Build a custom home in Raleigh, NC
In-fill lot inside the city, teardown on a street you love, or acreage on the edge of town — we build custom homes all over Raleigh, with published pricing, 300+ ready-to-permit floor plans, and a builder who picks up the phone.
The big city that still builds one home at a time.
Hornet Homes is headquartered twenty minutes away in Apex, and Raleigh work is a constant: city in-fill lots, tear-down rebuilds in established neighborhoods, and homes on the wooded edges where the city gives way to county land. Different rules on every one of those — and we’ve built 100+ homes across the Triangle learning exactly where the lines are.
Published pricing. Actually published.
Most builders make you book a meeting to hear a number. Ours are on the site: across the 23 plans we’ve priced so far, homes run from $283,000 to just over $1,000,000 — and every plan’s real price is published on its page.
And the price means more than usual, because site work is in it: survey, soil testing, septic design and a conventional install, a well to 300 feet, utility connections, clearing and grading. Land and finish upgrades are separate, and the lot walk confirms the amount — but you’re starting from a real number, not a teaser base price.
Smaller homes cost more per square foot than bigger ones — which is why we publish whole-plan prices instead of a per-foot rate. The full breakdown — what’s in the number, what isn’t, and every published price — is in our cost guide →
Three anchors from the price list
The honest read on Raleigh land
Raleigh land comes in three flavors — in-fill, teardown, and edge acreage — and each one gets screened differently.
What the map actually looks like
Inside the city, custom builds mostly happen on in-fill lots and teardowns — and that’s the exception to the Triangle’s well-and-septic rule, because public water and sewer are often already at the street. The catch shifts instead to lot width and setbacks: older Raleigh streets carry narrow lots, and lot width decides which of our floor plans will actually fit.
Head out to the edges — north and east toward Wake Forest, Knightdale and Zebulon — and the acreage opens up, perc generally gets easier, but floodplain and flood-prone soils start eating into the buildable area. We pull the FEMA map and walk the low corners before you fall in love with it. Our buildable-lot guide covers the whole picture →
What we check before you offer
Send us any listing — or the teardown you’re eyeing — and we’ll screen it the way we screen lots for ourselves, then walk it with you:
- Utilities — city water/sewer at the street, or well and septic
- Lot width and setbacks against the floor plans you actually want
- Topography on county GIS — slopes, low spots, floodplain
- Perc paperwork quality on county-land lots — a soil engineer’s letter beats a map with drill marks
- The aerial vs. the listing photos — a freshly cleared lot has a story
Listings displayed via Triangle MLS (Doorify MLS) IDX feed. Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Listings provided courtesy of Hornet Realty, LLC — Jonathan Andrews, Broker on Record.
From Raleigh lot to keys in hand
Nine to twelve months start to finish is typical — and you’ll always know which step you’re on.
Walk the land
Bring us your lot — or a listing you’re eyeing — and we’ll walk it together: soil, septic, topography, driveway, and which of our plans fit the lot. You leave knowing what the home would cost on it.
Lock the number
A single all-in fixed price built from real trade bids — never cost-plus — with every selection priced line by line before we break ground. We handle permitting with the City of Raleigh or Wake County.
Build it right
About six months of construction with milestone walkthroughs, then a one-year nail-pop and touch-up visit and a 10-year structural warranty. Our office is twenty minutes away in Apex — we're around.
Asked constantly, answered straight
How much does it cost to build a custom home in Raleigh, NC?
Our published pricing runs from $283,000 (the Sycamore, a 1,362 sq ft ranch) to just over $1,000,000 (the White Oak at 5,880 sq ft), with every plan's exact price published on its page. Those prices include a real site-work budget: survey, soil testing, septic design and a conventional install, a well to 300 feet, utility connections, clearing and grading. Land and finish upgrades are separate, and we confirm the number after walking your specific lot. See the full cost guide with all 23 published prices →
Can you build on a lot I already own in Raleigh?
Yes — building on your land is most of what we do, including teardown-and-rebuild projects on city lots. Send us the address and we'll walk it with you, talk through buildability (utilities, lot width, setbacks, topography), and tell you straight what your home would cost on it. How building on your lot works →
I don't have land yet. Can you help me find a lot in Raleigh?
Yes. Raleigh in-fill lots move fast, so we run an MLS-powered land search covering eight Triangle counties, with email alerts the day new land hits the market. We'll also screen any listing before you offer and walk it with you — no pressure to commit. Search Triangle land →
Do Raleigh lots have city water and sewer?
In-fill and teardown lots inside the city often do — public utilities may already be at the street, which is the exception to the Triangle's usual well-and-septic custom build. On the wooded edges of town, lots typically run on well and septic, and we verify the perc question early, before you're committed to the lot. What makes a lot buildable →
How long does it take to build a custom home in Raleigh?
Nine to twelve months start to finish is typical, and construction itself runs about six months once permits clear. We handle permitting with the City of Raleigh or Wake County, depending on where your lot sits. The full timeline, stage by stage →
Let’s walk your Raleigh lot.
Fifteen minutes on the phone, then boots on the dirt. We’ll tell you straight whether the lot works and what your home would cost on it — no pressure either way.
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