How to choose a barndominium builder in the Texas Hill Country

The Texas Residential Construction Commission was the state's builder registry. The legislature let it expire on September 1, 2009, did not pass the bill that would have continued it, and created nothing in its place. Since then a Texas home builder or general contractor holds no state license, so "licensed builder" is not a claim anyone can back up here, and a company that prints it is either quoting a trade license or quoting nothing. That is also why this site says an independent local builder rather than a licensed one.

A barndominium is a home once it has living space, and the trades inside it are licensed by the state even though the builder is not. Ask the builder who holds each license on your job and look the name up before the slab is poured.

• Electrical. Anyone who performs non-exempt electrical work in Texas must be licensed and work through a licensed electrical contractor, under the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. TDLR runs a public license search.
• Heating and air conditioning. Contractors who install, repair or maintain air conditioning, refrigeration or heating systems must hold a TDLR license, and an ACR company must employ a licensed ACR contractor at each permanent location.
• Plumbing. The Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners licenses the plumbing trade, from responsible master plumber down to tradesman, and runs a public license search.
• Septic. The person who installs your on-site sewage facility holds a TCEQ OSSF license, and on most Hill Country lots the system is designed by a professional engineer or a registered sanitarian. Your county's septic authorization names the installer, so the county office can confirm it too.

A general contractor who cannot tell you which licensed subcontractors are doing the electrical, HVAC, plumbing and septic work has not planned the job yet.

Texas lets private employers choose whether to carry workers compensation. It is not required in most cases, and an employer without it, a non-subscriber, only has to report that fact to the state. General liability insurance is not required either. So the certificate is the check, and it is the one homeowners skip most often.

• Ask for a certificate of general liability insurance issued to you as certificate holder, with the policy dates covering your build.
• Ask whether the company subscribes to workers compensation. If it does not, ask in writing what covers a worker injured on your land. The Texas Department of Insurance lets anyone verify an employer's coverage.
• Ask the same two questions about the subcontractors who will be on site the longest, usually the framing and concrete crews.

If the barndominium will be your homestead, Texas law fixes the shape of the contract. To put a valid lien on a homestead, the builder and the owner must sign a written contract setting out the terms, the contract must be signed before any material is delivered or labor performed, both spouses must sign if the owner is married, and the contract must be filed with the county clerk where the land sits. A builder who has done this before will have the form ready. One who wants to start on a deposit and a handshake is either new to homestead work or planning to get paid another way.

The same statute requires a notice to you that spells out your own protection: hold back 10 percent of the contract price during construction and for 30 days after the builder finishes, and withhold enough to cover any written claim from an unpaid subcontractor or supplier. Follow that and a subcontractor's lien on your property is not valid. Build the 10 percent into the draw schedule from the start instead of negotiating it at the end.

Ask to see two finished barndominiums the builder completed in your county, and ask the owners the two questions that matter: did the final number match the contract, and did the septic and the slab go in on the schedule the builder gave. A barndominium is a different job from a stick-built house, so a reference from a conventional custom home tells you less than one from a metal or post-frame build on acreage like yours.

Then spend 20 minutes on the record. The Texas Comptroller's franchise tax account search shows whether the company is in good standing and names its officers, which tells you who has authority to sign. The county clerk's records in the county where the builder works show liens and suits naming the company. Neither replaces a reference; both are cheap.

Page one of any Hill Country cost search hands you numbers from about $30 to over $300 per square foot, and most of them never say what they cover. A builder's quote is the same problem in miniature. Ask for it in three scopes:

• The shell: engineered plans, slab, frame, roof, exterior walls, doors and windows, dried in.
• The interior finish: insulation, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, drywall, floors, kitchen, baths and trim, with allowances stated for anything you have not picked.
• The site work: septic system and permit, well, clearing and rock, driveway, electric service, and who pulls which permit and when.

With those three lines you can compare two builders, and you can see whether a low blended number is a dried-in shell dressed up as a finished home. The cost calculator is built the same way, so you can check a quote against published ranges before you sign.

Every town page on this site carries the county's septic rule, the permitting office and a quote form that goes to an independent builder who works that county: Fredericksburg, Boerne, Kerrville, Bandera, Comfort, Blanco, Johnson City, Dripping Springs, Wimberley, San Marcos, New Braunfels, Canyon Lake, San Antonio, Austin.