Key Takeaways
- Taylor Morrison and Ashton Woods are consistently two of the highest-rated builders in Texas and the U.S.
- Ratings can be subjective, so consider more objective information, including build quality and warranty, when deciding on a home builder.
- Sustainable building practices and green features are other variables to consider when looking at top homebuilders in Texas.
Building a new home in Texas is an exciting experience. Few purchases change your life as much as the brand-new place you’ll call home. You want a well-constructed, high-quality home with all the features for your lifestyle. And when you’re in the Lone Star State, you want to hire one of the top home builders in Texas.
Whether you’re looking for a starter home or your American dream home, this guide to finding the top home builders in Texas offers helpful tips, insights, and data to help you make an informed decision.
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Who Is the Top Home Builder in Texas?
Laying out the top home builders in Texas is challenging because it can be subjective. However, it’s still worthwhile to consider the opinions of various experts in the construction and home improvement industry.
For example, according to BobVila.com , Taylor Morrison was the best home builder in Texas overall. The experts rated Taylor Morrison highly for various reasons, including its wide range of floor plans and pricing, excellent customer service, high-tech self-guided tours, and its award-winning status as a seven-time winner of America’s Most Trusted Home Builder.
BobVila.com also laid out its pick for sustainable home builder (Meritage Homes), best custom home builder (Jauregui Architect), best home builder for first-time home buyers (KB Home), and best modular homes (Clayton Homes).
Home Builders Weekly (HBW) went a different route in listing its top home builders in Texas by focusing on black-and-white stats: permits. Each month, near the top of this list are volume builders, such as Lennar Homes, D.R. Horton, Pulte Homes, Highland Homes, and Perry Homes. But remember that these ratings are based solely on volume, not quality or customer satisfaction.
Who Is the Largest Home Builder in Texas?
If size is a deciding factor when choosing a home builder, D.R. Horton is a good option, as it is the largest home builder in Texas. With over 45 years of experience building homes, D.R. Horton has a reputation for balancing quality and affordability. D.R. Horton has various floor plans and designs, so plenty of options exist.
D.R. Horton is also the second-largest home builder in the nation based on revenue, so it’s clear the company is doing something right to keep home buyers flocking to it.
In addition to building homes, D.R. Horton has a foothold in the rental market. It builds single and multi-family homes specifically for the rental market.
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Who Is the Highest-Rated Home Builder in Texas?
While a large builder is great, this doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good builder. When seeking the top home builders in Texas, you also want a highly-rated builder. Finding this can take hours of research and looking at various rating sites.
Fortunately, we did a lot of the legwork for you by poring through the list of the highest-reviewed new home builders in America, according to research and strategy firm Lifestory. We then extracted the companies that are building homes in the Lone Star State along with their trust ratings. All findings are based on research published for 2023.
1. Taylor Morrison
Taylor Morrison tops the list with the highest trust rating of 118.4. Taylor Morrison has communities throughout the Greater Dallas-Fort Worth area, and you can search through a wide range of communities, home styles, and price ranges.
2. Ashton Woods
Ashton Woods is hot on Taylor Morrison’s heels with a 118.2 trust rating. The 2023 Builder of the Year award winner also has numerous communities in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, but its real estate expands to the San Antonio, Austin, and Houston areas. No matter which large city you choose for your Texas home, Ashton Woods likely has new construction options available.
3. LGI Homes
Ringing in third with a 118 trust rating is LGI Homes. This company offers a range of home options for first-time home buyers, those looking to step up into a luxury home, and even step-down options for empty nesters looking to downsize.
LGI Homes also has a broad reach in the Lone Star State with communities in various Texas cities and neighborhoods, including Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Katy, New Braunfels, San Antonio, and San Marcos.
4. Tri Pointe Homes
Tri Pointe Homes is another highly trusted home builder with a 117.6 trust score. Tri Pointe Homes specializes in being environmentally friendly and has a wide range of communities around the greater Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and Austin areas.
5. Dream Finders Home
Dream Finders Home is the fifth best on Lifestory’s list, with a trust score of 117.2. This builder offers a range of communities, including luxury home communities, adult-friendly communities, and more. It doesn’t have an expansive reach in Texas yet, but it has several communities in the Austin area.
What Should You Look For When Seeking the Top Home Builders in Texas?
When looking for a Texas home builder, consider several key factors, including customer reviews, Better Business Bureau (BBB) grades, build quality, sustainability, and other important criteria. Evaluating these factors can help you decide who’s the right builder to meet your needs for a new home.
Customer Ratings
Few ratings are more revealing than customer ratings. Focus on builders with above-average ratings to ensure your chosen company has a track record of satisfied customers. Seek out testimonials and reviews from previous home buyers to get a sense of the builder’s reputation.
