A city is a lot of brickslaid by people who cared.We lay ours one courseat a time, on the narrow lotsand steep hills otherbuilders pass on.
Homes delivered
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Years building Austin
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Trades kept in-house
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Keys handed over on the promised day
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On site now · Austin
Three homes going up today.
Every client gets a site log, posted every Friday with photos, the schedule and the money spent so far. Here is this week, as it went out.
Finished homes · 2023–2026
Keys handed over.
Four of the last twelve. Three on city lots most builders called too tight, one on a ridge in the Hill Country.
64'-0"
22'-6"
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How a Coursework home gets built
Five phases. One crew.
00 · Lot & drawings · 10–14 weeks
We walk the lot before we draw a line.
Survey, soils, setbacks and every tree worth keeping. Our architects draw around them, and you sign one fixed price before any dirt moves.
Fixed-price contract
Permit set
3D walkthrough
01 · Foundation · 6 weeks
A slab poured to an eighth of an inch.
Post-tensioned for Austin clay, checked with a laser level at every pour. Plumbing goes in before the concrete, so nothing gets cut out later.
Engineer sign-off
Pre-pour walk with you
02 · Masonry · 10–12 weeks
Our masons. Never a sub.
Every course is laid to a string line by the same four masons who started the job. Limewash goes on by hand, and it gets better with every year of weather.
Mock-up wall approval
Brick from 140 miles away
03 · Frame, roof & envelope · 10 weeks
Dried in before the first storm.
Fir trusses, a standing-seam roof, steel windows set and flashed. Then a blower-door test, because a tight house costs less to run every month you live in it.
Blower-door report
Window water test
04 · Finish & keys · 12–16 weeks
Oak, stone, and a punch list of zero.
Floors, millwork and stone go in by our own carpenters. We walk the house with you room by room and hand over keys only when the list is empty.
Home manual
10-year structural warranty
Materials we stand behind
Four things we never swap.
Cheaper versions of all four exist. We have torn enough of them out of other builders' houses to know what they cost you later.
01
Handmade brick
Fired in a Texas kiln 140 miles away, limewashed on site by hand.
Load-bearing · 100+ yr life
02
Blackened steel
Hot-rolled windows, stairs and lintels welded in our own shop.
Thermally broken · 1/4" plate
03
Reclaimed heart pine
Beams pulled from Texas warehouses built before 1920, milled to size.
Longleaf · 12+ rings per inch
04
Texas limestone
Chopped-face cream stone from Central Texas quarries for walls, steps and pools.
Quarried under 90 miles away
“We don't sub out the brick. Not on the first house, not on the hundred and twelfth.”
Wes Calder · Founder, mason since 1998
Ballpark in a minute
What would yours cost?
Real numbers from our last twenty-four homes. Not a quote, but you will know whether we should talk.
Excludes land, design fees and permits. Based on 2025–26 Coursework builds.
In the contract, not the brochure
Four promises we sign.
01
One fixed price
Signed before we break ground. If we got a number wrong, that is our problem, not yours.
02
A log every Friday
Photos, schedule and every dollar spent, in your inbox by 5 p.m. for the whole build.
03
The same crew
The superintendent who pours your slab is the one who hands you the keys.
04
Ten years on structure
Foundation, masonry, framing and roof, backed by us and a third-party insurer.
From people who live in them
“Our lot was 38 feet wide with a heritage oak in the middle. Two builders said tear it down. Wes drew the house around it.”
Dana & Luis R. · The Holly House, East Austin
“I read the Friday log with my coffee for eleven months. There was never a week I didn't know where the money went.”
Priya K. · The Courtyard House, Hyde Park
“We moved in on the date they gave us a year and a half earlier. To the day. Nobody believes us.”
Tom & Ellen W. · Oak Ridge, Dripping Springs
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The studio
An old brick warehouse on East 5th.
Architects upstairs, the steel and timber shop downstairs, the brick yard out back. Thirty-one people, nine trades, and a rule that whoever draws a detail has to watch it get built.
Come see a mock-up wall, hold the steel, walk a house we're building. Saturday mornings by appointment.
East 5th St · Austin, TX 78702 (512) 555-0187 · Mon–Fri 7:00–17:00
Questions
Before you call us.
Can you look at a lot before we buy it?
Yes, and we'd rather you did. A feasibility walk covers setbacks, soils, trees, utilities and a rough budget. It costs $1,500, credited to your contract if we build.
How can the price be fixed?
We spend ten to fourteen weeks on drawings before we price, and most of the work is done by our own people. Fewer subs means fewer surprises. Changes you ask for are priced in writing before anyone does them.
Can we bring our own architect?
About a third of our clients do. We join early, price as the drawings develop, and our in-house team handles the construction details.
How many homes do you build a year?
Twelve: usually eight on city lots and four in the Hill Country. Our calendar is currently booking ground-breaks for late 2027.
What does the warranty cover?
One year on everything, two years on systems, ten years on structure: foundation, masonry, framing and roof. We come back at month eleven to fix anything that settled.
Start a home
Tell us about the lot.
Wes reads every one of these himself and calls within two business days.
