Step-by-Step Custom Homebuilding Guide

Building a custom home is one of the most exciting and meaningful investments you can make – but what does “custom” really mean? At Gerard Construction, custom isn’t just a buzzword – it’s a tailored process rooted in communication, craftsmanship, and collaboration.

You want a home and have been starting to look at possibilities. Financing, location, and design choices are all floating through your thoughts. You spend nights awake dreaming about your new space and drift into scenarios as you go about your day to day tasks. You are ready for a new home, but a big decision is stopping you for the next step, do you build or buy? Gerard Construction knows building a custom home is a big decision, but it might be the best choice for you.

Once you have gone through all the steps, you have talked to our architectural and design team, you’ve found your land, you secured financing, you chatted with us multiple times over the building process, we’ve secured the punch list, then you may be wondering what is left. Besides the actual moving in and enjoying your new home by Gerard Construction, you can still count on us for years to come.

While the closing process can mean dotting every “i” and crossing every “t” on your loan papers, Gerard Construction can also refer to a closing process in regards to the end of our build with custom home building. As your home approaches the final steps of being complete, there is still a good amount of work to be done before we are satisfied with the product.

After getting your custom estimate from us and then securing the funds, the fun part of the process begins: the building. We aren’t exaggerating when we say we believe building homes is fun. When thinking about how we start with a conversation, move to the planning phase, see the product from the ground up, and then hand over the keys to the homeowner, it gives us a sense of purpose in what we do. However we know the home building process is daunting for many, especially when it gets to the logistics of the build itself. Every step of the way, our team is there to give expert advice and every single build is going to look different.

While a homeowner to be may get bogged down on the pitch of their roof, the best orientation for windows, or the perfect shade of stain for their new stairs, often, financing is the bigger concern and frustration for many. Rarely do we have a family who is ready to pay for their home entirely out of pocket and even those families consider loans for other reasons and purposes.

When building with Gerard Construction, you reap the benefits of decades of experience in finance in addition to the years we have spent in building. There are a number of tips, hints, and nudges we have in place that can make financing an easier part of your build, so you can focus on the fun.

Everything about your experience with Gerard Construction should be custom, from the architectural plans to our interactions and even to the costs you incur. If the details and plans you are making for your new home are unique to you, then the investment you make will be unique to you as well.

You are imaging the space you will one day live in, your new home. You have a good idea of the lot you want to build on, you have secured your financing, and you are just itching to open the front door and start working on the build itself. In your mind, you turn the knob and what you see next will depend greatly on your floor plan. In fact, before you even get to swing that door open, your floor plan will determine where the door, windows, and walkway are placed. Our team at Gerard Construction will walk you through every square foot of making a floor plan that works and makes sense for you.

The floor plan will be the map to your house and includes everything from room layouts, electrical and plumbing access, and other details that will help us in constructing your home. However, before that foundation is poured, there is a lot to think about.

Gerard Construction has experience in every component of the home building process and financing is no exception to that. In fact, our team is uniquely poised to walk alongside our customers through the process of researching and securing financing for their new custom build home.

Michael Patranella spent over 24 years in banking in the Brazos Valley before founding Gerard Construction. Those years of experience help the team at Gerard to understand the three facets of financing, the construction side, the lending side, and the customer’s side. By sharing the knowledge gained over his time in banking, new homeowners can count on a relationship that is built with trust and care.

When we talk about building, we aren’t only referring to building homes. We also mean building a community. Gerard Construction is steadfast in helping people create homes in the Brazos Valley. While we love remodels and renovations, especially in giving old homes new life, building homes from the ground up and the relationship that creates between a homeowner and our team, is something we are passionate about.

It’s not only a new year, but it is also a new decade and we here at Gerard Construction cannot wait to meet the individuals and families who we will get to partner with to build their homes. Along with the change in calendar comes a new set of trends and techniques which means each of the homes we create may take on a few of these new design ideas.

Homes are important to us. Dreams, goals, and conversations are often focused around home ownership, building something new, or altering what we already have. When it comes time to turn the dream into reality, we can waver with the unknown and the process of pouring our hard-earned savings into the home.