SDB+D

design build + development

The half you never see

Spicewood, 2010 · the same house, below grade

Every photograph of a finished custom home shows the part above the ground. On a Hill Country site, a substantial share of the work — and of the cost, the permitting and the risk — is buried before the first wall goes up. This is one SDB+D project with the ground made transparent.

Custom home built by SDB+D in Spicewood, Texas, 2010, shown above a cutaway of its buried water well, OSSF field, propane tank and electric service GRADE 2 FT ENGINEERED SLAB ON GRADE · 3,500 SQ FT UNDERGROUND ELECTRIC SERVICE 100 FT · 2 FT DEEP 1,000 GAL PROPANE 50 FT FROM HOUSE · BURIED ANAEROBIC OSSF 10 × 50 FT FIELD WELL 700 FT DEEP ONE CHANCE — a well cannot be re-drilled once it is set. 100 FT SEPARATION

A 700-foot well, an anaerobic OSSF field, a 1,000-gallon buried propane tank and the electric service all sit under this lawn. No photograph of the finished house shows any of it.

  • OSSFPermitted with full engineering. Installed by a Texas-licensed installer in current standing, and inspected by county authorities.
  • WATER WELLDrilled and formed by a licensed Texas water well driller. Once a well is set it cannot be re-drilled — the location and depth are a one-time decision.
  • PROPANEUnderground installation by a licensed operator.
  • FOUNDATIONFully engineered slab with inspections at each stage.

Spicewood · 2010 · slab on grade, 3,500 sq ft · SDB+D

Why this is the argument for an integrated firm

A builder who arrives after the lot is finished inherits every one of these decisions and can change none of them. The well is where it is. The OSSF field is sized for the house someone else assumed you would build. The electric service enters where the trench was dug.

SDB+D holds all three phases — development, design and build — under one contract, which means the buried decisions are made by the same firm that will live with them for the next eighteen months. See our land development services and Hill Country pages for the full scope.

SDB+D serves clients who value discretion as highly as craftsmanship. We do not publish client names, addresses, or identifying project details.