The Hornet Standard.
Built with intention. Finished with quality. The complete specification for every Hornet home in the Triangle — the floor, not the ceiling.
Everything below is included in the base build price — not an upsell sheet.
Every Hornet home is built to the same standard package: the materials, finishes, and craftspeople we’d use on our own families’ homes. Production builders run a base-plus-upgrades ladder; we publish the floor.
Site costs are included in the construction scope, but every lot is different — final sitework inclusions are confirmed with a site-specific review. Everything else below is what comes standard on every plan, in every county we build.
Structural Construction
The structural spec is what holds the home together for the next thirty years. It’s also where production builders quietly cut corners that you don’t see until something goes wrong.
- 10-year structural home warranty
- Crawl space foundation with rebar-reinforced footings
- Bora-Care termite treatment
- Pressure-treated sill plate
- Engineered I-joists supporting the first floor
- Open-web floor trusses above the first floor (where there’s living space above)
- 3/4" tongue-and-groove OSB subfloor system
- 2×4 exterior walls, 16" on center (per plan)
- 9′ minimum ceiling height on all floors
- OSB exterior sheathing
- Weather-resistant house wrap with sealed window and door openings
- Engineered roof system (per plan)
- OSB roof sheathing with clips
A lot of production homes give you 9′ on the main floor and drop to 8′ upstairs. We hold 9′ on every floor of every plan — and where a plan has a tray ceiling, we frame the tray up to 10′ to add a foot of height, instead of dropping it down and shortening the room the way most builders do.
We engineer the floor system instead of stick-framing it — I-joists carry the first floor, and open-web trusses span the floors above. Both are stiffer and more stable than basic dimensional lumber, so you feel less bounce and fewer squeaks underfoot over twenty years. The open-web trusses also leave clean channels for HVAC and plumbing runs.
A 10-year structural warrantyis included at base, not sold as an upgrade. It’s our skin-in-the-game commitment to the framing we just described.
Interior Finishes
What you see and touch every day. The finish spec is where the contrast with a typical production build reads most clearly — cabinets, trim, tile, and paint.
- Smooth-finish walls and ceilings
- Sherwin Williams paint throughout
- Three-tone color scheme (walls / ceiling / trim)
- Whole-home Mohawk Pure Tech LVP flooring
- Quartz countertops in kitchen and all bathrooms (4" backsplash included)
- Aristokraft full-overlay cabinetry with soft-close doors throughout
- 42" upper kitchen cabinets including crown molding
- 1×6 baseboards throughout
- 1×4 primed door casing throughout
- Schlage door hardware
- Primary bedroom tray ceiling, framed up to 10′ (per plan)
- Custom built-in painted shelving in primary closet and pantry
- Vinyl-coated wire shelving in other closets
- Bathroom hardware in selectable finish (satin nickel or black)
- Full tile shower and tub surrounds in all full bathrooms
- Tile shower pan in primary bathroom
- Polished-edge frameless mirrors
- Gerber Maxwell elongated toilets
- Fully drywalled and painted garage walls
Most production base specs use partial-overlay cabinets with hollow doors and no soft-close. Full-overlay reads as a single clean line across the face frame; soft-close keeps the doors quiet and the hinges from beating themselves apart over time.
Smooth-finish walls instead of the textured “orange peel” finish you see in most production homes. A small detail that changes how a finished home reads — cleaner light, easier to repaint, more editorial feel.
Production base typically means fiberglass tub surrounds. Full tile in every full bath— with a tile shower pan in the primary — is a meaningfully nicer finish that doesn’t yellow or crack over time.
Energy Efficiency & Comfort
Above-code insulation, name-brand HVAC, and window and door specs designed to hold conditioned air. You feel this in the energy bill and on the coldest morning of January.
- Energy-efficient PlyGem windows with limited lifetime warranty
- All operable windows include screens
- Insulated fiberglass entry doors
- R-15 exterior wall insulation
- R-38 blown-in attic insulation
- R-19 garage insulation where applicable
- 50-gallon Rheem electric water heater
- High-efficiency Lennox HVAC system
- Ceiling fan in primary bedroom and living area
- Pre-wired fans in all bedrooms
R-15 walls and R-38 atticsit above NC code minimums. You feel this in the energy bill, not in the brochure — and over twenty years that’s real money back.
Name-brand HVAC is a quiet but real differentiator. Lennoxis what we’d put in our own homes — reliable, well-supported, and built to last past the warranty period.
Smart Features
The right amount of smart, not gimmicks. Two pieces that get used every day and improve how the home actually functions.
- Honeywell TH2320 Wi-Fi-enabled thermostat
- LiftMaster Secure View garage opener with live video access
The LiftMaster Secure Viewlets you check the garage and let someone in from your phone. Practical, not gimmicky — we hear about it being the most-used smart feature in the house.
Electrical
Lighting, appliances, safety devices, and the connection points the home actually needs to function.
