Custom Homes and Whole-Home Remodeling in San Marcos, Texas
Owner-run custom builds and whole-home remodels on San Marcos land, inside the city limits or out in the county.
A budget range and a straight read on scope, at no cost and with no obligation.
Vanessa Harris and her husband Dan run Riverbend Hill Country Homes from Dripping Springs, building custom homes and whole-home remodels for San Marcos clients whose land sits inside city limits, in the surrounding extraterritorial jurisdiction, or in unincorporated Hays County beyond it. Riverbend has already completed one whole-home renovation in San Marcos: a 3,100-square-foot rebuild finished in June 2026 for $1.3 million. Vanessa and Dan ran that job themselves, and they run every project they take the same way.
What We Check on a San Marcos Lot First
Three sets of rules can reach a San Marcos lot. Your parcel can sit fully inside the city limits, in the city's extraterritorial jurisdiction, or in unincorporated Hays County, and where it sits decides whether the city or the county issues your permit. An Edwards Aquifer recharge zone can decide whether your lot needs a permanent stormwater structure in the site plan. A river protection zone adds a detention requirement of its own on the parcels it covers. San Marcos ends up with more overlapping rules than most towns we build in.
We put all of that in writing before you close on the lot. We check your parcel against the City's interactive map, confirm which office governs it, measure your site against the aquifer's impervious cover limit, and flag a floodplain or river protection zone requirement before a floor plan exists.
If a community that restricts new construction to its own builder roster, or a historic district's review process, will not work with the home you have in mind, we say so on the first visit and show you the rules that apply to that parcel.
4.8⭐ on Google
$1.3M featured remodel in San Marcos
Google review from a project architect
Owner-led job sites
Photographed Right Here in San Marcos
Every one of these photos came from the same house, after we rebuilt it.
Where the City, the County, the Aquifer, and the River Overlap
Depending on the parcel, a project can answer to the city, to Hays County, to the Edwards Aquifer Authority, and to the rules that protect the San Marcos River, in any combination.
We settle the recharge zone limits, whether the River Protection Zone reaches your lot, and the floodplain elevation, and we confirm who supplies your water, all before design starts.
Who Issues Your Permit, the City or the County
ZIP code 78666 covers city limits, the city's extraterritorial jurisdiction, and unincorporated Hays County alike, so we start from the parcel. Inside city limits, San Marcos Planning and Development Services issues the building permit and performs plan review and inspection through completion. In unincorporated Hays County, including the acreage just outside the city limits, a single-family home is inspected by a private, third-party inspector rather than by county staff, and state law sets a minimum of three inspections: foundation before concrete, framing and mechanical before drywall, and a final inspection on completion. The county issues a Development Permit in place of a traditional building permit, valid one year to start construction and two years to finish it, and the county also asks for proof of a compliant, platted parcel and a septic permit where one applies. We check the City's interactive map against your parcel before we tell you which path governs your project.
How Much of Your Lot You Can Pave
San Marcos sits on the Edwards Aquifer recharge and contributing zone, the same cave-riddled limestone that feeds San Marcos Springs. On a parcel inside the mapped recharge or contributing zone, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality must review and approve the site plan before construction begins, typically through a Water Pollution Abatement Plan built on geologic and engineering data. The threshold that matters is 20 percent. If the house, driveway, and patio together cover 20 percent of the lot or less, no permanent stormwater structure is required. Above that share, the state requires you to build one. We size the footprint against that threshold before a design is finalized.
River Protection Zone Rules, and Whether They Reach Your Lot
The mapped San Marcos River Protection Zone runs along the river, and it sets specific stormwater requirements where a property sits inside it. Inside the zone, the site has to hold the first inch and a quarter of a storm on your property and let it out slowly, which in practice means a detention feature in the site plan. The zone reaches riverside and near-river lots rather than the whole city, and we confirm whether your parcel falls inside it before we price the site work.
