be the best room in the house. Which of those you get is a design decision, and it is cheaper to make it before the plans are done.
Work from around here
Each of these homes has its own gallery in the portfolio.
Princeton and the rest of Collin County
1The lot
First visit is boots on the dirt. I want to see where water goes in a hard rain, which trees are worth keeping and how a truck gets to the back of the property.
2The plan
Design happens against the real site, not a generic rectangle. You see the envelope, the constraints and the honest cost of the choices that are hard to reverse.
3The numbers
You get a breakdown you can actually read, with the unglamorous items priced rather than buried in an allowance nobody explains.
4The dirt
Earthwork and foundation. This is the phase where doing it properly costs a little more and skipping it costs a great deal in year eight.
5The frame
Walls, roof and the shape of every room. Come walk it while it's open; standing in a space teaches more than any elevation drawing.
6The finish
Cabinets, stone, tile, trim. Slower than people expect, because this is the part you touch every day for the next thirty years.
7The keys
Handover, punch list and the first-year calls that come after. A builder who disappears at closing was never really building for you.
Come by whenever you like. The frame stage is the one worth planning a visit around, because it's the last point where moving something is cheap.
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 Princeton?
Yes. Princeton sits in Collin County, and it's inside the area I can get to often enough to actually be on the job.
What is different about building in Princeton?
Lots where soil, drainage and orientation decide the foundation before anything else. That shapes the foundation and the footprint before anything else.
Do I need a lot first?
You don't. Bring me the ones you're considering and I will tell you what each would cost you in dirt before you commit.
How long will it take?
It depends on the house and the site. Tell me about yours and I will give you a real range rather than a brochure number.
Do you handle the permits?
That’s mine to handle, permits and review both.
What happens if something goes wrong?
I tell you before you find it, along with what I intend to do about it and what it changes.
Thinking about a build in Princeton?
Come walk your Princeton lot with me. That conversation costs nothing and tells you most of what you need.