- 6" LED flush mount lights throughout the house (per plan)
- Light fixtures in satin nickel or black finish
- Pendant lights over kitchen island (per plan)
- Stainless steel Frigidaire electric range, microwave, and dishwasher
- Cooktop venting (real exhaust, not recirculating)
- Electrical smoke detectors with battery back-up
- Carbon monoxide detectors
- Exhaust fans in all bathrooms
- Vanity lighting at bathroom sinks
- Washer and dryer connections
- LED lighting in garage
- Garage door coach lights (per plan)
Real venting to outside — not a recirculating hood that just blows the cooking air around. Important for indoor air quality and getting cooking steam and grease out of the house.
Exterior Features
The envelope that keeps weather out and the curb appeal that holds up over a decade in Carolina humidity.
- Assa Abloy durable steel garage door(s)
- CertainTeed Landmark architectural shingles
- Roof overhangs with ventilated soffits
- Ridge vent for attic ventilation
- Two-panel fiberglass front door with transom window (per plan)
- Covered porch and/or patio (per plan)
- Sliding vinyl patio doors (per plan)
- CertainTeed MainStreet vinyl sidingand/or board & batten (per plan)
- 5" seamless aluminum gutters
CertainTeed Landmark architectural shingles are a real upgrade over standard 3-tab. Better look, longer warranty, and they hold up better in Carolina storms.
Sitework & Lot Preparation
We manage the entire process from raw lot to ready-to-build. Site costs are included in the construction scope — because every lot is different, a site-specific review confirms the final inclusions for your build.
- Survey & plot plan design
- Soil compaction testing & septic design layout
- Well drilling (up to 300 ft)
- Conventional septic installation
- Connection to local utilities (public sewer & water where available)
- Lot clearing and grading
- Landscaping package (straw, seed, shrubs/trees)
Every lot has its own perc, topography, and utility picture. The sitework scope above is the typical inclusions; we confirm the final scope after walking your specific lot. For more on what makes a lot work, see what to actually look for in a buildable lot. For the septic side specifically, see our drain field deep-dive.
How does this compare to a typical production build?
Without naming names. Most production base specs include the items on the left; our standard package starts at what’s on the right. These are the five most dramatic deltas buyers see when they put the two spec sheets side by side.
Read our companion post: What’s the Real Difference Between Builder-Grade and Custom? — where the cost differences actually live, broken out across cabinets, trim, structural, energy, and the freedom to modify a plan around your lot.
Quick answers about the standard
What’s included in the base price of a Hornet home?
Every Hornet home includes the same standard package: a 10-year structural warranty, Aristokraft full-overlay cabinetry with soft-close, quartz countertops in the kitchen and every bathroom, whole-home Mohawk Pure Tech LVP flooring, full tile shower and tub surrounds in every full bath, smooth-finish walls with Sherwin Williams three-tone paint, R-15 wall / R-38 attic insulation, high-efficiency Lennox HVAC, and stainless Frigidaire appliances. The full category-by-category list is on this page.
Is sitework included in the construction scope?
Yes. Sitework — survey, soil testing, septic design and installation, well drilling up to 300 feet, utility connections, lot clearing, and a starter landscaping package — is included in the construction scope. Because every lot is different, a site-specific review is required to confirm the final inclusions for your build.
Do I have to take everything as-spec’d, or can I customize?
The standard spec is the floor, not the ceiling. You can upgrade or modify from there — fully custom cabinetry, engineered hardwood instead of LVP, fiber-cement siding, a screened porch, a custom primary closet — whatever matches how you actually live. Custom builders optimize for fit; production builders optimize for repeatability.
What’s the structural warranty?
Every Hornet home comes with a 10-year structural warranty, included at base. That’s in addition to the manufacturer warranties on individual components — PlyGem windows carry a limited lifetime warranty, for example.
Which counties does Hornet build in?
We build across eight North Carolina counties — Wake, Durham, Chatham, Johnston, Wilson, Nash, Franklin, and Granville — and the towns inside them, including Raleigh, Cary, Apex, Holly Springs, Wake Forest, Fuquay-Varina, Clayton, Wilson, and more.
How does the included spec compare to a production builder?
Most production base specs include partial-overlay cabinets with hollow doors, 3-1/4″ baseboards, fiberglass tub surrounds, textured walls, and 9′ ceilings on the main floor only. Our included spec starts at full-overlay soft-close cabinetry, 1×6 baseboards, full tile in every full bath, smooth-finish walls, and 9′ on every floor. Our companion blog post breaks down the cost differences in detail.
What’s the timeline from contract to keys?
As fast as about 7 months in the best case, more typically 9-12 months end to end. Roughly 5 months of that is the actual construction once permits are in hand; the rest is pre-construction. Our timeline post walks through the full path.
Ready to talk about your build?
If you want to know what’s in your future kitchen, your future bath, or your future garage — just ask. We’re an open book on what goes into our homes.