Who builds America's homes

The country's largest homebuilder. Brand tiers span Express Homes (entry), core D.R. Horton, Emerald Homes (luxury) and Freedom Homes, with captive DHI Mortgage. Competes on scale, price and incentives.

Second-largest US builder. Known for 'Everything's Included' pricing, which bundles upgrades into the base price instead of selling them one by one. Has its own Lennar Mortgage and title companies.

A multi-brand builder: Centex (entry), Pulte (move-up), Del Webb (55+ active-adult), DiVosta, John Wieland and American West. Del Webb is the dominant national active-adult brand.

Builds as Ryan Homes, NVHomes and Heartland Homes. Pioneered the land-light lot-option model the rest of the industry now copies; captive NVR Mortgage.

Move-up and resort-lifestyle builder; brands include Taylor Morrison, Esplanade (55+ resort) and Yardly (build-to-rent). Grew by absorbing Darling Homes and William Lyon.

Takes the opposite approach to 'Everything's Included'. Under its Built-to-Order model, buyers configure the home and pick finishes at the KB Home Studio. Has long emphasized energy efficiency.

Entry-to-move-up builder that certifies every home to ENERGY STAR and makes measured energy performance its main selling point.

Markets itself as 'America's Luxury Home Builder'. Builds move-up and luxury homes with an extensive Design Studio upgrade path, at the high end of the national field.

Premium and move-up homes across high-growth metros; consolidated a set of regional brands under one national name.

Affordable and entry-level homes, plus Century Complete, a lower-cost brand that lets buyers purchase a finished home online.

Midwest-rooted (Columbus, OH) builder spanning entry-level to move-up across the Midwest, Southeast and Texas.

Texas-founded, high-volume entry-level builder with a systematic, sales-driven model that markets move-in-ready homes to renters converting to owners.

Fast-growing, asset-light builder using lot options; strong in the Southeast and Texas.

One of the largest privately held US builders, based in Houston. Known for design, customer service and its 'LifeDesign' approach.

Long-established private Texas builder (Houston, Austin, San Antonio, DFW) offering value-oriented move-up homes on its own plan library.

Dallas-based private Texas builder in DFW, Austin, Houston and San Antonio. Offers a semi-custom feel and a strong design-center experience, and builds in many Central Texas communities.

Private builder emphasizing design personalization, plus the Starlight Homes entry-level brand for first-time buyers.

Among the largest private builders; move-up product plus the Trilogy active-adult resort communities.

Long-running family-owned builder positioned as semi-custom, with more personalization than a production builder. Builds across the Midwest, Southeast and Texas.

North America's largest privately owned homebuilder (Canada-based) with substantial US operations in Sun Belt master-planned communities.

The rebrand of Gehan Homes; value-oriented move-up product across Texas, Colorado, Arizona and the Southeast.

Central Texas builder (Austin, San Antonio, Houston), part of the Clayton/Berkshire family; move-up homes in area master-planned communities.

Austin and DFW builder offering energy-efficient move-up homes in Central Texas communities.

Texas builder across Austin, Houston, San Antonio, DFW and the Rio Grande Valley, spanning entry to move-up.

Austin and San Antonio semi-custom builder positioned on design and quality above the volume-production tier.

Austin, San Antonio and DFW builder with a design-led, personalization-friendly reputation in Central Texas master-planned communities.

Berkshire Hathaway's housing arm and the largest US builder of manufactured and modular homes, the low-cost factory-built alternative to site building.

One of the largest producers of factory-built (manufactured and modular) homes, consolidating the off-site housing sector.

Major manufactured, modular and park-model builder (brands include Palm Harbor, Fleetwood, Cavco); a factory-built alternative to site construction.

Foldable, factory-built room modules (the Casita ADU) marketed as a mass-produced, rapidly delivered alternative to site building.

One of the best-known makers of tiny houses on wheels, and a common reference point for the category.

