Custom Home FAQ

Yes. We can build your new home on land you already own. In addition to our featured communities around the Wichita area, we’re happy to work with you to design and build your custom home on your own lot.

We provide home-building services on real property across Butler and Sedgwick counties.

When building on your own land, several factors determine whether the lot is suitable for construction:

• Topography and Soil Conditions: The slope and soil type affect the type of foundation we can build, such as slab-on-grade, walk-out, or view-out basements.
• Utilities and Access: Rural lots may need additional arrangements for sewer, water, gas, electric, and road access.
• Site Preparation: Some lots require tree removal, grading, or bringing in or hauling away soil before construction can begin.

These factors will influence both the preparation work and the final design of your home. We’re happy to review your lot to ensure it meets the requirements for your desired home.

Yes. You may choose one of our existing floor plans and work with our in-house architect to modify it to fit your preferences, or even combine ideas from multiple plans.

Yes. We have a full-time architect on staff who can help you bring your own floor plan design into our process, refining it as needed and producing 3D models, HD renderings, or walkthroughs so you can see your vision before it’s built.

We offer a wide range of customization options to help you create a home that fits your style, needs, and budget. Here’s what you can customize:

• Floor plan modifications – You can start from one of our existing plans and alter it (room sizes, layout, features) to suit your preferences.
• Your own plan designs – You may bring your own design, and we’ll work with you and our in-house architect to refine it.
• Selections & finishes – Window styles, paint colors, flooring (tile, vinyl, hardwood, carpet), trim styles, cabinetry, countertops (granite, quartz, etc.).
• Fixtures & hardware – Plumbing fixtures, lighting, faucets, door and drawer hardware choices.
• Tile, backsplash & wall finishes – You choose tile styles, patterns, accents, and wall textures or specialty finishes.
• Exterior materials & appearances – Roof styles, siding materials, exterior colors, stone or brick accents.
• Custom features & upgrades – Built-in shelving, fireplace options, specialty lighting, ceiling details, walk-in closets, etc.

Every home we build is personalized through a Selection Guide that walks you step by step through available options, helping you choose within a given allowance or decide to upgrade.

At Sharp Homes, our typical construction timeline for a “typical home” is 4–5 months, assuming selections are made on schedule. That said, there are several factors that can affect that timing, including weather, material lead times, change orders, the size and complexity of the home, and site conditions.

Here’s an overview of how we build homes at Sharp Homes:

1. Consultation:
We begin with a meeting to discuss your vision, style, budget, and preferred floor plans. This is your opportunity to get to know us, tour past homes, and ensure we’re the right fit.
2. Floor Plan Selection / Concept: You pick one of our existing plans or bring your own design. We can modify it or even combine ideas to craft a plan that reflects your needs.
3. Design Development:
During this phase, your plan is refined and finalized. We determine the home’s placement on the lot, orientation, and dig into material choices, allowances, and optional features. You’ll meet with our owner, design team, and our in-house architect.
4. Contract & Financing:
Once your design is settled, we prepare a contract and set a construction start date. We coordinate with your lender, or if needed we can carry the construction loan ourselves.
5. Permits, Plot Plans & Preparations:
After the contract, we draw your plot plan, pull required permits, liaise with your lender, and make all preparations to begin construction. You’ll start selecting materials, finishes, and meet your superintendent.
6. Selections:
Over 3–4 weeks, you’ll make decisions on finishes, materials, and fixtures guided by our Selection Guide. We aim to help you stay on schedule so construction proceeds smoothly.
7. Construction Begins:
With paperwork and selections complete, construction starts. You’ll have walk-throughs at various stages (framing, trim, etc.) to confirm features or request minor adjustments.
8. Move-in / Final Walk-through:
Once construction is complete, we perform a final walk-through, settle any overages or credits, and close on your home. You’ll then receive the keys to your new Sharp Home.
9. Warranty & Aftercare:
Every Sharp Home is backed by a 1-year warranty provided through an independent third party. We follow up after 1 month and toward the end of the first year to resolve any issues.

