193 local businesses from the plans to the punch list — who clears the lot, who pours the slab, who wires it, and who comes back when the gate sags. Free to look up and free to be listed.
Work through it in order rather than guessing who to call first.
Plumber, roofer, dirt work, someone to look at the septic.
See how findable you are compared with everyone else doing your job locally.
44 businesses
Architects, engineers, surveyors and the people who draw it before anybody digs.
4 businesses
Clearing, dirt work, septic, water and the slab everything else sits on.
15 businesses
Fencing, landscape, irrigation, pools and the work that makes it look finished from the road.
Three worth an evening before you call a single contractor — how a build actually sequences, and what going up out here looks like.
Building is a word-of-mouth trade and always has been. The reason a website matters at all is the person who just moved here, has no neighbour to ask, and types the question into a phone instead. See where everyone stands →
Four things about Bastrop County that catch people who built somewhere else.
The 2011 Complex Fire burned much of the Lost Pines, and the loblolly canopy that makes the county beautiful is also fuel. Defensible space, a Class-A or metal roof, ember-resistant vents, and five feet of noncombustible ground around the foundation aren't paranoia out here — insurers increasingly price for them.
Most of the county runs on an on-site septic facility and a private well. Budget for an OSSF permit through Bastrop County Environmental Health, a percolation test, and a well that can run 200 to 600-plus feet depending where you sit over the aquifer. Test the soil before you fall for the lot.
The soil over the Lost Pines digs easy and shifts with the seasons. Post-tension slabs and real drainage earn their keep here; skimping on pad prep is the callback that shows up a year later.
Inside Bastrop or Smithville you pull city permits; out in the county it's lighter, but floodplain and septic rules still apply. Confirm which jurisdiction your lot sits in before you design — it moves both your timeline and your budget.