Custom homes in Bertram
Ten miles west of Liberty Hill on Highway 29, Bertram is where the acreage gets bigger and the price per acre comes down. It's still Burnet CISD and still a reasonable drive to Leander, and the ranch subdivisions around it are almost all bring-your-own-builder.
Big acreage, light rules, twenty-five minutes from Leander.
Bertram is a town of about 2,000 at the junction of TX 29, FM 243 and FM 1174. It's ten miles east of Burnet, about 22 miles from Cedar Park, and roughly an hour to downtown Austin off peak. TxDOT is widening Highway 29 between Bertram and Liberty Hill, which will shorten the drive further.
Inside the city limits you're on city water and sewer with a city permit. Outside them, which is where the acreage is, you're on a private well in the Trinity aquifer or a community water system, septic, and Pedernales Electric. Burnet County issues a development permit and the septic permit; the county doesn't run building inspections the way a city does.
Burnet CISD serves the area, with Bertram Elementary in town and middle and high school in Burnet.
Building in Bertram
The acreage communities around Bertram are the kind of place our plans were drawn for: two to ten acre lots with light deed restrictions, an entry gate, and a POA that maintains the road. Whitewater Springs, the Ranches at Canyon Creek, Shin Oak Bend and Bertram Creekside Ranches all let you choose your builder. We walk the lot first, settle the well and septic questions, then place the house for the view.
Wells here are the thing to get right. Yields vary by ridge and valley, and on the larger tracts the county no longer reviews road and water standards, so we confirm the well and the road before you close.
Two Bertram communities we don't build in: Bertram Oaks, which is Lennar, and Grande Estates in town, which is production. Whispering Wind is built by a single builder.
Where we build in Bertram.
Communities where you choose your own builder and no production builder has ever built. Each one has its own page.
Whitewater Springs
Wildlife habitat, a private lake, and lots from an acre and a half.
Ranches at Canyon Creek
Five to seventy acres, gated, with the county as the only reviewer.
Plans that fit acreage here.
All of our plans are drawn for half-acre lots and up. These are the three we'd show first on open land.
Romans
3,974 sq ft · 4 bd · 3.5 ba · 2 story
U-shaped around a courtyard pool. The primary suite has its own wing and an outdoor shower.
Fits from 0.5 acreView plan
Mark
4,503 sq ft · 4 bd · 4.5 ba · 1 story
Theater, gym, game room and guest suite on one level, with covered porches along the whole back.
Fits from 0.75 acreView plan
Luke
4,358 sq ft · 4 bd · 3.5 ba · 2 story
Primary suite, study and guest suite downstairs. Summer kitchen and pool bath off the back porches.
Fits from 0.5 acreView planWhat building on acreage here looks like.
The same process we use everywhere, with the land questions answered first.
We walk the parcel first.
Water, septic and soil, power, access, floodplain, easements and the driveway. We settle those before anything is drawn, because they decide the budget.
We handle the county and the ETJ.
Rural land can sit in a city's extraterritorial jurisdiction without being in the city. We sort out which rules apply and run the permits.
One person to call.
A milestone schedule you can follow and a single point of contact for the whole build. See the eight steps.
Questions about Bertram.
Do you build in Bertram?
Yes. Bertram is about 25 minutes from our office, and the acreage communities around it are almost all bring-your-own-builder.
What do I need to check before buying acreage near Bertram?
The well or water supply and its yield, septic feasibility, road maintenance, floodplain, and whether the lot sits in the city's ETJ. We walk all of it with you before you close.
Is there city water on the acreage lots?
Rarely. Most lots use a private well or, in Whitewater Springs, the community water supply corporation. Septic is standard.
Which Bertram communities take an outside builder?
Whitewater Springs, Ranches at Canyon Creek, Shin Oak Bend and Bertram Creekside Ranches, among others. Each page has the details.
Have land in Bertram, or looking for some?
Send us a note with the address or the listing. We'll walk it with you and tell you what it will support before you spend anything on plans.
Bertram
Tell us a little about what you're looking for and Demitri will follow up himself.