Custom Homes and Major Remodeling in Dripping Springs, Texas
Luxury custom homes and whole-home remodels, built by the owners themselves, priced in the open.
Riverbend Hill Country Homes is a custom home builder and remodeler based in Dripping Springs, Texas. Owner Vanessa Harris lives in town and runs every project with her husband Dan, building custom homes, whole-home remodels, casitas, and additions inside the city limits, in the areas just outside them, and on surrounding Hays County acreage.
Building a Home Should Not Require a Leap of Faith
Everyone knows a build story that went wrong. The budget that grew every month. The builder who stopped calling back in year two. The punch list that outlived the warranty. If part of you is bracing for that, you are paying attention.
Here is what your project could look like instead. You walk your land with Vanessa and Dan before you sign anything, and you leave that first walk with a working range, not a sales pitch. Our price ranges are on this page, in public, before design ever starts. The two people you meet on the property are the two people at your framing, your finish-out, and your final walkthrough. And the phone number below rings Vanessa, not a call center.
That is the whole model. Small on purpose, run by its owners, and built so you always know what happens next.
What Your Money Actually Buys
You should be able to see the workmanship before you commit to anything. These are real details from our featured whole-home rebuild in San Marcos, under an hour from Dripping Springs, photographed as it wrapped.
See the full San Marcos rebuild, including the before photos →
The Part of Building That Scares People Out of Building
Permits, review boards, county offices, rock, wells. This is the stretch where owner-builders lose a year and lose their nerve.
It is also the part we do every week. Here is what you can expect us to carry in Dripping Springs, so you never have to.
The permits are our problem
Whether your lot sits inside the Dripping Springs city limits or out in the review zone just outside them (the ETJ) and unincorporated Hays County, the approval path changes, and we run whichever one your land requires: development review, septic approval, driveway permits, and Fire Marshal sign-off. You see a sequenced schedule with dates on it. You never sit on hold with a county office.
No surprise line items
If your land sits past the utility lines, your home will run on a private well and an aerobic septic system. We put both into the site plan and the budget on day one, so they are costs you approved at the start, never surprises you absorb in month nine.
We price the rock before you commit
Much of Dripping Springs sits on shallow limestone, and rock excavation is where budgets quietly break. We read the rock on the first walk of your property and carry a priced allowance for what testing cannot see. If the ground surprises us anyway, you get options in writing, never a bill you did not discuss.
Your HOA approval, handled
If your community runs a design review board, we design to its guidelines from the first drawing and carry the submittal ourselves. Your elevation gets approved while you are choosing finishes, not while your start date slips.
Evenings that still glow
Dripping Springs is an International Dark Sky Community, with exterior lighting reviewed inside the city limits and in some surrounding developments, down to shielding and color temperature. We design your lighting to pass the first time, and your porch still glows exactly the way you pictured it.
Where We Build in Dripping Springs
Tell us where your lot is, and we can usually tell you on that first call what to expect from it: the review board, the site realities, and what your budget buys there.
- Saddletree RanchCustom homes and equestrian properties
- The Ranches at Dripping SpringsLarge ranchette homesites
- Bunker RanchCustom homes on estate lots
- Sunset CanyonEstablished acreage neighborhood
- Mesa VerdeAcreage homesites
- Caliterra & HeadwatersRemodels, casitas, and additions; new builds run through each community’s builder program
- Unrestricted acreageWells, septic, and room to build exactly what you want
Some master-planned communities restrict new construction to their preferred builders, and we confirm eligibility lot by lot before anyone falls in love with a plan. Remodeling and additions for existing homeowners are open territory in nearly all of them.
The Number Nobody Else Will Say Out Loud
The most stressful part of planning a build is that nobody will give you a real figure until you are already committed. So here are ours, before you have spent a dollar or shaken a hand.
Ground-up
New Custom Home
$350-$650 / sq ft
- 14 to 20 months, contract to completion
- Rock, well, and septic scoped on the property walk, before design
- Selections coordinated to the build calendar, so decisions never stall the site
The work we do most
Whole-Home Remodel
$400-$800 / sq ft of remodeled area
- 12 to 24 months, typically
- At least a 20 percent contingency planned up front, in writing
- Taken to the studs where it earns it, like our San Marcos rebuild
Ultra-luxury, structural steel, complex architecture$800+ / sq ft
Kitchen or primary suite (4 to 9 months)$500-$1,200 / sq ft
On Dripping Springs land, the per-square-foot figure is only half the math. Rock, wells, aerobic systems, and community requirements all live outside it, and they differ lot by lot. Timelines and the full pricing detail are on our homepage, and the number for your specific property comes from walking it. For the service itself, see our custom home building process and our luxury home remodeling service.
You Will Never Be Handed Off
No account manager, no rotating project coordinator, no version of your build that Vanessa and Dan have not personally stood inside. She lives in Dripping Springs, minutes from most of the lots we walk. He runs the field. They take a few projects at a time so that yours gets both of them.
Vanessa built resort spas for hotel brands before this, work where every guest is a finish inspector. Your home gets that same eye, with your name on the door instead.
Builds go wrong in the gaps between visits. Living here is how we keep the gaps short.
★★★★★
They are total pros and genuinely care about doing things the right way the first time.Carol
Dripping Springs Questions
Who issues building permits in Dripping Springs?
It depends on where the lot sits. Inside the Dripping Springs city limits, plans go through the city’s development review. Outside the limits, most land falls just beyond them in the ETJ or in unincorporated Hays County, where the county handles permitting. The review path changes the timeline, so it is one of the first things we confirm about any property.
Can you build in Caliterra, Headwaters, or Bunker Ranch?
It depends on the community and the project. Several master-planned communities restrict new construction to a preferred-builder program, so we confirm eligibility for your specific lot before design starts. Remodels, casitas, and additions for existing homeowners are generally open in all of them, subject to design review, and we handle those submittals.
What does Hill Country land add to the cost of a build?
The common site costs in Dripping Springs are rock excavation in shallow limestone, a private well, an aerobic septic system, and access work on larger lots. None of them fit inside a per-square-foot number, which is why we scope them by walking the property before design begins.
What does it cost to build a custom home in Dripping Springs?
Construction typically runs $350 to $650 per square foot at comparable finish levels, with ultra-luxury work running $800 and up. The land decides the rest: excavation, well, septic, and community requirements sit outside the construction number.
Do you remodel existing homes in Dripping Springs?
Yes. Whole-home remodels are half of what we do, typically running 12 to 24 months, with single-area projects such as a kitchen or primary suite at 4 to 9 months. Our featured San Marcos rebuild shows the standard we bring to a remodel.
Does the Dark Sky ordinance affect my house design?
If your lot is inside the city limits or in certain developments just outside them, yes. Dripping Springs is an International Dark Sky Community, and exterior lighting is reviewed for fixture type, shielding, and color temperature. We design the lighting plan to comply from the first drawing, so it never becomes a late-stage surprise.
Where is Riverbend Hill Country Homes located?
In Dripping Springs itself. Owner Vanessa Harris lives here with her family, and the company takes projects within about an hour of town so she and Dan can run every job in person.
Schedule a Call
Tell us about your Dripping Springs property and what you have in mind.
Call us or send the form and we will get back to you.
Vanessa answers this number, weekdays 9 to 5.