Austin home builders: who is building, what they warrant, and how to check one

Who are the biggest home builders in Austin?

By new building permits inside the City of Austin, the largest 2025 permit holders were Shreve Land Constructors LLC with 214, M-I Homes of Austin with 160, ICB Construction with 133 and Brookfield Residential with 130, followed by KB Home, Perry Homes, Taylor Morrison, D.R. Horton and David Weekley Homes. We counted new single-family and duplex building permits by issue date in the City's open data on September 28, 2026: 2,353 in 2025 and 1,608 from January through August 2026, when Milestone Community Builders led with 96.

Read the table as permit activity, not a ranking of quality. The name is whoever pulled the permit, which can be a site contractor rather than the brand on the sales office; we did not trace Shreve, ICB or other contractors to a brand. The data also covers only City of Austin permits, full and limited purpose, so builders working in Leander, Hutto, Kyle, Pflugerville or unincorporated Williamson and Travis counties are missing. Lennar does not appear, which reflects that gap and says nothing about its volume. One contractor name does trace to a brand: Century Communities lists Century Land Holdings II, LLC as a subsidiary in its 2025 annual report to the SEC.

Suburbs publish less. San Marcos' permit layer names the builder on every new single-family permit, and its 715 permits issued in 2025 were led by D.R. Horton with 209, Brookfield Residential with 118 and Lennar with 75. Round Rock's monthly reports for July through November 2025 list 92 new single-family applications, 31 of them from KB Home. Georgetown's reports require an account, and Leander, Kyle, Hutto, Pflugerville and the counties publish no permit data with builder names that we could find.

Sources: City of Austin Open Data: Issued Construction Permits ↗ · Century Communities: 2025 Form 10-K, Exhibit 21.1, subsidiaries ↗ · City of San Marcos: building permits layer (ArcGIS) ↗ · City of Round Rock: building inspection forms and monthly reports ↗

Production, semi-custom or custom: which kind of Austin builder do you need?

Most new homes around Austin come from production builders, which sell a set of floor plans on lots inside a community, often a master-planned one with its own municipal utility district. Every builder in the permit table above sells that way on at least part of its site, and their Austin pages list places such as Georgetown, Leander, Liberty Hill, Hutto, Manor, Buda, Kyle and San Marcos.

A custom builder builds your design on land you own, and the contract, the draw schedule and the lender are different. Whichever you choose, the public-records checks below work the same way. Our Easton Park guide shows what a single master-planned community looks like with eight builders side by side.

Sources: Ashton Woods: Austin ↗ · KB Home: new homes in Austin ↗ · Pulte Homes: Austin ↗ · Taylor Morrison: Austin ↗

Does Texas license home builders?

No. The Texas Residential Construction Commission registered builders until the Legislature declined to continue it; the Sunset Advisory Commission's record says the commission "was abolished and the Act expired on September 1, 2009," with its records moved to the Comptroller. No state agency now issues a license to build a house, so there is no builder license number to look up.

What is licensed is the inspector you hire. Occupations Code §1102.103 says a person may not act as a professional inspector for a buyer or seller "unless the person holds a professional inspector license," and TREC's license holder search shows whether an inspector does. Cities regulate the building itself through permits and inspections. The pre-drywall inspection guide shows who inspects the framing stage in each city and county around Austin.

Sources: Texas Sunset Advisory Commission: Texas Residential Construction Commission ↗ · Texas Occupations Code §1102.103, Professional Inspector License Required ↗ · TREC: license holder search ↗

How do you check out an Austin builder before signing?

Start with the legal entity. The contract names a company, often a subsidiary such as "Taylor Morrison of Texas, Inc." rather than the brand. The Comptroller's franchise tax account status search shows whether that entity's right to transact business in Texas is active; the Comptroller notes that a forfeited entity loses the right to sue or defend itself in a Texas court. The Secretary of State's SOSPortal has the formation filings, at $1 a search.

Then look at the lot. Inside the City of Austin, Build + Connect's public search lists a property's permits and inspection results, and the City issues a certificate of occupancy "upon a successful final inspection for new construction." Outside the city, the permitting city or county holds the record. Ask the association for its restrictions, bylaws, rules and resale certificate, which Property Code §207.003 requires it to deliver within 10 business days of a purchaser's written request.

Sources: Texas Comptroller: franchise tax account status search ↗ · Texas Comptroller: franchise tax account status instructions ↗ · Texas Secretary of State: SOSPortal business search ↗ · City of Austin: building inspections ↗ · City of Austin: certificate of occupancy ↗ · Texas Property Code §207.003, Delivery of Subdivision Information ↗

What warranty do Austin builders give?

Most of the builders we checked publish a 1-2-10 structure: one year on workmanship and materials, two years on plumbing, electrical and HVAC, and ten years on major structural parts. Ashton Woods, Chesmar, D.R. Horton, David Weekley and KB Home state all three periods, and Ashton Woods says its coverage transfers with the home. Highland Homes is the exception: its FAQ lists "a six-year structural, two-year mechanical and one-year functional warranty." Perry Homes lists two years on workmanship and ten on structure, and M/I Homes and Drees list one year and ten.