Texas builder since 1988 operating in Austin, DFW, Houston and San Antonio, including about a dozen Austin-area cities such as Georgetown, Kyle, Leander and Round Rock. Now a Dream Finders Homes company. Sells inside Central Texas master-planned communities such as Santa Rita Ranch.

Texas production builder at the entry-to-move-up tier. Sells inside Central Texas master-planned communities including Sunfield in Buda, Santa Rita Ranch in Liberty Hill and Blanco Vista in San Marcos, along the I-35 south and Williamson County corridors where most of the metro's lower-priced new homes are built.

Sugar Land-based Texas builder of nearly three decades that operates in two markets, Houston and Austin, with dedicated Austin-area communities and inventory homes. Builds design-focused move-up homes in Santa Rita Ranch and Rough Hollow.

Atlanta-based public builder (NYSE: BZH) building entry-level to move-up homes. It has committed to build every home to DOE Zero Energy Ready standards and markets that efficiency heavily, alongside its Choice Plans personalization and Mortgage Choice programs.

Public builder (NASDAQ: LSEA) that brands its product as 'High Performance Homes' with smart-home and energy features standard, operating across California, Arizona, Florida, Texas, Colorado and the Northeast.

Dallas-based diversified homebuilding and land-development company (NYSE: GRBK, chaired by David Einhorn) that owns a family of builder brands including Trophy Signature Homes, CB JENI, Normandy and The Providence Group, and controls land across Texas, Georgia and Florida.

A Green Brick Partners brand building value-oriented, design-forward homes across the Dallas-Fort Worth and Austin metros, positioned at the entry-to-move-up tiers where Central Texas production volume concentrates.

Austin-based builder selling inside Central Texas master-planned communities including Whisper Valley and Santa Rita Ranch. Builds move-up homes with an emphasis on energy efficiency.

Liberty Hill master-planned community northwest of Austin selling through 13+ builders, among them Toll Brothers, Perry, Highland, Pulte, Taylor Morrison, Chesmar, Coventry, Westin, Scott Felder, Sitterle, CastleRock and GFO. Homes range from first-time to estate, and a new Eldorado village has opened. The community markets the lifestyle and the builders sell the homes, which is how most Austin-area new-home demand is organized.

A 2,700-acre master-planned community in southeast Austin, about 12 miles from downtown and planned for 12,000 homes. Sells through Brookfield Residential, David Weekley, Highland, Newmark, Pacesetter, Perry, Taylor Morrison and Tri Pointe. Three on-site rental operators share the community with for-sale homes. It is the largest new-home community inside Austin city limits.

Zero-energy-capable community 15 miles east of downtown on the SH 130 corridor, in Travis County and the City of Austin with a Manor mailing address. Every home connects to the GeoGrid geothermal loop and includes solar PV and a geothermal heat pump. Builders include Pacesetter, GFO, Terrata, Thurman and AHA Dream Homes. It is the metro's best-known green-building community and a common benchmark for Central Texas efficiency claims.

Hillwood Communities' riverside master-planned community in Georgetown, with a large amenity program and a Hill Country setting. Georgetown, Liberty Hill and Leander form the northern corridor where much of Austin's production building has moved.

Buda master-planned community just south of Austin, selling through Taylor Morrison, Pulte, Centex, Chesmar, CastleRock, David Weekley and DRB Homes, with a published inventory-home page. Buda and Kyle along I-35 south are the metro's main entry-level corridor, the southern counterpart to Georgetown and Liberty Hill.

Freehold Communities' Hill Country master-planned community in Dripping Springs, west of Austin. Building is most constrained in this direction. Water-district and LCRA service areas, on-site septic in outlying tracts, tree protection and Hill Country lot costs all shape what can be built and what it costs.

The national industry association. Publishes standards and housing-market data, runs the NGBS green standard, and advocates for builders.

Publishes the model codes that local jurisdictions adopt: the IRC (residential), the IBC and the IECC (energy). The source for what the model code says.

