Ground-up construction on your lot, from soil report and slab design through the final inspection.
Building a house on your own lot is a different undertaking than remodeling one, and in this region it starts underground. The soil beneath most of Harris County is expansive clay that moves with the seasons, and everything about how a Houston house is designed follows from that fact.
LL General Contractor has built and remodeled here since 1998.
Before design, the lot has to be understood: flood plain status, drainage and detention requirements, utility availability, tree and setback constraints, and the deed restrictions recorded on the subdivision. Houston has no traditional zoning, so those private restrictions plus Chapter 42 platting and setback rules are what actually govern what can be built and where it sits.
A geotechnical report tells the engineer what the soil will do. The slab gets designed from that report, and post-tensioned slabs are standard practice across this region for exactly that reason. This is the step nobody sees in the finished house and the one that determines whether it is still square in twenty years.
Complete construction documents, plan review, and permits pulled in our name. Where the lot sits decides the reviewing authority: the City of Houston Permitting Center for addresses inside city limits, unincorporated Harris County for much of Cypress, Spring and the Champions area, and separate city offices for Jersey Village or Tomball.
Site work and slab, framing, roof dry-in, mechanical rough-in, inspections, insulation and drywall, then finishes. Our own crews handle the electrical, plumbing, drywall, painting, custom cabinets and flooring, which keeps the interior phases on one schedule rather than six.
Flooring, fixtures, cabinetry, counters, tile and hardware are carried as stated allowances until you choose them. We keep those numbers realistic rather than optimistic. An allowance set artificially low makes a bid look competitive and then reappears as an overage in month four, which is a sales tactic rather than an estimate.
Harris County and the City of Houston both regulate how much water a new structure can push onto neighboring property. On some lots the detention requirement meaningfully changes the site budget.
In mapped flood plains the finished floor has to sit above a required elevation, documented with an elevation certificate. After 2017 this is not an abstract requirement to anyone who lives here.
Designated coastal areas, including parts of eastern Harris County, fall under Texas Windstorm Insurance Association requirements, with specific wind-resistance construction and inspection rules.
Envelope detail, insulation and correctly sized mechanical systems matter more in a climate that runs hot and saturated for months. A house that is cheap to build and expensive to cool is not a bargain.
New construction on lots across Houston, Cypress, Spring, Tomball, Katy and the rest of our service area, roughly 30 miles from the city.
Every detail matters. From the foundation to the finish, quality is never an accident.
Check flood plain status, drainage and detention requirements, deed restrictions, and whether utilities are actually available at the property line. Any one of those can add substantial cost or make a lot unbuildable for what you have in mind. Septic versus sewer alone changes the budget significantly on unincorporated parcels in Harris County.
Because the expansive clay soil under most of the metro swells and shrinks with moisture, which will crack an underdesigned slab. Post-tensioned slabs designed from an actual geotechnical soil report are standard practice here for that reason. The soil report is not a formality to skip, it is the input that determines how the slab is designed.
Building in a mapped flood plain is possible but regulated, and the finished floor must be elevated above the required level, documented by an elevation certificate. Harris County and the City of Houston both enforce drainage and detention rules on new construction. Your lot's status determines the design, the insurance cost and sometimes whether the project pencils at all.
You need a complete set of plans, whether from an architect, a residential designer or a stock plan adapted to your lot and soil. Houston plan review requires proper documentation, and the foundation must be engineered for your specific site. We work from your plans or point you toward designers, and we will tell you when a plan needs revision before it goes to review.
As a written scope with specified allowances for selections such as flooring, fixtures, cabinets and countertops, with payments tied to construction phases. Allowances are where new-construction budgets most often go wrong, since a low allowance makes an early bid look competitive and reappears as an overage at selection time. Ours are stated so you can compare them honestly.
It depends on where the lot sits. The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association covers designated coastal areas including parts of eastern Harris County, and building inside that area carries specific construction and inspection requirements for wind resistance. Most of our service radius sits outside it, but it is worth confirming for a lot on the east side.
Adding square footage means foundation, framing, roofline and permits, not just more room. All four are handled here.
Built to the wall you actually have, in a climate that moves wood. Both facts change how cabinets should be made.
The two rooms that decide how a house lives. Layout, plumbing, electrical, cabinets and tile handled by one crew on one schedule.
If you have a lot under contract, bring the survey and any plans. If you are still looking, talk to us first. The lot decides more about your budget than the house does.
Monday - Friday: 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM | Saturday: 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM | Sunday: Closed | Holidays: Closed
