El Paso builders break ground with ground up construction loans.
Built for spec home builders and developers. We fund the land and the vertical build up to 70% LTV and 85% of cost, with draws that keep pace with the job. In El Paso, which water district a lot sits in can move the tax stack by nearly a point. Business-purpose only, and every structure is set in underwriting.
Typical figures, subject to underwriting and market conditions. Not a commitment to lend.
How it works
We finance both the land and the vertical construction, with a draw schedule built around your timeline. Experienced builders can access higher leverage on cost.
What does an El Paso building permit actually cost on a spec house?
About $1,640 on a 2,000 square foot house, plus a technology fee. The City of El Paso's FY2026 Schedule C prices new single-family, duplex, triplex, and quadraplex construction on a sliding per-square-foot scale: $0.87 per square foot from 401 to 1,299 square feet, $0.82 per square foot from 1,300 to 2,399, $0.81 from 2,400 to 3,399, $0.72 from 3,400 to 4,399, and $0.61 at 4,400 square feet and above. The total splits master permit 66%, electrical 20%, plumbing 7%, and mechanical 7%, each carrying its own technology fee. Working without a permit triples the fee.
Is there a faster path if I need the permit reviewed quickly?
Yes, and the city posts the price for it. An expedited residential submittal costs $200 plus the technology fee. Expedited plan review on a permit valued under $300,000 runs $256 plus $94 an hour of review time; at $300,000 or more it runs $645 plus $156 an hour. A plan re-submission costs $212, and inspections run $110 during business hours or $127 after hours or on-demand. No published business-day turnaround commitment exists for a standard review, so build your draw schedule around the expedited track's posted price rather than an assumed calendar.
Why does the lot matter so much to the tax carry on an El Paso build?
Because a far east side MUD can add close to a full point to the stack. A City of El Paso and Socorro ISD parcel runs about 2.50 per $100 of value before any district overlay. Add a Paseo del Este MUD, which range from 0.62 to 0.80 per $100 across the eleven districts, or the Horizon Regional MUD at 0.66, and the total can land near 3.3 per $100. Newer districts like Hunt Communities, Hunt Properties, Ravenna, and Summer Sky North MUD cost less at 0.225 per $100. Check the parcel's overlay on the county appraisal district account before you underwrite carry on a build-to-hold or build-to-rent exit; the newest, most attractive inventory often carries the heaviest tax.
Does El Paso's water supply constrain new construction here?
Water is a real, documented constraint, but there is no sourced permit gate tied to it. El Paso gets about nine inches of rain a year, and El Paso Water has not received a full allocation of Rio Grande water in about a decade. The utility is investing in supply: the Kay Bailey Hutchison Desalination Plant, the world's largest inland desalination facility, is expanding from 27.5 to 33.5 million gallons a day in 2026, and the Pure Water Center, an advanced purification facility, is under construction and planned to open in 2029. No ordinance or rule conditioning a plat or building permit on proof of water supply has been sourced, and no El Paso Water connection or capital recovery fee schedule for new development has been found, so budget a call to El Paso Water on connection costs before you finalize a lot's construction budget.
How should I size the construction term against the El Paso resale market?
You can plan the exit around a tightening market, but confirm your own comp set as you go. As of July 2026 the El Paso MSA carried a median listing price of $310,450, up 3.9% year over year, with active listings down 15.4% and only 10.9% of listings carrying a price cut, a market where inventory is thinning rather than sitting. Median days on market ran 65. El Paso was the only large Texas metro where home values and rents both rose in the year to June 2026, but no metro-level flip rate or gross flip margin has been sourced for El Paso, so lean on the listing-side pace above rather than a flip-margin estimate when you set the term.
On a $400,000 El Paso build, what do I fund on top of the permit line?
Roughly 15% of cost, and the loan is capped at 70% of value on top of that. We go up to 85% of cost, so on a $400,000 all-in El Paso build that is about $340,000 from us and $60,000 from you (400,000 x 85% = 340,000), released in draws against the build schedule. Whichever of the two caps binds first is the one that sets your number. Permit cost sits inside that budget: about $1,640 on a 2,000 square foot house before the technology fee. Subject to underwriting.
What does a first-time El Paso builder have to show on the permit and MUD lines?
A real budget line for both, and you can still get funded, though experience moves the leverage.Experienced builders can access higher leverage, and a first build usually lands lower inside the same up to 70% LTV and 85% of cost range. We run credit, but on an asset-based construction file it carries far less weight than it would at a bank, and there is no minimum score. What we look at hard is the budget and the schedule, which in El Paso means a real line for the permit scale and for any utility district sitting on the lot. Subject to underwriting.
El Paso listings sell in a median 65 days. Is a 12 to 24 month term enough?
Usually, and the listing data is on your side. Terms run 12 to 24 months with draws per the build schedule, spec or build-to-rent. Listings in the metro sat a median 65 days on market as of July 2026, with active listings down 15.4% and only 10.9% of listings carrying a price cut, so the sale at the end is not usually the part of the schedule that slips. Permitting is the softer number, since the city publishes no plan review turnaround in business days. Size the term to the permit and draw calendar rather than to the resale pace. Subject to underwriting.
Local rules move. Every tax rate, fee, ordinance and market figure here comes from a primary source and carries the date we read it, and we correct them as the rules change. Where a number is mid-change or we could not verify it, we say so rather than guess. Before you commit a budget, confirm anything that drives it with the city or county, and talk to your attorney or CPA on questions of law or tax.
Published by USA Mortgage Funding, LLC, NMLS #152588. Researched from primary sources by our team, drafted with AI assistance, and every figure checked against its source before publishing. Where an answer rests on a public record, that record is linked under it. Figures read on 2026-08-13.
Funding El Paso deals fast.
Get real terms, usually same day. No obligation, no hard credit pull to start.
