Custom Homes and Major Remodeling in Wimberley, Texas
Owner-run custom builds and whole-home remodels in Woodcreek, along the Blanco River, and across the Wimberley Valley. Prices published.
Riverbend Hill Country Homes builds custom homes and whole-home remodels in Wimberley, Texas, including Woodcreek, the river neighborhoods, the areas just outside the city limits, and Hays County acreage. The company is run by owners Vanessa Harris and her husband Dan from nearby Dripping Springs, twenty minutes up Ranch Road 12.
Building Near the Blanco River Should Not Feel Like a Gamble
People fall for Wimberley in a single afternoon. Then the homework starts: flood maps, four different permit offices, septic capacity, water politics, dark sky rules. Plenty of good projects die right there, not because the land was wrong, but because nobody could tell the owner what it all meant.
Expect something different from us. On the first visit we check jurisdiction, flood exposure, water source, and septic capacity, and you hear the results in plain English with numbers attached. Our cost ranges are printed on this page. The two owners who walk your property are the same two people who will run your job site.
And if the smartest move for your property is not the project you had in mind, you will hear that on the first walk too. It costs you nothing to find out.
Proof, Not Promises
Any builder can talk about craft. We would rather show you finished rooms. These details come from our whole-home rebuild in San Marcos, thirty minutes from Wimberley, photographed as the project wrapped.
Walk through the whole San Marcos rebuild, before photos included →
What the River Valley Asks of a Builder
In Wimberley the paperwork is harder than the framing. Flood elevations, four permitting authorities, septic math, water that depends on which side of a line your lot sits.
We carry all of it. Here is exactly what that means on your project.
We read the flood maps before we price anything
In 2015 the Blanco River went from calm to major flood stage in under an hour, and many of the houses it damaged sat outside the mapped floodplain. So we do not trust the flood-zone box on an old survey. We pull the current, preliminary, and advisory data for your parcel, and when we build in the flood-hazard area, we set the finished floor at least two feet above base flood elevation, certified by an engineer.
Four permit offices, one point of contact
Depending on where your lot sits, approvals run through the City of Wimberley, the City of Woodcreek, the review zone just outside the city limits (the ETJ), or Hays County, and each office has its own quirks, like the city’s site-plan review on slopes over fifteen percent. We identify the authority on the first visit and run the entire path ourselves. Your job is to pick finishes, not to learn municipal boundaries.
Water and septic, answered before design
A Wimberley mailing address tells you nothing about your water. It could be Wimberley Water Supply, Aqua Texas, a subdivision system, or a private well drilled into the Trinity Aquifer. Septic is the same story: the permit ties system capacity to bedrooms, so an addition can quietly require a septic upgrade. We settle both questions up front and put the real costs in the budget you approve.
Remodel or rebuild, answered with math
Older river houses come with a threshold: once renovation costs reach half the building’s value in the flood-hazard area, the whole structure must meet current elevation standards. That single rule decides many projects. We run both numbers side by side on the first visit, and when rebuilding beats remodeling, we say so before you have spent a design dollar.
Stars you can still see from the porch
The Wimberley Valley earned its International Dark Sky designation in 2018, and Wimberley and Woodcreek each enforce their own lighting rules: shielding above 1,500 lumens, warm color temperatures, a lighting plan reviewed at permit. We design to those rules in the first drawing, so your exterior lighting passes review and the night sky stays the reason you moved here.
Where We Build in Wimberley
Name the neighborhood and we can usually tell you the same day what it means for your project: which office permits it, what the architectural committee will want, and where the site costs hide.
- WoodcreekIts own city with its own permits; we handle both tracks
- River Mountain RanchAcreage above the Blanco River, architectural approval required
- SaddleridgeMulti-acre homesites south of town
- Mountain CrestGated custom homes on a private water system
- Skyline Ranch EstatesEstablished acreage with committee plan review
- Paradise HillsIn-town remodels and rebuilds across the river
- South RiverGated riverfront streets with a required owners’ association
Nearly every Wimberley community reviews plans through an architectural committee, and a few carry rules that surprise buyers, like Paradise Hills prohibiting private wells. We design to your community’s guidelines from the first drawing and carry the submittal for you.
