13 active builders. Two are worth serious attention from move-up buyers and relocating professionals. Here’s how Carothers Executive Homes and John Houston Homes compare to each other and to the nationals — on standard inclusions, contract structure, and what the preferred lender arrangement actually costs you.
Most articles about new construction in Bell County sort builders by price and call it a day. That’s not how the decision actually works, and it’s not how I approach it with buyers.
The more useful question is: what are you actually buying at each price point, and what are you agreeing to in the contract? Those two questions produce very different answers depending on whether you’re looking at a national volume builder or a regional semi-custom operation like Carothers or John Houston. The standard inclusions are different. The contract structure is different. And the math on the preferred lender incentive — which every builder in this market uses — deserves more scrutiny than most buyers give it.
This page focuses on the two builders I get the most questions about from move-up buyers and relocating professionals: Carothers Executive Homes and John Houston Homes. Both are actively building in Bell County, both target a buyer profile above the $300K entry point, and both are structurally different from D.R. Horton or KB Home in ways that matter to the purchase decision.
Family-owned since 1979. The Executive Homes division (Temple, Belton, Salado, Troy) builds 100+ homes per year with standard inclusions that cost $25,000+ in upgrades at national builders. Post-tension engineered foundations, full spray foam insulation, 80% masonry exteriors, custom cabinetry, and complete front-and-back-yard irrigation are all included at base price. Separate Killeen entity (Robert Carothers) focuses on VA loans and military buyers.
Full Carothers review →Texas-based regional builder with 40+ communities across DFW, Waco, and Temple. Active at Legacy Ranch in South Temple — a master-planned community with mixed-use commercial space alongside residential. Employee-owned, with a 210-day rate lock through their preferred lender. Floor plan variety and Belton ISD access are the primary draws for BSW medical professionals and move-up buyers.
Full John Houston review →For context: the other 11 active builders in Bell County are a mix of national volume builders (D.R. Horton, KB Home, Centex), regional mid-market builders (Stylecraft, Ashford, Kiella), and smaller local operations. They serve a legitimate market — first-time buyers, military families on BAH budgets, and buyers who need the lowest possible monthly payment and can get it through builder-subsidized rate buydowns at 0.99% in Year 1 through DHI Mortgage.
If that’s your situation, those builders make sense and I can help you navigate them. But for move-up buyers, BSW professionals, and relocating families in the $350K–$800K range, the national volume builder model produces a structurally different product — and the incentive structure is designed around their captive lender, not your best outcome.
The fundamental difference: National builders standardize to reduce cost. Regional builders like Carothers standardize at a higher level and absorb the cost into margin. At Carothers, spray foam insulation and post-tension foundations are standard because they’ve been building in Central Texas clay soil for 47 years and they know what fails. At a national builder, those are upgrade line items — if they’re available at all.
Inclusions based on builder specification sheets, model home walkthroughs, and buyer contract review in Bell County, 2025–2026. Verify current standards directly with each builder before purchasing.
Every builder in Bell County — all 13 of them — uses a proprietary contract, not the standard TREC One to Four Family Residential Contract. That’s not inherently bad, but it matters a great deal because the standard TREC contract has buyer protections built in over decades of Texas real estate law. Builder contracts are written by builders’ attorneys. The protections you’re used to from a resale transaction may not exist.
The specific clauses that catch buyers off guard most often:
An independent buyer’s agent costs you nothing on new construction. Every builder in Bell County pays the buyer’s agent commission out of their margin — it is not added to your purchase price. The builder’s sales representative is employed by the builder. Their job is to protect the builder’s interests. Having an independent agent review the contract, document verbal promises, and negotiate credits beyond the published incentive package is the single most valuable thing you can do before signing a builder contract.
Every builder in Bell County ties their best incentives to their preferred lender. This is the part of the new construction conversation that most buyers either don’t understand fully or don’t think through carefully enough. Here’s the actual structure:
A builder like Carothers offers a 2/1 rate buydown — your rate is subsidized 2% below market in Year 1 and 1% below market in Year 2, then adjusts to the full market rate in Year 3 and beyond. On a $450,000 purchase in the current rate environment, that buydown saves you approximately $500–$700 per month in Years 1 and 2 — real money. The catch: if you use your own lender instead of Carothers’ preferred lender, you forfeit all closing cost credits and the buydown subsidy. For most buyers in 2026, that forfeiture costs $10,000–$20,000 in real value.
The question isn’t whether the preferred lender incentive is a good deal — in most cases it is, particularly in the current rate environment where the subsidized Year 1–2 payments can be significant. The question is whether the preferred lender’s full loan terms (rate after buydown expires, origination fees, servicing quality) are competitive with what you’d get independently. They often are. Sometimes they’re not. You won’t know unless someone runs both options side by side before you sign.
