Est. 2003
Custom home builder in Milton, GA.
Milton kept its one-house-per-acre character when it incorporated, and it enforces it. The homes we build here sit on large wooded lots, most of them on septic, many of them in a design overlay. That is a different project from a subdivision build, and it is the one we like most.
Custom home builder · Milton, GA
New homes on Milton's acre-plus lots.
Freemanville, Hopewell, Birmingham Highway, the estate streets off Bethany Bend and the land around Birmingham Crossroads: this is where Milton's custom homes go up, on lots the city zoned to stay rural. We have built in this part of Fulton since 2003 and we know what the tree ordinance, the septic review and the Crabapple design rules each ask for before a permit is issued.
Lot evaluation through certificate of occupancy on one fixed-price contract, with the city permit and every inspection in our hands, a photograph from the site each working day, and a written one-year warranty.
Know your lot
Three kinds of custom home lot in Milton.
Milton's zoning keeps most of the city at one house per acre or larger. Where the lot sits decides what reviews it and what it can carry.
Septic, trees and a long approach
The default Milton lot. A soil evaluation for the drain field comes before the permit, the tree ordinance shapes where the house can sit, and the driveway is a real line item.
House, barn and pasture together
Off Birmingham Highway and Freemanville the program often includes a barn, fencing and a second drive. We site the whole property at once, because the drain field and the pasture compete for the same flat ground.
Crabapple and Birmingham Crossroads
Smaller lots, sewer in places, and a design review that governs materials, massing and street presence. The elevations are approved before the building permit is reviewed.
What we build
Every part of a Milton custom home.
Lot & Site Work
Design & Floor Plans
Shell, Roof & Exterior
Kitchens & Baths
Outdoor Living
Basements & Bonus Rooms
Included in every build
One contract, no allowances left blank.
- Lot evaluation & site plan
- Architectural plans & engineering
- Permit application & inspections
- Clearing, grading & erosion control
- Foundation, framing & roof
- Plumbing, electrical & HVAC
- Insulation & energy code compliance
- Windows, doors & exterior finishes
- Kitchens, baths & interior finishes
- Selections & 3D renderings
- Daily cleanup & job-site photos
- One-year written warranty
Local conditions
What Milton land does to a house plan.
Most of Milton is outside the sewer service area, so the drain field is the first thing sited on the lot and the house is placed around it. Fulton County Environmental Health approves the soil evaluation and the septic design before the city issues the building permit, and a lot with poor soils can need an engineered system that changes the budget before the plans exist. We look at that before you close on land, not after.
The city's tree conservation rules are the second constraint. Milton protects specimen trees and requires a tree survey and a conservation plan with the permit, which affects the footprint, the driveway alignment and where the septic can go. On a heavily wooded parcel the house design starts from the survey.
The ground itself is rolling piedmont with red clay over rock, which means basements are common and blasting is occasionally a line item. A walkout lower level is usually the best square footage in the house here, and the grading plan that makes it work also keeps runoff off the neighbor's pasture.
How we work here
The sequence for a Milton lot.
Read the zoning and the overlay
AG-1 acreage, an equestrian parcel and a Crabapple overlay lot each come with a different set of approvals. We map them before design starts.
Soil test and tree survey first
The drain field location and the protected trees decide where the house can sit. Both come before the floor plan is final.
Design for every reviewer at once
Environmental Health, tree conservation, design review where it applies, and the building code. One set of drawings that satisfies all of them.
Price it all, then apply
Site work, septic, foundation, every trade and every allowance on one fixed-price proposal. The application goes through the city CityView portal under our license.
Build, inspect, photograph, repeat
Footings, framing, rough-ins, insulation, drywall, finishes and the final walk. Every inspection is booked by us, and every working day ends with a picture from the site.
Permits
Permitting a new home with the City of Milton.
Milton has issued its own residential permits since it incorporated in 2006, through a Community Development Department that also houses Zoning, Land Conservation and Tree Conservation. All building applications are completed through the city CityView web portal. A new single-family home is a full plan review: site plan, tree conservation plan, foundation, framing, energy compliance and the trade permits.