After you finalize your contract with us, we will begin the permitting, plot plan preparation, and utility coordination. Construction generally begins 1 to 4 weeks after contract signing, depending on financing and local permit processing.

Please contact us directly for information about currently available lots.

Yes. We maintain a portfolio of Available Homes—homes already in various stages of completion or ready to be built—so you can move in faster or see real examples of our work.

Sharp Homes provides every new homeowner with a personalized Selection Guide that clearly outlines what’s included in the base price of the home as well as the available upgrade options. This step-by-step guide walks you through each selection — from window colors to flooring finishes — and highlights which items are standard and which can be customized as upgrades, along with the appropriate allowances for your specific home.

Yes — we do work with VA loans. We’ve built new homes using the VA home loan benefit and support the process of using your VA eligibility for new construction.

To schedule your initial consultation:

• Contact us via the form on our “Contact” page.
• You can also call our office at (316) 775-2129 during business hours (8:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday). Sharp Homes
  • In your message or on the form, include:
  • Your name and preferred contact info
  • Whether you’d like to build on your own lot or in one of our communities
  • Any floor plans or design ideas you’re considering
  • Your ideal time for meeting
• Once we receive your request, we’ll reach out to set up a meeting time and outline next steps.

Yes. We’re happy to meet with you to discuss your project. You can request a meeting by filling out the contact form on our Contact Page or by calling us directly at (316) 775-2129 during business hours (8:00 am – 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday). During the meeting, we’ll review your vision, answer your questions, and outline the next steps in our building process.

You can request warranty service through our dedicated warranty team during the first year of home ownership. We provide a one-year builder’s warranty that generally covers workmanship and defects (except landscaping) and we also coordinate any extended warranties on materials such as windows.

To submit a warranty claim or issue:

• Contact our warranty team via phone, email, or the contact form on our site.
• Provide relevant details: your name, address, phone number, a description of the issue (e.g. windows leaking, broken hardware), and any supporting photos.
• Our team will review your request, validate coverage, schedule inspections or repairs, and oversee resolution.

We follow through to make sure covered issues are addressed promptly, and we manage extended manufacturer warranties for items like windows as part of our service.

We have a dedicated warranty team that oversees any needed repairs during the first year after closing. We also provide a 1-year builder’s warranty through an independent third-party vendor, who performs inspections (after 1 month and again near the end of year one) and coordinates repair work.

We include upgraded, energy-efficient appliances as part of our standard offering. Our new homes are designed and built to be more energy efficient than typical existing homes, helping you save on utilities over time. Because we build new and control the construction from the ground up, we can integrate energy-saving features more effectively (insulation, sealing, modern systems) than retrofitting an older home.

Yes. We offer “patio home” designs that feature zero-step (or minimal-step) entry, making them more accessible and easier to navigate without stairs.

We offer several design features to help make homes more accessible and easier to live in over time:

• Zero-entry / zero-step entry designs are available in our patio home floor plans to minimize steps at the entrance.
• Wide hallways, minimal steps, and open layouts are part of our patio home / aging-in-place design approach.
• In our patio homes, we offer features like lever door handles and rocker light switches to improve day-to-day usability.

If you have a specific accessibility need (e.g. grab bars, wheelchair turning radius, lowered counters), we’d be happy to incorporate that into your plan.

Yes. We can provide the blueprints and specifications (plans, structural details, material specs) needed for an appraisal. You can request them as part of your documentation when you’re preparing for appraisal.

Yes. Once you’re under contract, we can provide you the plot plan (site plan) showing your home’s placement on your lot along with relevant dimensions, setbacks, and orientation.

No. We will work with you on designing a plan that best fits your needs. Our in-house architect can work with a plan that you already have or of course we are happy to work with plans that are in our library.

Some builders do, but at Sharp Homes we like to use proven products throughout the build for a high quality home that will last for decades.

We have a superintendent, decorator, and an office manager dedicated to help you navigate through the entire build process. They work for you to make this process very smooth and enjoyable.

Soon after writing a contract, you will meet with the office manager, the superintendent, and the decorator. They will go through the allowance sheet and vendor list with you as well as set some timeframe guidelines. The decorator will help you through the process to navigate your selections in a timely manner to try to make this process as smooth as possible.

