Every invoice and receipt
Subcontractor bills, material receipts, supplier statements, lumber tickets, ready-mix delivery slips. Copies land with you as they are submitted — not summarized at the end of the job.
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Transparent pricing
Cost-plus: you see every dollar your house costs.
No hidden markups on materials. No allowances designed to blow up in month nine. Just the documented cost of your build, plus one builder fee you agreed to before we broke ground.
In plain English
What cost-plus actually means
Cost-plus pricing means the homeowner pays the true documented cost of their build — every subcontractor invoice, every material receipt, every permit fee — plus one agreed builder fee that is disclosed before construction starts.
That is the whole mechanism. There is no second one. No markup quietly added to material orders, no marked-up subcontractor bills, no percentage skimmed off change orders. When the concrete supplier bills us $8,412, you see an $8,412 invoice.
When a builder hands you a single number on one page, it feels like certainty. It is not. It is a bet the builder made about what your house will cost, plus a cushion large enough that they win the bet. You pay for that cushion either way. Cost-plus removes the bet, and 35+ years of building experience is what lets us price a build honestly without one.
Our transparency promise
If a dollar of your money is spent on your house, you are entitled to see the piece of paper that proves it — the same week, without asking twice. That is not a marketing line. It is how the books are run here.
You should know what your house costs while it is being built, not after. That is the whole reason we price this way.
Duane Holloway
Co-Founder, Visten Construction Group, Wichita Falls
Open books
What lands in your inbox during the build
Four things, consistently, from the week we break ground until the week we hand you keys.
A live budget document
Every line shows bid, committed, spent and remaining. You can open it any day of the build and know precisely where your money is and what is left.
Monthly draw packages
A reconciliation to the dollar between what was spent and what is being drawn. Your lender gets what they need, and so do you.
A phone call when a number moves
Concrete jumps, a sub reprices, a slab detail changes — you hear it that week from Duane, with the number and the options. Never a surprise at closing.
How the builder fee works
The builder fee is our compensation for running your project: estimating, scheduling, managing every subcontractor and supplier, quality control, permitting, inspections, warranty, and the hundred small decisions a week that keep a build moving.
It is agreed in writing before we start, and it does not float around based on what your house ends up costing in ways you did not authorize.
This creates the alignment that matters. Under a fixed-price contract, every dollar the builder does not spend on your house is a dollar in their pocket — a structural incentive to substitute cheaper materials and squeeze subs. Under cost-plus, we have no financial reason to cheapen anything, because we do not keep the difference. Our incentive is to build the house well and earn the referral.
What keeps a cost-plus budget from running away
- We bid the trades before contract, so the budget starts from real numbers on your actual plan — not a price per square foot.
- Allowances are set at amounts you can genuinely build with. Lowball allowances are the most common way budgets explode.
- Change orders are written, priced and approved by you before the work happens. No verbal changes.
- You see spending in real time, so a variance is a conversation in week nine instead of a shock in month eleven.
Two ways to buy a house
Fixed-price versus cost-plus, honestly
Some builders run fixed-price honestly. The problem is that you cannot verify it.
Fixed-price bid
- Contingency of 8–15% baked in, which you pay whether or not it is used
- Allowances often set low to make the total look competitive
- Every dollar the builder does not spend is a dollar they keep
- No visibility — you cannot verify what your house actually cost
- One number on one page, which genuinely does feel simpler
Cost-plus with Visten
- You pay documented cost plus one agreed, disclosed builder fee
- Allowances set at amounts you can actually build with
- No incentive to cheapen materials — we do not keep the difference
- Full visibility, in real time, on every dollar
- Requires you to engage: read the budget, make decisions on schedule
The question nobody wants to ask
“Can I actually afford to build with you?”
Most Visten Construction Group custom homes start around $350,000 and range up from there depending on square footage, site work and finish level. A 2,400 square foot ICF home at a solid middle finish level typically lands between $500,000 and $610,000 in the current Wichita Falls market.
Those numbers cover the house. Land, site work, rural utilities like a water well or aerobic septic, design fees and landscaping are budgeted separately — and on a rural build the full site package commonly adds $60,000 to $120,000 before the slab is poured. We would much rather tell you that on day one than in month four.
If your number is below where we start, we will say so plainly and point you toward good options. Nobody at Visten will let you spend money on design for a house you cannot build.
What your budget buys in 2026
- $350k–$450k
- ~1,700–2,100 sq ft, thoughtful finishes, an easy lot
- $450k–$600k
- ~2,100–2,700 sq ft, ICF envelope, real cabinetry, good windows
- $600k–$800k
- ~2,700–3,400 sq ft, full ICF, chef’s kitchen, meaningful site work
- $800k+
- Larger footprint, acreage site package, shop or guest house
Who cost-plus is right for — and who it is not
A good fit if you
- Want to understand your house, not just own it
- Plan to make finish decisions as you go
- Would rather see a real number than a comfortable one
- Are building on rural land with site-work variables
A poorer fit if you
- Want to hand over plans and never see a receipt
- Prefer one number even if it hides a cushion
- Cannot make selections on the schedule a build requires
- Are buying a spec house rather than building custom
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Pricing questions
Money questions, answered straight
How much does an ICF home cost compared to a traditional stick-built home in North Texas?
An ICF home in North Texas or southern Oklahoma typically costs about 3% to 8% more than a comparable stick-built home at the time of construction, which on a 2,500 square foot Wichita Falls build usually works out to roughly $12,000 to $30,000 in additional shell cost. Industry testing and manufacturer data put the ongoing savings at 30% to 50% of heating and cooling energy, alongside potential insurance savings and a wall assembly that will not need to be replaced in your lifetime.
Do ICF homes cost more to build?
Yes, ICF homes cost modestly more to build up front than stick-framed homes, because the wall assembly includes concrete, steel and foam instead of lumber alone. The honest number in the Wichita Falls market is a 3% to 8% premium on total build cost, and Visten Construction Group shows clients exactly where that money goes line by line under its cost-plus model rather than burying it in a lump-sum bid.
What does cost-plus pricing actually mean?
Cost-plus pricing means the homeowner pays the true documented cost of their build — every subcontractor invoice, every material receipt, every permit fee — plus one agreed builder fee that is disclosed before construction starts. At Visten Construction Group, clients across North Texas and southern Oklahoma see every invoice and receipt as it is paid, so the builder has no financial incentive to cheapen materials or pad allowances.
How much does it cost to build a custom home with Visten Construction Group?
Most Visten Construction Group custom homes start around $350,000 and move up from there based on square footage, site work and finish level. Because Visten builds on a cost-plus basis across North Texas and southern Oklahoma, the budget is built from real supplier numbers for your actual plan rather than a marketing price per square foot, and Duane will talk through your budget honestly before you spend anything on design.
Does an ICF home qualify for lower insurance premiums?
Many North Texas and Oklahoma insurers offer reduced premiums for homes with reinforced concrete wall systems, fire-resistant construction and impact-rated openings, all of which an ICF home from Visten Construction Group provides. Discounts vary by carrier, so Visten supplies clients with wall assembly documentation and engineering details they can hand directly to their agent.
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No plans required
Bring us a number. We'll tell you what it builds.
The most useful first conversation is about money, not floor plans. Tell us your budget and where you want to build, and we will tell you honestly what that buys in North Texas or southern Oklahoma today.
We respond within one business day.