New Home Construction in Port Lavaca, TX

Your house has to earn its windstorm certificate while it goes up

Maybe you already own the lot. Maybe you are still looking. Either way, Calhoun County is one of the fourteen Texas counties where a new house needs a state windstorm inspection, and the inspector has to see the straps and the nailing before drywall covers them.
NTEX Construction builds single-family homes in Port Lavaca and across Calhoun County, out of our shop 46 miles northwest in Goliad, where we also work as a custom home builder. Family owned and operated, so an owner answers the phone and an owner runs your job. Call (361) 645-4000 and tell us about your lot.

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What we build in Port Lavaca

We build one thing very well: a single-family home, made for the people living in it. If the house already stands and you want it changed, that is home remodeling in Port Lavaca, which runs on a different set of steps.

01

Build on your own land

You have a lot in town, acreage out toward Six Mile, or a place near Olivia. We handle the dirt work, the slab, and everything after.
02

Start from your plan or ours

Bring blueprints, a napkin sketch, or a photo you saved. We draw it up and change it until it looks like what you pictured.
03

Pick your own finishes

Floor plan, cabinets, counters, flooring, paint. Your budget sets the limit, not our catalog.

The windstorm certificate is what gets you insured

Calhoun County sits inside the state windstorm catastrophe area. A new house here needs a Certificate of Compliance from the Texas Department of Insurance, the WPI-8, before most carriers will write wind and hail coverage on it.

The WPI-1 application goes in before construction starts, and an inspector comes back at each new phase. Straps, anchors, sheathing, and nailing patterns get covered up and nobody sees them again, so they get looked at while they are still open. A Department inspector or a Texas licensed engineer appointed by the Department signs off, and the certificate posts to the state site about three working days later.

Since April 1, 2026, those applications have to be certified to the 2024 residential and building codes. We file the paperwork, call the inspections, and build to the code the certificate requires.

Hurricane Carla came ashore near Port O’Connor on September 11, 1961, a strong category four, and the eye tracked straight across Port Lavaca. Storms in 1914 and 1919 hit the town hard enough that it built a seawall in 1920.

House under construction with protective wrap.

Loam on top, cracking clay underneath, water two feet down

The ground around Port Lavaca is flat and drains poorly. A loam surface sits over a clayey subsoil that cracks when it dries out.

The Matagorda series was described in Calhoun County, in rangeland about thirteen miles southeast of town near Indianola. Very fine sandy loam on top, very slow permeability below, and through the cool season the profile stays saturated within two feet of the surface. Some of it carries enough salt to matter once you start landscaping.

Clay that swells and shrinks moves a slab, and a water table that close to grade changes how the pad gets built and where water goes after a hard rain. A slab detail that works on the heavy clay up in Victoria County gets redrawn for this ground.

We start with the dirt. Soil work first, a slab engineered for what that ground actually does, and a pad and grading plan that gets water away from the house instead of letting it sit.

Front view of a single-story ranch-style house with board-and-batten siding, stone skirting, and an exposed timber truss on the porch

City code, county rules, and the flood map

Inside the city limits, plans go to Development Services at 202 North Virginia, phone 361-552-9793. The city ordinance adopts the 2015 residential and building codes and points its wind provisions at the 2018 building code, while the state windstorm program now certifies to the 2024 editions. We build to whichever is stricter on any given detail, because the certificate depends on it.

Out on county land, Calhoun County handles the floodplain development permit and the septic system as the authorized agent for the state environmental agency. The town is mapped under NFIP community 480097 on the map effective August 2, 2018, and there are both AE and VE zones around town. On a lot in either one, the county wants a survey of the natural ground elevation attached to the development permit, the lowest floor at or above the base flood elevation, and a finished construction elevation certificate filed with the floodplain office within sixty days of completion. That office is at 211 S. Ann Street, Suite 301.

Septic on a tract of ten acres or more may be exempt from permitting, but only if all four conditions hold: the system creates no nuisance or pollution, every part of it sits at least a hundred feet from the property line, the effluent stays on your property, and the house is the only dwelling on the tract. The system still has to meet state construction standards either way. We will tell you which side of that line your lot falls on.

You sign where we point. We do the rest.

Traditional house with white exterior and porch.

