Ground-Up Construction in San Marcos

Price the change into your underwriting now, because the number just moved and it isn't final. San Marcos has been charging water and wastewater impact fees under a 2018 ordinance, about $6,500 total per new connection. On August 5, 2026, City Council approved on first reading, 6 to 1, a maximum of $14,519 per service unit for water and $11,161 for wastewater, a combined $25,680 per new connection, with no phase-in adopted at that reading. The city faces a statutory deadline of September 1, 2026 to finalize the ordinance. The final adopted amount and any vesting or phase-in date were not available when this was written, so confirm the current fee and your plat's vesting status with the city before you set the construction budget line.

If the lot sits over the Edwards Aquifer recharge, transition or contributing zone, yes, and it has to clear before the ground is disturbed. Hays County sits over the Edwards Aquifer, and TCEQ requires an Edwards Aquifer Protection Plan, in most cases a Water Pollution Abatement Plan, approved before construction, land clearing or tank installation starts. TCEQ's own timeline runs up to 30 days for administrative review plus 90 days for technical review once an application is complete, so a heavy-site-work deal can carry four months of state review before the city's own permitting clock even starts. Confirm your parcel's zone on TCEQ's maps and budget the carry.

Longer than the building permit alone suggests, and the city has not published a number to hold it to. No plan review turnaround time or expedited review path for San Marcos was found, so do not build your draw schedule around a specific day count. What is documented is the cost of getting it wrong: work started without a permit is billed at double the normal fee, a reinspection runs $263, and each resubmittal after the second costs $315. Build slack into your schedule rather than assuming a fast review.

The building permit itself is a small line item next to the site fees around it. San Marcos charges $0.63 per square foot for a single-family residential building permit, about $1,260 plus a $15 technology fee on a 2,000 square foot house. The bigger money is in the site work: a parking fee-in-lieu of $7,875 per space, a parkland development fee of $444 per unit, a sidewalk fee-in-lieu of $20 per square foot, and protected-tree fees of $184 per caliper inch. None of those are the impact fee. They stack on top of it.

Zero units in structures of five or more apartments were permitted in San Marcos in 2025, with all 12 months reported, the same year Texas State posted a record fall enrollment of 44,596 students. Single-family permitting stayed active at 718 units over the same year. Not all of that enrollment growth lands inside San Marcos itself, since the university's fastest growth was at its Round Rock campus and online, so don't underwrite it one for one. Still, a city with no new apartment supply and steady single-family activity is a case for weighing a build-to-rent exit with our DSCR rental loan alongside a straight resale.

We fund new construction up to 70% of value and up to 85% of total cost (land plus build), in most states, on loans up to $5M. Experienced builders reach the higher end of leverage. We finance both the lot and the vertical construction within those caps.

Yes. Lot acquisition is funded as part of your loan-to-cost. If you already own the lot, that equity can serve as your down payment, which often lets us fund most or all of the build cost.

Construction funds are released in draws as milestones are completed and verified, not handed over at closing. You submit your budget and scope of work up front, complete a phase, request a draw, and we release that portion after inspection. You pay interest on funds as they are drawn.

Our construction pricing starts around 10%, interest-only, on terms of 12 to 24 months. Market ground-up rates generally run 9% to 12% with 1 to 3 points. Your pricing and leverage depend on your build experience and the strength of the project.

We consider builders at all levels, though a track record helps your leverage and rate. A first-time builder should expect to bring a strong general contractor, a detailed budget, and typically a larger equity contribution. A well-documented project goes a long way.

The lot cost or current value, your construction budget and scope of work, the projected after-built value, and your build experience. With those we can size the loan against both cost and completed value and send you terms.