Foundation Height Near the Floodplain
If your lot sits less than 2 feet above the regulated floodplain elevation, San Marcos requires a Floodplain Development Permit before construction. New construction and any substantial improvement inside the regulated floodplain must be elevated at least 2 feet above that same regulated floodplain elevation, and a remodel has a spending line it cannot cross quietly: once improvement costs add up to half the structure's value, full floodplain compliance, including the elevation requirement, applies to the whole project. The permit costs $50 plus a $15 technology fee, and the elevation engineering it can require is priced separately. We pull the FEMA floodplain map for your specific lot before we price a remodel or a new build near the river.
Your Water Provider and Your Septic Authority
Whether your home runs on city water, a well, or a different utility depends on the parcel. City of San Marcos Water and Crystal Clear Special Utility District each hold separate, state-mapped service areas under their own Certificates of Convenience and Necessity, so which one reaches your lot has to be checked address by address. A private well falls under Edwards Aquifer Authority rules here, not the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District that governs wells to the west in Dripping Springs and Driftwood: an exempt domestic well can draw up to 25,000 gallons a day, but it must still be registered with the Authority. Your septic authority depends on the parcel too. Inside city limits, the City's septic program issues the permit; in unincorporated Hays County, the county does, and any aerobic or drip-irrigation system needs an ongoing maintenance contract. We confirm your water provider and your septic authority before the design starts.
Historic Districts Add Their Own Approval
San Marcos maintains seven locally designated historic districts, and a Certificate of Appropriateness is required for any exterior change inside one beyond ordinary repair, maintenance, and painting: a new window, an addition, even a fence, regardless of whether a building permit is also needed. This approval sits on top of ordinary permitting. If your remodel touches a historic-district home, we plan for that review from the first sketch.
Where We Build in San Marcos
Kissing Tree, La Cima, Blanco Vista, and TRACE all restrict new construction to a fixed roster of production builders, and each community runs its own architectural committee. We tell you that before you spend anything on a lot inside one of them. The clearest openings for us are the acreage subdivisions around the city and remodels inside its historic districts.
- Kissing Tree55-and-over community with an estimated 3,150 homes at build-out; new construction runs through exactly two approved builders and an Architecture Control Committee
- La Cima2,400-acre community with a fixed roster of national production builders; not open land for an independent custom build
- Blanco VistaMaster-planned community on the Blanco River with its own builder roster; feeds the Hays school district rather than the San Marcos one
- TRACE420-acre mixed-use community along I-35; new homes go through its own list of production builders
- Bridlewood RanchesRoughly 55 acreage lots between San Marcos and Wimberley; a Property Owners Association reviews design, but multi-acre land here is a genuine opening for a custom build
- The seven historic districtsHopkins Street, Burleson Street, Lindsey-Rogers, Dunbar, Downtown, San Antonio Street, and Belvin Street; a real setting for a major remodel, subject to a Certificate of Appropriateness
We confirm eligibility and review requirements for your specific lot before a survey is ordered.
What a San Marcos Build Costs
We take on two kinds of project in San Marcos, each on its own timeline.
Ground-up
New Custom Home
$325-$800+ / sq ft
- 14 to 20 months, contract to completion
- Jurisdiction, aquifer-zone review, and floodplain exposure scoped on the first visit
- Vanessa and Dan run your build personally, from the first walk to the final punch list
Whole house
Whole-Home Remodel
$325-$650+ / sq ft of remodeled area
- 12 to 24 months, typically
- At least a 20 percent contingency, in writing, from day one
- Historic-district review carried by us, start to finish, where one applies
Kitchen or primary suite (4 to 9 months)$300-$800+ / sq ft
In San Marcos, the per-square-foot number leaves out what a state environmental site review, the impervious-cover threshold, a floodplain elevation requirement, or a historic district's Certificate of Appropriateness can add, and each of those applies parcel by parcel. We give you the number after we have walked the property with you. Our custom home building and luxury home remodeling pages cover each service in full.