How your build runs

01

We sit down

Bring your lot, your budget, or the photos you saved. All three is better.
02

We draw it

You mark it up. We draw it again. This part takes as long as it takes.
03

We price it

You get the number before we break ground, not after.
04

We file the windstorm paperwork

The WPI-1 goes in before anything gets built, certified to the 2024 code.
05

We handle the rest of the permits

City plans, county floodplain permit, septic, elevation survey if your lot needs one.
06

We pour

Dirt work, pad, plumbing rough-in, then the slab.
07

We build and call the inspections

Frame, roof, wiring, insulation, drywall. The windstorm inspector sees each phase while it is still open. You get photos every week and you can walk the site whenever you want.
08

We finish it and walk it with you

Cabinets, floors, paint, lights, trim. You write the list, we fix every item, and your WPI-8 posts with the state.

What a new home costs here

Nobody can quote a house off a phone call, and anyone who does is guessing.
Six things move your number more than anything else:
  • Where your lot sits on the flood map. An AE or VE zone means a survey, a minimum floor elevation, and usually fill.
  • Utilities. City water and sewer at the curb is one price. A septic system and a well is another.
  • Windstorm construction. Straps, anchors, tighter nailing, and rated windows and doors all cost more than they would forty miles inland.
  • Square footage, and how it is shaped. A simple rectangle costs less per foot than a house with six corners.
  • One story or two.
  • Finishes. This is the swing. The same floor plan can land at two different numbers.
We put all of it in writing before you commit to anything. So, reach out to get started.
Masonry worker on a ladder installing stone veneer on a house exterior; scaffolding and stacked limestone blocks sit in the foreground.

Testimonials

What Our Neighbors Say

Quality service and construction! Corey and Jake have done a few remodeling jobs for us! We have been very pleased with every one of them. These gentleman keep their word and make sure the job is done right! I would highly recommend NTEX Construction for any of your construction needs!
Marilyn Miller Frost
NTEX did a major remodel for me and did an excellent job!!! All the contractors were pleasant and easy to work with. And their work was top-notch. I recommended them to friends who ultimately used them and they too were very pleased with their work!!!
Caren Adamson
NTEX recently did a remodel of our Sacristy and Narthex at Christ The Victor Lutheran Church. We were very pleased with the work they did. The men were friendly and courteous - and they cleaned up after themselves. We will definitely consider using them for other projects!!!
Christ Victor
I highly recommend NTEX construction. I have worked with NTEX on one major office build, one bathroom remodel, and am currently working with them on 2 bathroom remodels. Our office was completed in record time and is amazing. The bathroom remodel is spot on and was done in a very timely manner despite many other things going on. The current projects are on mark and looking to be completed on time.

I love working with everyone at NTEX. They do quality work, are very timely, and fun to work with!
Natalia Ivon Gonzalez

Ready to build in Port Lavaca?

Tell us about your lot and what you want on it. We will walk you through the windstorm process, the flood map, and what the whole thing costs. Call (361) 645-4000 or send us a message. We answer. For a house that already stands, see home remodeling in Port Lavaca. For a shop, office, or storefront, see commercial construction in Port Lavaca.
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Frequently Asked Questions

Four to six months for most homes. Size and design move that number, rain moves it, and the windstorm inspections add a little because the build pauses at each phase until the inspector has been out. We give you a real schedule up front.
It is the Certificate of Compliance the Texas Department of Insurance issues once your house passes windstorm inspection. Calhoun County is in the catastrophe area, so without that certificate most carriers will not write wind and hail coverage on the house. The application goes in before construction starts.
No. Plenty of folks call us first. We will look at lots with you and tell you what each one will cost to build on, including where it sits on the flood map.
We do. City plan review, the county floodplain development permit, septic, the WPI-1, and every inspection. You do not chase paperwork.
On an AE or VE lot the county wants a survey of the natural ground elevation with the development permit, the lowest floor has to sit at or above the base flood elevation, and a finished construction elevation certificate gets filed within sixty days of completion. In practice it changes your pad, your fill, and sometimes your foundation type.
Yes. Bring what you have. We will review it, tell you what it takes to build here, and flag anything the windstorm code will not allow as drawn.
A septic system needs a licensed site evaluator and a county permit before anything goes in the ground. A tract of ten acres or more may be exempt from the permit, but only if it meets all four state conditions, and the system still has to be built to standard. We handle the evaluation and the filing either way.

NTEX Construction

NTEX Construction builds homes the right way. We serve Port Lavaca, TX and the surrounding areas with professionalism and pride.

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Whether you have questions, would like a quote, or are ready to start your project, submit the form or call us at (361) 317-7385 to get in contact with us.