New Home Buyers
Hill Country New Homes: What Builders Are Offering in 2026
9 min read
The new home market in the Texas Hill Country looks different in 2026 than it did three years ago. Buyer priorities have shifted, builder product has evolved in response, and the communities forming in the Dripping Springs and Austin Hill Country corridor are coming to market with a different understanding of what families actually want in a home.
This guide covers what the major builders active in the Hill Country are offering right now — floor plan trends, feature packages, finish levels, and the differences between production and semi-custom builders — so you can enter the market as an informed buyer rather than starting from scratch in each model home.
Key Takeaways
- The biggest shift in Hill Country builder product in 2026 is the normalization of dedicated home office space as a primary room — not a flex space, not a loft conversion, but a real office designed into the floor plan from the start.
- Indoor-outdoor living has moved from an upgrade to a standard expectation. Extended covered patios, large sliding or folding glass door systems, and outdoor kitchen rough-ins are now baseline in most mid-tier and above Hill Country new homes.
- The six builders at Double L Ranch — Coventry Homes, Highland Homes, Scott Felder Homes, Perry Homes, Westin Homes, and Drees Custom Homes — span production through semi-custom, giving buyers a meaningful range of floor plan flexibility, finish levels, and price points within a single community.
- Pre-construction is the phase where buyers have the most influence over the product they get. Waiting until a community is well established means selecting from completed inventory rather than designing to your family’s specific needs.
What the Market Looks Like in 2026
The Hill Country new home market in 2026 is defined by a supply picture that is genuinely different from the broader Austin metro. Land constraints, development timelines, and the physical requirements of building on rolling terrain mean that large-scale master planned communities in the Dripping Springs corridor take years to bring to market. When one does — at the scale of Double L Ranch — it represents a meaningful addition to the available inventory of new homes in a district and corridor where inventory has historically been tight.
Buyers entering the market in 2026 are doing so with more negotiating context than buyers had in 2022 and 2023. Incentive packages from builders — rate buydowns, closing cost contributions, upgrade allowances — are more common than they were at the peak of the post-pandemic market. For buyers who understand how to use those incentives strategically, 2026 is a favorable environment to enter a pre-construction community.
The builders active in the Hill Country have also had time to recalibrate their product based on what sold during the last cycle and what buyers asked for but couldn’t get. The floor plan and feature evolution is visible across almost every major builder’s 2025 and 2026 releases.
The Biggest Floor Plan Shifts in 2026
Dedicated Home Office as Primary Room
Three years of hybrid and remote work have moved the home office from a nice-to-have to a room that functions like a bedroom in how families prioritize it. The most significant floor plan change across nearly all mid-tier and above Hill Country builders in 2026 is the dedicated study or home office designed as a real room — with a door, adequate square footage for a proper desk and storage setup, and a location in the home that allows for work calls without background noise from the main living areas.
This is different from the flex space that builders offered for years: a room adjacent to the garage, often used as a study or mudroom or whatever the family needed. The 2026 version is a planned office, often positioned near the primary suite on a single-story plan or near the entry on a two-story plan, designed specifically for productivity rather than versatility.
Indoor-Outdoor Living at Baseline
The Texas Hill Country has always had the climate and the landscape to support meaningful outdoor living. In 2026, the builder product has caught up to that reality. Extended covered patios — 20 feet deep or more rather than the 10-foot minimum that was standard — are common in mid-tier production homes, not just semi-custom builds. Large sliding glass door systems or multi-panel folding doors that fully open the main living area to the patio are offered as options or standards by most builders active in the Hill Country.
Outdoor kitchen rough-ins — gas stub-outs, electrical, plumbing for a sink — are increasingly standard rather than paid upgrades. In a climate where the outdoor living space is genuinely usable 9 months of the year, this represents a meaningful quality-of-life investment that holds value over time.
Primary Suite Design
Across production and semi-custom builders alike, the primary suite has grown in square footage and design intentionality. Features that were upgrade options in 2021 and 2022 are now standard or near-standard in Hill Country new homes at mid-tier price points:
- Separate vanities with dedicated storage on each side
- Walk-in showers with bench seating and frameless enclosures
- Freestanding soaking tubs positioned as architectural features rather than afterthoughts
- Walk-in closets with built-in organization systems, often with a secondary entry point connecting to the laundry room
Energy Efficiency and Smart Home Integration
Energy performance standards in Texas new construction have risen materially over the past five years, driven partly by regulation and partly by buyer demand from families who watched their energy bills in older homes through Texas heat cycles. In 2026, most Hill Country builders offer energy packages that go beyond code minimum: spray foam insulation in exterior walls and attics, higher-efficiency HVAC systems, low-E windows, and whole-home air sealing.
Smart home integration — programmable thermostats, pre-wired for whole-home audio, smart lock and doorbell rough-ins, and structured wiring panels — is standard in most new homes at or above the mid-tier price point. Buyers who plan to install solar should ask builders specifically which roof orientations and structural specifications support a future solar installation, as not all new homes are configured for it despite being described as “solar-ready.”
Production v.s. Semi-Custom: Understanding the Difference
The spectrum from production to semi-custom builder is one of the most practically important distinctions a new home buyer can understand, and it is one that multi-builder communities like Double L Ranch make visible within a single neighborhood.
The spectrum at a glance:
Production builders
Build from a set catalog of floor plans with defined option packages. Buyers choose from existing plans, select from curated finish packages, and work within a structured process designed for repeatability and speed. Lower price points, faster build timelines, and a more predictable process. Less flexibility on structural changes or one-off customizations.
