Early lesson from our first Houston development: it’s not just the house...

[Christian Hwang]

We’re early in our latest duplex ground-up development push in Houston, and one thing that hit us pretty quickly is that the house itself is only part of the story.

One of the biggest early lessons has been realizing how much civil work can be required just to make a lot buildable under current city standards — especially when detention and drainage come into play.

A big part of that learning came through our first project, which helped us understand that with newer city requirements, this isn’t something you can treat like an afterthought. In a lot of cases, you’re not just budgeting for vertical construction. You also have to account for detention design, drainage considerations, and the civil work needed to get everything compliant.

That was a good reminder for us that even if you’ve been around new construction before, the rules and expectations keep changing. What worked a few years ago may not be enough today.

We’re sharing this because I’m guessing we’re not the only ones who’ve had a deal or a budget change once the site work realities became clearer.

For those of you building in Houston or other cities with tighter drainage/detention requirements — what’s something on the civil side that caught you off guard the first time?