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Program 04

Ground-Up Construction in Rockwall

Rockwall ground up construction loans for lot buyers and builders.

USA Mortgage funds ground-up construction across Rockwall County, up to 70% LTV and 85% of cost, with draws built around your build schedule. Builders here permitted 1,587 single-family homes in 2025 and not a single unit in a building of five or more, so the program serves both the production lane in Fate and Royse City and the custom-estate lane in McLendon-Chisholm. Business-purpose only, and every loan is sized to your build in underwriting.

Ground-Up Construction in Rockwall, TX from USA Mortgage
70%
max LTV
85%
of cost
Most states
funding
$5M
max loan

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.

Who it's for
Spec home builders
Developers and operators
Lot purchase or teardown
Build-to-rent strategies
Typical terms
Loan amountUp to $5M
LeverageUp to 70% LTV / 85% LTC
Term12 to 24 months
DrawsPer build schedule
RateFrom 10.00%*
UseSpec or build-to-rent
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*Typical terms, subject to underwriting and market conditions.

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Local FAQ

Ground-Up Construction in Rockwall, answered.

How much new-home construction is actually happening in Rockwall County?
1,587 single-family homes permitted in 2025, and zero units in buildings of five or more. That is down from 1,810 in 2024 but up from 1,602 in 2023, and permitting in buildings of five or more units stopped completely after 336 units in 2023. Rockwall (507 units), Royse City (498), Fate (297), Heath (148) and McLendon-Chisholm (137) each carried real volume in 2025, so a ground-up loan here is underwriting a builder's market, not a one-off custom job.

Sources: www2.census.gov

What does the City of Rockwall charge in water and wastewater impact fees before I can build?
Up to $5,229.40 per lot on a standard 5/8-inch meter, and it doubles on a 1-inch meter. The City of Rockwall's schedule sets $1,980.19 for water and $3,249.21 for wastewater on a standard single-family connection, $10,458.80 on a 1-inch meter, and as much as $174,313.33 for multi-family or commercial on a 3-inch ultrasonic meter. That schedule is titled the maximum assessable fee: the percentage the city actually collects against that maximum was not published, so budget to the ceiling and confirm the collected figure with the city before you finalize a construction budget.

Sources: mainstreet.rockwall.com

Why does the cost per house vary so much across Rockwall County?
Because two different businesses are running under one county name. McLendon-Chisholm's 137 permits in 2025 averaged $508,220 of declared construction value per unit against a countywide average of about $313,291, roughly 62% higher, in the city carrying the lowest tax rate in the county. Fate and Royse City, by contrast, averaged around $296,000 per unit on production-scale single-family volume. Underwrite the submarket you are actually building in, not a countywide blend.

Sources: www2.census.gov

Does a MUD or PID change the carry on a Rockwall County construction loan?
Yes, and a PID will not even show up on a tax-rate table. Seven municipal utility districts overlay parts of the county, with 2025 rates per $100 of value running as high as 1.000 for MUD #10 and Poetry Road MUD and down to 0.155 for MUD #1, on top of the base city and school tax stack. Public improvement districts are a separate assessment lien entirely: the City of Fate's own tax estimator warns it does not include PID charges, and no named PID or its assessment amount was found for this file. Check the parcel against the Rockwall Central Appraisal District account before you underwrite carry on a specific lot.

Sources: comptroller.texas.gov, fatetx.gov

Is there still unincorporated land to build on in Rockwall County, or does every lot fall under a city's rules?
Almost none, and that is a structural fact, not a market cycle. Rockwall County is the smallest county in Texas by area, a good part of that area is Lake Ray Hubbard, and very little unincorporated land remains, so nearly every buildable lot sits inside a city's own code. Inside the City of Rockwall specifically, an infill build within 500 feet of an established subdivision of five or more lots that is at least 90% developed and over ten years old triggers a discretionary Specific Use Permit rather than a by-right permit, which is a real timeline variable to build into an infill construction loan.

Sources: tshaonline.org

Do Fate, Royse City, Heath, or McLendon-Chisholm charge their own construction impact fees?
No fee schedule for any of those four cities has been located. The City of Rockwall publishes a water and wastewater impact fee schedule, but no equivalent schedule was found for Fate, Royse City, Heath, or McLendon-Chisholm, and no roadway impact fee was found in any Rockwall County city. That absence is not confirmation those cities charge nothing: confirm directly with the city and the local utility district before you finalize a construction budget on a lot outside Rockwall proper.

More Ground-Up Construction questions, answered on the program page

Resources

Guides for Ground-Up Construction

Fix and Flip · 6 min read
Fix and Flip Loan Requirements: What You Need to Get Funded
Read the guide
Fix and Flip · 5 min read
What Is ARV (After-Repair Value) and How Do You Calculate It?
Read the guide
Construction · 5 min read
How Ground-Up Construction Loans Work
Read the guide
Getting Funded · 4 min read
LTV vs LTC: What's the Difference?
Read the guide
Browse all guides
More in Rockwall

Other programs in Rockwall

Second MortgageKeep your first mortgageFix and FlipUp to 90% / 100% rehabRental / DSCR30-yr fixed, DSCR from 0.75CRE BridgeUp to $10M, 24-36 moTransactional FundingSame-day double-close capitalBank Statement / No-DocNo tax returns requiredConventional InvestmentNon-owner-occupied investmentPortfolio LoansMultiple properties, one loanCRE PermanentLong-term agency & permSBA Financing7(a) & 504 placement

Ground-Up Construction elsewhere in Texas

All Rockwall loan programs
About the local figures on this page

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 2026-09-04.

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