Semi-custom builders
Start from base plans but allow meaningful structural modifications: moving walls, adding or removing rooms, extending covered patios, adding casitas or secondary suites. Higher price points and longer build timelines, but the finished home is shaped around the buyer’s specific needs rather than a standard plan that the family adapts to.
Custom builders
Build entirely from a buyer-provided design. Maximum flexibility, maximum timeline, and a process that requires a higher degree of buyer involvement throughout. Some custom builders offer design-build services that handle architecture and construction under one contract; others require the buyer to engage an architect separately.
In a multi-builder community like Double L Ranch, the ability to compare production and semi-custom options within the same neighborhood is a genuine advantage. A family who wants a well-appointed production home in the low-$400,000s can buy it in the same community where another family is building a semi-custom home with a dedicated casita and a Hill Country view. Same school district, same amenities, same neighborhood — different product.
The Six Builders at Double L Ranch
Double L Ranch brings six builder partners to the community, giving buyers a range of product types and price points within the same master planned development. Here is what each builder brings to the table:
Coventry Homes
A Texas-based production builder known for thoughtful floor plan design and strong value at the mid-tier price point. Coventry’s plans emphasize livability over square footage, with open kitchen-to-family-room layouts, dedicated study options, and flex spaces that adapt as family needs change. Their homes tend to be well-specified at base, with option packages that add meaningful features without requiring a full custom engagement.
Highland Homes
One of Texas’s most well-regarded production builders with a reputation for design quality at competitive price points. Highland offers an extensive plan library and a design center process that gives buyers meaningful choice over finishes and features without requiring a semi-custom engagement. Their elevated attention to architectural detail, facade variety, window sizing, and interior ceiling treatments consistently sets them apart at similar price points.
Scott Felder Homes
A Texas builder with a strong Hill Country presence and a product that leans toward the upper production tier. Scott Felder homes are typically well-finished at base, with features like engineered hardwood, upgraded kitchen packages, and covered outdoor living spaces included as standards rather than options. Their Hill Country plans are designed with the terrain and lifestyle of the corridor specifically in mind.
Perry Homes
One of the largest and most established production builders in Texas, with a plan library that spans a wide range of square footage and price points. Perry Homes is known for predictable quality, a straightforward buying process, and strong warranty support. For families who want a well-built production home from a builder with a long track record in Texas, Perry is one of the most reliable choices in the market.
Westin Homes
A Houston-based builder expanding its Central Texas presence with a product that emphasizes large floor plans, open-concept living areas, and elevated exterior designs at mid-tier price points. Westin’s homes tend to run larger in square footage than their price might suggest, making them a strong option for families who need space: multi-generational living arrangements, multiple home offices, or growing families who expect to stay in a home for 10 or more years.
Drees Custom Homes
The semi-custom offering at Double L Ranch. Drees allows structural modifications to base plans, giving buyers meaningful control over how the home is configured: adding a casita, extending the primary suite, designing the outdoor living space for a specific lot’s topography and view orientation. For buyers who want to build a home around how they live rather than adapting to an existing plan, Drees provides that flexibility within the community. Build timelines run longer than production, and the engagement process requires more buyer involvement, but the result is a home designed for a specific family rather than a market-average buyer.
What Pre-Construction Means for Buyers in 2026
Buying in a pre-construction community is a different process than buying a completed home or even buying in a community that is mid-buildout. It requires comfort with a timeline that runs 12 to 18 months from contract to move-in, confidence in a builder’s track record rather than a completed home you can walk through, and the ability to make finish decisions from samples and renderings rather than from standing in the actual space.
In exchange, buyers in pre-construction get things that buyers later in a buildout do not:
- First selection of lot position. The view lots, the greenbelt-backing homesites, and the creek-adjacent positions are available now. They will not be available in two years.
- Full design center access. Early buyers work through the complete design center process — choosing cabinetry, countertops, flooring, fixtures, and structural options from the full catalog before anything is locked in. Later buyers selecting from inventory choose from what a builder already decided.
- Potential price appreciation through the buildout cycle. In Hill Country master planned communities, home prices historically increase as a community matures, amenities open, and later lots are priced to reflect a more established neighborhood.
Where Double L Ranch Fits
Double L Ranch is where the Hill Country new home market in 2026 is taking shape at meaningful scale. At 1,677 acres in Dripping Springs, with six builder partners spanning production through semi-custom price points, the community gives buyers genuine choice within a single neighborhood: which builder, which floor plan type, which lot position, and which level of customization fits their family and their budget. Full Dripping Springs ISD zoning across the entire footprint, including zoning to Dripping Springs Elementary, which sits adjacent to the community.
Home construction is expected to begin in late 2026, with first move-ins in 2027. Planned community amenities include resort-style pools, public and private hiking trails, community walking trails, Little Barton Creek access, open space, and family gathering spaces — with future commercial and retail offerings planned within the development. Ranch Road 12, which runs directly in front of the community, is scheduled to begin widening construction in summer 2026, with the section in front of Double L Ranch expected to be complete by year end 2026 before the first residents move in. For families planning a 2027 move to the Hill Country, the builder lineup, the school district, and the terrain are all in place. The lot selection is open now.
No affiliation or sponsorship is intended or implied with the companies mentioned/listed, and all trademarks are owned by the respective trademark owners. HOA applies. Photos may depict upgraded landscaping/options and display decorator items/furnishings not available for purchase and may not represent lowest-priced homes. Photos/videos do not depict racial preference.