The Best Custom Home Builders in Dallas

David Goettsche founded Desco and still runs it as president, and the company says it started building custom homes over 45 years ago, with a blog post putting the start of his career in 1977. Two things put it first. The address and telephone number on its contact page, 1 Bella Porta Place and (972) 381-8995, are character for character the same ones the City of Dallas has on file against its permits, which is rarer than it should be. And the Comptroller's franchise tax file returns exactly one Desco entity, Desco Fine Homes, LLC, taxpayer number 32039558682, rather than the numbered stack of single-house companies that several of its competitors use.

The city issued it six single family new construction permits between 2018 and 2020, in 75240, 75214 and 75230, so Far North Dallas, Lakewood and Preston Hollow. Five of the six declared a construction value, running from $416,412 to $729,710 with a median of $589,014. That is the mid range of this page rather than the top, which fits what the company builds. Its own site claims a D Home Best Builder listing every year from 2005 to 2026 and a BBB A plus rating. We could not read D Magazine's roster to confirm the streak, because the site sits behind a bot check that refused us.

Mark Molthan's company trades as Platinum Series Homes and permits as Mark Molthan Construction, Inc. It is the clear top of the market here. Of its six single family new construction permits from 2018 and 2019, four declared a value, and those four run from $482,374 to $5,000,000 with a median of $2,100,000. No other builder on this page has a median anywhere near it. The work landed in 75229, 75209, 75248 and 75230.

The site is blunt about scope, describing custom homes and high end remodels from 5,000 square feet to limitless luxury, and the address and phone it publishes match the city file exactly. One honest limitation. Its recognition page is testimonials and a heading about D Home featuring the company, with no dated award we could pin down, so treat the accolades as unverified and the permit record as the evidence.

A small shop working at a large scale. Tatum Brown took seven single family new construction permits from the City of Dallas between 2018 and 2020, five of which declared a value, from $575,000 to $2,000,000 with a median of exactly $1,000,000. Three of the seven were in 75229, with the rest spread across Lakewood, Bluffview, Preston Hollow and Midway Hollow. It describes itself as a boutique custom home builder doing traditional estates and modern contemporary houses, and the before and after photographs on its about page point at renovation work too.

Two notes before you call. The company has moved since those permits were pulled, from 1528 Slocum Street in the Design District to Suite 1520 at 3838 Oak Lawn Avenue, and the telephone number changed with it, so the city file and the website disagree and the website is the current one. And the about page names nobody as a principal, mentioning Mark Danuser only inside client testimonials, with no founding year and no awards listed. For a builder at this price point that is less disclosure than we would like.

Greg Alford has over 40 years of homebuilding experience and runs the company with Julie Alford, and the site marks a 25 year silver anniversary while also saying only that it has been building for over two decades. Where it separates itself is credentials that are specific enough to look up rather than adjectives. It lists Green Built Texas Builder and Certified Green Professional, both through the National Association of Home Builders, plus a Graduate Master Homebuilder certification. Nobody else on this page names a single one.

The permits bear out the market it works. Seven single family new construction permits from 2018 to 2020, three of which declared a value, from $1,000,000 to $1,800,000 with a median of $1,500,000, and three of the seven in 75225, the Dallas side of the Park Cities. The company names University Park, Highland Park, Old Preston Hollow and Preston Hollow, and separately Frisco. One small discrepancy. The website gives Suite 112 at 17480 Dallas Parkway and the city permit file gives Suite 217 at the same building under the same phone number, so confirm the suite before you drive out.

A family firm in the literal sense. Ellen Grasso has over 32 years in home construction, grew up in Highland Park and still lives in the Park Cities, and her sons Clay and Rob joined her in 2012 to form Ellen Grasso & Sons. Clay had already run his own building company and took a real estate licence in 2017, which is useful if you are still looking for the lot. Rob studied entrepreneurship and real estate at the University of North Texas and works the design side.

Eleven single family new construction permits from 2018 to 2020, which is the busiest genuine custom record here after Classic Urban, and the geography is unusually tight: five in 75229 and three in 75230, both Preston Hollow, plus two in 75225 and one in Casa Linda. Five declared a value, from $668,994 to $1,274,282, median $987,174. Two caveats. The office has moved within the same North Central Expressway complex, from 8150 Suite M2070 in the city file to 8350 Suite M 1010 now, and the about page carries two badges reading service and design 2013 to 2021 and best builders 2011 to 2024 without naming the publication that awarded either, so we are not treating them as verified.

Founded by George Sebastian, whose line "for our Clients, everything must be right, it's that simple" the company still leads with, this is a luxury residential builder running Dallas, Houston and Austin offices off one Highland Park base. Under its own name it took five City of Dallas single family new construction permits in 2018 and 2019. Three declared a value, $952,000, $1,912,500 and $3,557,750, and that last figure is the biggest single declared construction value on this page. The work sat in 75209, 75220 and 75205, so Bluffview, Midway Hollow and the Highland Park edge.

The address and phone match the city file exactly, and the Comptroller returns one clean entity, Sebastian Construction Group, LLC, taxpayer number 32045780163. It sits sixth rather than higher for a simple reason: five permits across three years is a thin Dallas record for a firm this size, and the volume plainly sits elsewhere in Texas. Separately, a different company called Sebastian Properties, LLC on Topeka Avenue appears in the same permit file on small Oak Cliff and south Dallas jobs, and the two are not the same business.

Coats has been trading since 2010 and is the youngest company on this page. Ben Coats owns and runs it, with a finance degree from SMU, and the leadership page is the most complete of any site we read, naming a partner over operations, a partner leading the Austin market, a director of construction and a director of project management. That last detail matters more than it sounds: on a custom build you deal with those people, not the owner.

Eleven single family new construction permits from 2018 to 2020, and the geography is the opposite of Grasso's. Five in 75230 and three in 75209, but also one each in Bishop Arts, Lakewood and Lake Highlands, which is a far wider patch than most luxury builders cover. Only three of the eleven declared a value, from $387,500 to $816,656, so the price signal here is weaker than elsewhere on the page. Two honest notes. The site publishes Suite 340 while the city file has Suite 335 in the same building, and the footer still reads 2022, which on a working builder's website is a small sign of a page nobody maintains.

The highest permit count of any true custom builder we checked, and the most specialised. Thirteen single family new construction permits from 2018 to 2020, ten of them in 75229 alone, and ten declared a value in a notably narrow band, $310,000 to $460,530 with a median of $390,000. That is a builder doing the same job repeatedly rather than one house at a time, and the job is modern infill on established streets. Its own description is exactly that, a design build firm focused on infill locations that will handle financing and lot selection as well as the build.

Michael Turner founded it, and his own site describes him as a past president of the Dallas Builders Association and a 35 year veteran of homebuilding, which is the most substantive industry credential claimed on this page. The site also claims a D Magazine Best Builder listing ten years running, multiple Dallas Builders Association ARC awards and three consecutive Custom Builder of the Year titles, none of which we could confirm from the awarding bodies. It is last here on geography rather than quality. The office has moved out of Dallas to Farmers Branch since those permits, and the price band means this is the builder for a teardown and rebuild on a normal lot, not for an estate.