That’s the kind of analysis I run for every new construction buyer I work with. The math is usually not complicated — but you have to actually do it rather than assume the builder’s preferred lender is either always the best option or always a trap.
Move-up buyers in the $400K–$700K range prioritizing structural quality and long-term ownership. BSW medical professionals relocating to Belton or Temple who want to buy once and not deal with a 10-year-old house. Buyers in Belton ISD communities (Three Creeks, Bella Terra) who want new construction without HOA-heavy national builder communities.
Buyers specifically targeting South Temple and the Legacy Ranch master-planned community. Move-up families who want walkable mixed-use amenity access alongside residential. Buyers who want a regional builder with DFW quality standards and a longer rate lock period during construction — the 210-day rate lock is a meaningful advantage on a 6-month build in a volatile rate environment.
First-time buyers who need the lowest possible monthly payment in Year 1–2 and can get it through aggressive rate buydowns like 0.99% Year 1 via DHI Mortgage. Military buyers using VA loans who need a builder experienced with VA appraisals. Buyers who are timeline-constrained and need move-in-ready inventory in 30–45 days.
For buyers with acreage lots or specific architectural requirements, build-on-your-lot custom builders operate throughout Bell County. Keith Carothers Homes (a separate Kempner-based entity) handles rural semi-custom builds. This adds 6–12 months to the timeline and requires more active buyer involvement, but produces a structurally different product than any production builder.
The three-entity structure, standard inclusions vs. nationals, preferred lender math, and what a buyer’s agent does differently in a Carothers contract. Updated March 2026.
Legacy Ranch specifics, floor plan range, the 210-day rate lock, and what the DFW-to-Temple expansion means for build quality consistency.
Not legally — but practically, yes. Every builder in Bell County pays the buyer’s agent commission from their own margin. It does not add to your purchase price. The builder’s on-site sales representative works for the builder. Their job is to execute the builder’s contract on the builder’s terms. An independent agent who has reviewed builder contracts before knows which terms are negotiable, which verbal promises need to be documented in writing, and how to structure the inspection so issues are caught before drywall goes up. You’re signing a 40–80 page proprietary contract. Having someone on your side of the table costs you nothing.
New construction typically costs 5–15% more per square foot than comparable resale in Bell County. However, the gap narrows considerably when you account for three things: the subsidized rate buydown (which reduces your effective monthly payment by $400–$700/month in Years 1–2), the closing cost credits (which reduce out-of-pocket cash at closing), and the included features (which would be upgrade costs on a national builder or renovation costs on a resale). For buyers who qualify for builder financing and are comparing a new Carothers home to a 10-year-old resale, the all-in monthly cost is often closer than the sticker price suggests. The honest answer is: it depends on the specific comparison, and the math is worth doing before assuming either direction.
A Municipal Utility District (MUD) is a special-purpose governmental entity that finances infrastructure — roads, water, sewer, drainage — via tax-backed bonds. New communities often carry a MUD tax that adds to your property tax rate until the bonds are paid off. In Bell County, MUD #1 adds approximately 0.783% to the effective tax rate. Three Creeks (a major Belton new construction community) carries MUD #1, bringing the total effective rate to approximately 2.279%. South Pointe, Settlers Pass, and most Temple city-limits communities do not have a MUD overlay. On a $450,000 home, 0.783% is $3,524 per year — $294 per month added to your PITI. Verify the MUD status of any specific lot or community before signing. See the full Bell County property tax breakdown →
Move-in-ready inventory (spec homes already built): 30–45 days to close. National builder production home (to-be-built): 4–6 months. Regional builder like Carothers or John Houston: 5–7 months. Semi-custom or build-on-your-lot: 6–9 months. No builder in Bell County contractually guarantees a closing date. If you’re selling a home to fund the purchase, plan for a closing date that is 30–60 days later than the builder’s estimated completion date and have a bridge plan in place. The most common source of new construction stress for buyers who are also selling is a completion delay that pushes the closing past their lease expiration or existing home closing date.
They are separate family-owned entities. Carothers Executive Homes (Jason and Jamie Carothers, 50 S Wheat Rd, Belton) handles Temple, Belton, Salado, Troy, and Lorena — targeting civilian professionals, BSW medical workers, and move-up buyers in Belton ISD communities. Carothers Homes LLC (Robert and BJ Carothers) operates in Killeen and Harker Heights with a focus on VA loan buyers and military families at Fort Hood. A third entity, Keith Carothers Homes (Kempner), handles rural semi-custom build-on-your-lot projects. They share a name and a family but are separately managed with different buyer profiles, price points, and community focuses. Make sure you’re talking to the right entity for your specific situation.
I’ll walk through the builder contract, run the preferred lender math against an independent option, and tell you which inclusions matter for resale and which don’t. That conversation costs you nothing — and it happens before you’re committed to anything.