Two reviews sit in front of the building permit here. On any lot without sewer, Fulton County Environmental Health approves the soil evaluation and the septic design first. And in the Crabapple and Birmingham Crossroads overlay districts, the design review of elevations and materials comes before the building plans are examined. On the larger parcels, where disturbance passes an acre, the state erosion permit applies as well. Both reviews, the permit and every inspection are ours to file and follow.
Who issues it
City of Milton Community Development, 2006 Heritage Walk. Permit desk at 678-242-2545. miltonga.gov
CityView portal
All building permit applications, plan review status and inspection requests run through Milton CityView.
Trees and land disturbance
Community Development runs tree and land conservation review. A tree survey and conservation plan go in with a new-home permit on a wooded lot.
Septic before the permit
Fulton County Environmental Health approves the soil evaluation and septic design on any lot outside the sewer area, ahead of the building permit.
Budget
What a custom home costs to build in Milton.
Milton lots are large, wooded and mostly on septic, and each of those three things is a line on the proposal before the house itself is priced. A conventional drain field on good soil and an engineered system on poor soil can be far apart, and a long driveway through protected trees costs more than a straight one across a cleared lot.
Every line is priced on its own, so the site work, the septic system, the foundation and each finish allowance show up as numbers rather than a price per square foot. The calculator gets you a bracket. The proposal, after we have walked the land, gets you the number.
Where the money goes
The septic system, clearing and grading around protected trees, driveway length, and a foundation engineered to rolling ground with rock in it.
Barns and outbuildings
On equestrian parcels the barn, fencing and second drive are their own permits and their own lines. We price them with the house so the site plan works for all of it.
Before you sign anything
Homework before the first proposal.
Building a custom home in Milton
The longer read on what a Milton build involves, written for people still choosing a builder.
Read the article →The pre-construction phase
Soil tests, surveys, design and permits: the months before anyone digs.
Read the guide →Fixed price vs cost-plus
Why we sign the first kind and what the second kind costs you.
Read the guide →How to choose a custom home builder
The questions that separate a builder from a salesman.
Read the guide →Custom home cost calculator
A starting range for your square footage and finish level.
Open the tool →Where we build
Milton & north Fulton.
All remodeling services in Milton · Areas we serve · Custom home building overview
In their words
Reviews from the ground up.
A whopping amount of ZERO stress. You are in truly good hands from start to finish.
Very responsive, patient with our questions, and made suggestions that improved our project.
Exceptional professionalism, expertise, and a genuine commitment to delivering quality service.
Good questions
Building a custom home in Milton, answered.
Is our lot on septic, and what does that change?+
Most of Milton is. It means Fulton County Environmental Health approves a soil evaluation and the septic design before the city will issue a building permit, and the drain field location decides where the house, the driveway and any barn can go. We walk lots with buyers before closing for exactly this reason.
How does the tree ordinance affect a new build?+
A tree survey and a conservation plan go in with the permit, and specimen trees are protected. On a wooded parcel that shapes the footprint and the driveway more than the floor plan does. We design from the survey rather than fitting the survey to a plan drawn somewhere else.
We want to build in Crabapple. Is that different?+
Yes. The Crabapple and Birmingham Crossroads overlay districts have a design review that governs materials, massing and how the house meets the street, and it is approved before the building plans are examined. Lots are smaller and some have sewer. We design for the review and the code together.
Can you build the barn and fencing too?+
Yes. On equestrian land we site the house, the barn, the pasture and the drain field as one plan, because they compete for the same flat ground, and we permit and price the outbuildings as their own lines.
How long does a custom home take in Milton?+
The approvals come first: soil test, tree survey, design review where it applies, then the city permit. Build time after that follows the size of the house and the site work standing in front of it. Your proposal carries a schedule covering all four approvals and every inspection, so the end date has the paperwork built into it.
Milton & nearby
What will your Milton custom home cost?
Tell us about the lot and the home you want to build in Milton and we will come back with a clear budget and a realistic schedule, line by line.
- ✓ Lot evaluation & site plan
- ✓ Design, plans & renderings
- ✓ Permits, septic & inspections
- ✓ Fixed pricing, line by line