The federal program that defines ENERGY STAR certified new homes, and the source for any ENERGY STAR claim.

The Department of Energy's high-performance new-home certification, one tier above ENERGY STAR.

Administers the HERS Index and certifies the raters who produce HERS scores.

Official data on housing starts, permits and completions, and the standard neutral source for national and regional construction trends.

A long-running how-to publication for builders and remodelers, with detailed technical coverage of build methods.

Trade journal for residential builders and remodelers, with detailed building-science and code coverage written for people who do the work.

The Austin metro's residential construction and remodeling association, operating since 1953 and chartered under both NAHB and the Texas Association of Builders. Runs the annual Parade of Homes, makes local election endorsements, and publishes positions on Austin land-development questions, including the HOME initiative, missing-middle zoning and development fees.

The statewide builders association, headquartered in downtown Austin at 313 E. 12th St. Publishes the Residential Construction Contracts Package used by many Texas builders, runs HOMEPAC and the Sunbelt Builders Show, and is the main source on Texas-specific contract, warranty and regulatory questions.

Austin's permitting and inspections authority, covering residential building permits, trade inspections, plan review, code compliance and the certificate of occupancy. Its review and inspection times affect the schedule of any build inside the city, and they are one reason production building moved to suburban jurisdictions.

Launched in 1991 by the municipal utility as the first building-sustainability rating system in the United States. Rates new and remodeled single-family, multifamily and commercial projects. Participation is mostly voluntary, though some project types require a rating. It sits alongside ENERGY STAR and DOE Zero Energy Ready rather than replacing them.

The multiple listing service operated by the Austin Board of REALTORS, serving 18,000+ Central Texas agents. Publishes the monthly and mid-year Central Texas Housing Report for the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos metro and an affordability index. It is the neutral local source on the resale market that new homes are priced against.

The main market-research firm in home building. It absorbed Metrostudy, which no longer trades under its own name. Offers metro-level new-home research, economist commentary, and advisory and feasibility work, and owns the NewHomeSource marketplace and BUILDER magazine. Its figures are the usual source for Austin starts, closings and lot supply.

The body that adapts and certifies the passive-house standard for North American climates through its PHIUS+ program, defining the most demanding tier of envelope air-tightness and energy performance a new home can target.

Creator and administrator of the LEED green-building rating system, including LEED for Homes. LEED and the NAHB National Green Building Standard are the two main residential green labels.

A widely used project-management and client-portal platform for builders. Many builders use it to schedule work, bill draws and keep buyers updated.

The largest digital-marketing and technology vendor for homebuilders. Runs the NewHomeSource and NewHomesDirectory marketplaces, builder websites, floor-plan tools, lead systems and the industry's listing data feeds, which sit behind most builders' online listings.

Austin-based construction-technology company that 3D-prints home walls with its Vulcan printer and proprietary concrete; it partnered with Lennar to build a roughly 100-home 3D-printed neighborhood at the Wolf Ranch community in Georgetown, the largest of its kind.

A site where homeowners find pros and collect design ideas. It ranks for broad home-building searches that a single builder's site rarely wins.

Sells homeowner leads to contractors. The same lead often goes to several companies.

Matches homeowners to contractors using public permit data.

A marketplace for stock house plans, used by people who want to build on their own lot without a plan-owning builder.

Home-building industry news and market-trend coverage for builders.

Consumer home-improvement and building media with a deep library of how-to content.

A long-running tiny-home resource and community site.

The largest consumer new-home listing marketplace, operated by BDX, where buyers browse builders and communities nationwide. It ranks well for '[city] new homes' searches.

The largest administrator of insurance-backed new-home structural warranties in the United States; when a builder's coverage is 'third-party,' 2-10 is frequently the provider, and its structural coverage typically transfers to a later owner.

The largest maker of fiber-cement siding and trim, the 'Hardie board' often specified on new homes for fire, moisture and pest resistance.