You can find these reviews in many places, such as Google, Yelp, TrustPilot, Angie’s List, and other reputable sites. You can also look on user forums, such as Reddit or Quora, to read about in-depth customer experiences. This data can help you formulate an opinion (and come up with questions) on each builder before contacting them.
Satisfactory Better Business Bureau Score
The Better Business Bureau has long been considered a reliable source for grading companies on performance and trustworthiness. However, the organization has a vested interest in the businesses it serves because it relies on their dues for revenue. That said, the BBB does at least show whether or not a business responds to consumer complaints — the more complaints without responses or the more unresolved complaints a business gets, the lower its BBB grade.
The BBB is a good resource for looking at patterns in customer complaints. Even if a company has an A+ BBB rating, it may have numerous complaints you can review. If you see a pattern of complaints, this could be an indicator to find a different builder.
Active and Valid Building Licenses
When researching top home builders, verify they have active and valid building licenses. You can find licensing information through the Texas Department of Licensing & Regulation. These licenses demonstrate the builder met the requirements and regulations to operate legally in Texas. It also assures you the builder’s work is held to specified standards.
Build Quality
You’ll also want to examine the quality of the builder’s previous work. While you can’t just waltz into a construction site and start touring unfinished homes, you can visit the builder’s model homes to check out their craftsmanship and attention to detail.
Pay close attention to the construction materials and finishes used in these homes to determine if they meet your expectations. For instance, review the wall texture closely to identify uneven surfaces, how flush the tile work is, the alignment of baseboard and crown molding, and the quality of the carpet.
Remember, these model homes are intended to be the cream of the crop to attract buyers. If the builder cannot perfect the model, imagine what they’ll deliver after you’ve committed hundreds of thousands of dollars to a new construction home.
Energy-Efficient Options and Features
In today’s environmentally conscious world, energy efficiency is a big focus — especially when building a new home. The top home builders in Texas should offer energy-efficient options and features to help you minimize monthly utility costs and shrink your carbon footprint. This includes Low-E glass, energy-efficient insulation, low-flow toilets and faucets, solar water heaters, and alternative energy options, such as solar panels or geothermal heating.
Sustainable Building Practices
While ongoing energy efficiency is excellent, you also want to look for builders committed to sustainable building practices. This means the builder uses sustainable materials (such as sustainably sourced lumber and recycled materials), employs green construction methods, and prioritizes energy conservation while building your home. These builders contribute to a healthier environment and can ensure the longevity and durability of your new home.
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Prices and Budget
There are no two ways to cut it; we all have a budget. Some builders focus on high-end home construction and custom or semi-custom homes with many options. These builders generally come with higher prices. Other builders may offer lower-cost starter homes as their bread and butter. However, many builders offer a range of home styles to meet just about every budget.
When reviewing the top home builders in Texas, check out the company’s main focus and pricing structure to ensure it suits your budget and offers plenty of value. Also, during the design and pricing phase, look for transparent pricing and cost breakdowns to ensure no hidden fees or surprises pop up.
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New Home Warranty and After-Sales Service
After-sales service is an essential part of purchasing a new home, as it’s almost inevitable to run into small issues here and there. Maybe a cabinet was a little crooked, and you missed it on the final walk-through, or perhaps a big Texas storm flooded your yard. You want to know you can contact the builder after the sale to have these items fixed.
You also want to ensure there’s a comprehensive new home warranty to cover larger issues. This warranty offers protection and peace of mind, guaranteeing that any costly issues that arise after move-in, such as a faulty air conditioner or plumbing, will be addressed promptly and efficiently.
Floor Plan Variety and Customization
While model homes are lovely, they may not have everything you need. Make sure the new home you choose checks as many boxes as possible to fit your unique preferences and needs as a homeowner. To accomplish this, seek builders who offer various floor plans and customization options. This lets you choose a home that fits your lifestyle and personal taste.
Many builders build only speculative homes — also called “spec homes” — which the builder has already designed and fitted with upgrades that it believes will sell and be profitable. You can customize very little in these homes if anything at all. This is great for someone who’s not picky and wants a quick-move-in home, but if you have specific tastes, a spec home is likely not for you.
Builder Awards
Winning awards can indicate that a homebuilding company is reliable or remarkable in some regard. Many of these industry awards recognize excellence and add a tangible element to a builder’s commitment to quality and customer satisfaction.
However, keep in mind that not all awards are created equal. Before choosing a builder based on an award it won, check the history and criteria for the award to verify that it’s a legitimate industry award. Some legitimate awards include those from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).
Ensure a Quality New Home With the Top Home Builders in Texas
When looking for a builder for your new home, it’s essential to focus on several key factors, including floor plans, pricing, customer reviews, and building practices. You also want to account for build quality, which you can check by touring multiple model homes and seeing the builder’s finished product. Industry awards can also help you vet a home builder’s credibility and track record. By doing your due diligence, you’ll have a much better chance of choosing a builder who will create your home sweet home.
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