There are multiple allowances that are in play while you’re building a new home to select all of your finishes and for your site conditions. If you go over on these items, you will have some added cost. If you go under on them it will be a credit. Generally speaking, Sharp Homes’ clients go over 1 to 3% unless they’re adding substantial items during construction. In all cases the homeowner has the opportunity to review and approve all selections and pricing changes.

Building new with Sharp Homes will be much more energy efficient and your home will hold its value better. New homes also have very little maintenance cost for the first several years.

Sharp Homes provides a builder warranty of one year that covers most everything except for landscaping. We also include all the extended warranties that come with materials such as windows, heating and air, foundation waterproofing, appliances, siding, roofing, etc.

Sharp Homes will do all the scheduling and communication control with the subcontractors so that you have only one point of contact for the duration of construction.

We currently have model homes in Talia, Castaway, Brookfield, and Flint Hills. We will adding model homes in the Reber and Ashton Grove neighborhoods in 2026. There are also dozens of virtual tours available on our website.

It is slightly less expensive to use our existing plans as we know them very closely, but it is not a significant savings to start with one of our existing plan options.

Sharp Homes does not require any deposit on design work. We are happy to sit down with you and design your dream home free of charge.

You would begin by contacting Sharp Homes for a consultation to figure out where in fact you want to build and what you want to build. We can help you with lot selection, all of your architectural work, and loan processes. Reach out to us through our website Contact Form or give our office a call at 316-775-2129.

No, you do not need any insurance. Some people will take out a liability policy, but not very many. Sharp Homes will take out a builder’s risk policy which will insure the build should anything happen during construction.

Construction loans are a temporary loan that pays the builder during the construction process. At the completion of the build process, a permanent loan (typically a 20 or 30 year mortgage) pays off the construction loan.

There are two scenarios on the construction loan. Sharp Homes can take out the construction loan and charge a financing fee. That is a very common practice, especially if the purchaser has an existing mortgage. This option has a higher initial down payment to Sharp Homes, due at contract signing.

The other scenario is for the purchaser to take out the construction loan, and they would pay the interest monthly during the build. We can assist you in obtaining a construction loan if necessary. This option has a lower initial down payment to Sharp Homes, due at contract signing.

No. In most cases, it’s better to consult with a builder like Sharp Homes to figure out what you are looking for and making sure the lot is going to work out for you, but it can be done either way.

Specials are rather unique to Wichita, but they consist of the infrastructure such as storm sewer, waterlines, sanitary sewer, and roads being built for the subdivision rather than the developer paying for these and adding them to the price of the lot. They are done through the city on special bonds and paid as a special tax. The bonds are sold at a lower interest rate than what you would be getting if you were borrowing money for the house. They also generally spread out the cost of the infrastructure improvements for 20 years.

We will build all over the county in Butler and Sedgwick county on real property.
Sharp Homes is currently building in Cornerstone, Flint Hills, Oak Creek, Brookfield, Castaway, Emerald Bay, Talia, Ceterra, and will soon be building in Willow Springs, the Reber, and Ashton Grove.

Land can affect the price of the home and also dictate in most occasions the type of basement. Meaning if you’re on a rural lot you have sewer systems, water systems, gas, electric, and roads to think about. On city lots, they may be designed for slab on grade, view out, or walkout. Some lots will also require more site conditions which consist of removing trees or extra dirt and some of the lake communities require beaches, sea walls, and rip rap.

Sharp Homes uses many upgraded products that much of our competition does not use. Our base price includes items such as but not limited to 3,500 psi concrete, Advantech subflooring, narrow spacing on many of our floor trusses, Tyvek house wrap, Anderson windows, upgraded insulation, and higher allowances on appliances, lights, etc.

Once we write a contract, your price is set except on allowance items. There are rare exceptions in a very volatile market that we would have an escalation clause.

Sharp Homes does not figure per square foot because every house is different and features that you put into a house – like special materials – makes significant differences on price.

We do not calculate cost for specific floor plans because every home is different and the materials, finishes, site conditions, and client choices make a big difference.