Vanessa and Dan Run Your San Marcos Build
San Marcos is thirty-five minutes from our home base in Dripping Springs, and they are on your San Marcos site every week of the build. Anything that comes up on site gets settled while they are standing there. Vanessa leads the design side and every finish that goes into the house. Dan runs the field. We have already worked here: a whole-home remodel finished in June 2026 after sixteen months, and you can walk through every room of it. The two people who ran that job from demolition to the final punch list are the ones who confirm your jurisdiction, your water provider, and your aquifer-zone requirements before you sign anything.
Vanessa built resort spas for hotel brands before this, work where a bad tile edge gets written up before the doors open. Your San Marcos home gets that same eye.
San Marcos Questions
Does my San Marcos mailing address mean the city issues my building permit?
Not necessarily. The parcel settles it, and one San Marcos mailing address can belong to the city, to the city's extraterritorial jurisdiction, or to unincorporated Hays County. Inside city limits, San Marcos Planning and Development Services issues the permit and inspects the build through completion. In unincorporated Hays County, a single-family home runs on a county Development Permit and is inspected by a private, state-mandated third-party inspector, who has to carry out at least three inspections. We check your parcel against the City's map before anything else.
What is the 20 percent rule for Edwards Aquifer lots?
It is the threshold that decides whether your site needs a permanent stormwater structure. San Marcos sits on the Edwards Aquifer recharge and contributing zone, and for parcels inside those mapped aquifer zones the state environmental agency must sign off on your site plan before construction begins. Add up everything that sheds water: the house, the driveway, and the patio. Keep that total at 20 percent of the lot or below and no structural stormwater feature is required. Go past that line and state rules require you to build one. We check your lot against that number before a single wall is drawn.
My lot is near the San Marcos River. What extra rules apply?
It depends on whether your parcel sits inside the mapped San Marcos River Protection Zone. Distance from the water alone does not settle it. Where the zone reaches a property, the site has to hold the first inch and a quarter of a storm on your property and let it out slowly, which in practice means a detention feature in the site plan. The rule follows the river corridor rather than the whole city, and it can stack on top of a separate floodplain requirement. We confirm whether the zone touches your parcel before we price the site work.
What happens if my San Marcos lot sits in the floodplain?
You need a Floodplain Development Permit before construction, and new work or a substantial improvement inside the regulated floodplain must sit at least 2 feet above the regulated floodplain elevation. On a remodel, once cumulative improvement cost passes half the home's value, that elevation requirement applies to the whole project. The permit costs $50 plus a $15 technology fee, and the elevation engineering it can require is priced separately, after we read the FEMA map for your lot.
Can Riverbend build new construction in Kissing Tree or La Cima?
No, not as an independent builder. Kissing Tree restricts new homes to exactly two approved builders, reviewed by its own Architecture Control Committee, and La Cima runs a fixed roster of national production builders. Blanco Vista and TRACE work the same way. We confirm a community's builder rules before you commit to a lot inside one. The openings near San Marcos are acreage subdivisions such as Bridlewood Ranches and major remodels inside the city's historic districts.
What does it cost to build or remodel a home in San Marcos?
New construction runs $325 to $800+ per square foot at comparable finish levels, with structural steel and architectural complexity at the top of the range. A whole-home remodel runs $325 to $650+ per square foot of remodeled area, with at least a 20 percent contingency built in from day one. In San Marcos, an aquifer-zone site review, a floodplain elevation requirement, or a historic district's Certificate of Appropriateness can sit outside that per-square-foot number, and we price those after walking your lot.
Have you worked in San Marcos before?
We have completed one whole-home renovation here. A 3,100-square-foot whole-home renovation, taken down to slab and studs and rebuilt over sixteen months for $1.3 million, completed in June 2026, with an architect, an interior designer, and an engineer on the team. You can step through it, before and after photos included.
Talk to Us About Your San Marcos Property
Tell us the address and we will confirm whether the city or the county governs the parcel before we talk about design.
Call us, or fill out the short form, and we will reach back out directly.
Vanessa answers this number, weekdays 9 to 5.