Real Prices, Published Before You Call
Most builders make you sit through a meeting to hear a number. We would rather you arrive already knowing whether we fit your budget.
Ground-up
New Custom Home
$350-$650 / sq ft
- Contract to completion in 14 to 20 months
- Flood exposure, water source, and septic scoped on the first visit
- The same two owners from property walk to final walkthrough
The work we do most
Whole-Home Remodel
$400-$800 / sq ft of remodeled area
- Most projects run 12 to 24 months
- A written 20 percent contingency from day one
- The remodel-or-rebuild math run honestly before design starts
Ultra-luxury and complex structural work$800+ / sq ft
Kitchen or primary suite remodels$500-$1,200 / sq ft
In the Wimberley Valley, the site writes the other half of the budget: elevation requirements near the river, well depth into the Trinity Aquifer, septic design, slope, and access. The full pricing and timeline detail lives on our homepage, and the figure for your land comes from standing on it with us. For how each service works end to end, see custom home building and luxury home remodeling.
Both Owners, On Your Site
Vanessa and Dan live twenty minutes up Ranch Road 12 in Dripping Springs, close enough that the owners are on a Wimberley job site constantly, not once a month in passing. She runs the client side and the finishes. He runs the field. Nothing about your project is delegated to someone whose name is not on the company.
Before building homes, Vanessa delivered resort spa projects for hotel brands, the kind of work where a single rough tile edge gets written up. That standard came with her.
Deliberately small, deliberately local, and structured so the people you hired are the people who show up.
Wimberley Questions
Who issues building permits in Wimberley?
Four different offices can hold the answer. The City of Wimberley permits work inside its limits, Woodcreek is its own city with its own permits, and approvals for land just outside the city limits, in the ETJ or unincorporated Hays County, run through the county, which also handles septic everywhere. We confirm which path your parcel takes before design starts and then run the whole thing.
Can you build or remodel in the Blanco River floodplain?
Usually yes, with real rules attached. In the mapped flood-hazard area, new homes must have the lowest floor and mechanical equipment at least two feet above base flood elevation, with engineering certification. A remodel whose cost reaches half the building’s value gets treated like new construction under the same rules. We check current, preliminary, and advisory flood data before pricing anything near the river.
Will my Wimberley property use sewer or septic?
Part of central Wimberley sits on the city’s wastewater system, but most of the valley runs on individual septic systems permitted through Hays County. The permit ties capacity to the house, so adding bedrooms or square footage can trigger a septic review or an upgrade. We verify what your system supports before we draw the addition.
Does Wimberley have city water, or will I need a well?
A Wimberley address does not settle it. Depending on the parcel, water comes from Wimberley Water Supply, Aqua Texas, a subdivision system, or a private well into the Trinity Aquifer. Service areas have hard boundaries, and permits want an availability letter. On the first visit we confirm your water source and what securing it will cost.
What dark sky lighting rules apply in Wimberley?
The Wimberley Valley has been an International Dark Sky Community since 2018, and both Wimberley and Woodcreek enforce their own lighting ordinances. Inside Wimberley, fixtures over 1,500 lumens need shielding and lamps are capped at a warm 3000K, with the lighting plan reviewed at permit. We spec compliant fixtures in the first drawing, so it never costs you a redesign.
What does it cost to build a custom home in Wimberley?
Our published range is $350 to $650 per square foot for a new custom home and $400 to $800 for a whole-home remodel. In the Wimberley Valley, the site moves the number: elevation work near the river, well depth into the Trinity Aquifer, septic design, and slope. A property walk turns the range into a real figure.
Should I remodel or rebuild an older river house?
Run the fifty percent math first. When renovation costs reach half the structure’s value in the flood-hazard area, the whole house must be brought up to current elevation standards, and that can flip the economics toward rebuilding. We put both numbers side by side on the first visit and tell you plainly which one your house favors.
Get in Touch With Us
Tell us about your Wimberley property and we will take it from there.
Call us or send the form to get started.
Vanessa answers this number, weekdays 9 to 5.