The warranty is a document with exclusions, so ask for the actual booklet before signing, not the marketing page. Taylor Morrison, Meritage and Pulte did not publish the full set of year terms on the pages we read. The pillar guide's warranty section covers what a structural warranty usually excludes.

Sources: Ashton Woods: warranty ↗ · Chesmar Homes: warranty ↗ · KB Home: warranty services ↗ · Perry Homes: warranty ↗ · Pulte Homes: 10-year warranty ↗ · D.R. Horton: warranty book, WPMIC #319 ↗ · David Weekley Homes: new home warranty ↗ · Highland Homes: home buying FAQ ↗ · M/I Homes: customer care and warranty ↗ · Drees Homes: warranty ↗ · Taylor Morrison: warranty ↗ · Meritage Homes: buy with confidence ↗ · Tri Pointe Homes: Tri Pointe Solutions ↗

Should you use the builder's lender and title company?

Many Austin builders own or partner with a mortgage company and a title company. Ashton Woods names Trailblazer and Velocio Mortgage as affiliated lenders, KB Home names KBHS Home Loans, D.R. Horton names DHI Mortgage and DHI Title, Pulte names Pulte Mortgage and PGP Title, and Taylor Morrison names Taylor Morrison Home Funding and Inspired Title. Incentives such as closing-cost credits or rate buydowns are often tied to using them.

An incentive is worth only the gap against an outside quote. Freddie Mac's survey put the 30-year fixed average at 7.03% for the week of September 24, 2026. Get a written Loan Estimate from the builder's lender and one from an outside lender for the same loan, and compare the rate, points and the price of the house, since a credit can come out of a higher base price.

Sources: Ashton Woods: Austin ↗ · KB Home: new homes in Austin ↗ · D.R. Horton: Austin ↗ · Pulte Homes: Austin ↗ · Taylor Morrison: Austin ↗ · Freddie Mac: Primary Mortgage Market Survey, week of September 24, 2026 ↗

Do you need your own agent at the first model-home visit?

Often, yes, if you want representation. Builders set their own rules and publish them to agents. KB Home says payment of a broker co-op requires the agent to "accompany client at first visit" and to confirm at that visit that a written buyer-broker agreement has been signed. Tri Pointe says an agent "must register their client in person on client's first visit at each community," that registration is valid for 60 days, and that clients cannot register online without the agent. Taylor Morrison says an agent must sign its referral agreement "at the prospective buyer's first visit" and that a buyer's prior visit to the sales office can make them ineligible.

Texas law adds its own step. Since January 1, 2026, Occupations Code §1101.563 has required an agent to sign a written agreement with a buyer before showing any home. The builder's sales agent works for the builder. Rules vary by builder and change, so get the builder's policy in writing before you register.

Sources: KB Home: for agents ↗ · Tri Pointe Homes: broker resources ↗ · Taylor Morrison: for real estate agents ↗ · Texas Occupations Code §1101.563, Written Agreement Required ↗

How much does it cost to build a house in Austin?

No public source publishes a per-square-foot build cost for Austin alone. The closest official figure is the Census Bureau's Characteristics of New Housing, which puts the median contract price of contractor-built houses started in the South in 2025 at $157.30 per square foot, and the average at $179.96, excluding land. Houses sold by builders in the South went for a median $144.89 per square foot.

For the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos metro, the Census Bureau's permit survey counted 14,810 single-family homes permitted in 2025 at an average declared construction value of $309,009 each, again without the lot. A custom build on your own land adds the land, site work, utilities and design fees on top. The City of Austin's permit data does not help here: 1,943 of its 1,984 new single-family permits in 2025 declared a $0 valuation.

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau: contract price per square foot of new contractor-built single-family houses started (2025) ↗ · U.S. Census Bureau: price per square foot of new single-family houses sold (2025) ↗ · U.S. Census Bureau: Building Permits Survey, metro areas, 2025 annual ↗ · City of Austin Open Data: Issued Construction Permits ↗

What if something goes wrong after closing?

Start with the warranty claim process in the builder's warranty document, in writing. If a construction defect is not fixed, the Residential Construction Liability Act in Property Code Chapter 27 sets the order of steps: written notice to the builder by certified mail at least 60 days before filing suit, up to three inspections by the builder in the following 35 days, and a written settlement offer within 60 days of the notice.

In a suit seeking more than $7,500, either side can ask the court to compel mediation. The Texas Attorney General's consumer protection division also takes complaints. A new builder home is exempt from the seller's disclosure notice under Property Code §5.008(e)(10), so your own inspection reports are the record of the home's condition.

Sources: Texas Property Code Chapter 27, Residential Construction Liability ↗ · Texas Attorney General: file a consumer complaint ↗ · Texas Property Code §5.008, Seller's Disclosure of Property Condition ↗