Hi.
Dennis Celsor here. Chief Resultant at Built Green Custom Homes in Central Texas. I started BGCH in Central Texas because many people struggle with the high cost of a custom home. I wanted to enable land owners to build a high quality truly custom home for much less cost than available through traditional channels.
My home building journey began at an early age, growing up on family farms, fixing and building things with my dad. The family moved to Houston when I was 15. Dad taught me to mow lawns and eventually repair and paint homes.
I had been strongly encouraged to be a preacher, so off to college I went to fulfill that dream. After graduation, I just could not see myself in that vocation. Faith was and still is very important. After several years trying various jobs, I joined the small family business flipping homes. At least that was the plan. Our first project was completing a shell home for our own home to live in. I bought books on the different technical aspects of home building so we could DIY. We had a difficult time learning the key rule of real estate: location, location, location. We bought in the wrong areas, so we ended up renting the homes.
It soon became obvious that I needed steady income, so in 1980 I joined the Houston Fire Department and worked there for almost 21 years until retirement. During that time our family business bought over 30 homes for rental property. We did much of the rebuilding/remodeling/repair work ourselves.
Rebecca and I married in 1984 and dreamed of building our own home. In 1989, we found a builder that would build the shell and let me DIY all the interior work. That’s how we got into our first custom home, which we enjoyed for 13+ years.
In 2000 I retired from the fire department and sold the rent property. We dreamed of building another custom home and had interviewed several owner builder consulting companies. My post-retirement plans had not worked out, so I took a job with an owner builder consulting company for a short time. I then set up a home building company of my own and built and remodeled homes. In 2004, I began a career with Owner Built Custom Homes and have been with that organization since. In 2005, I began a serious study of Green Building and Energy Efficiency. In the next few years, I completed the curriculum from the National Association of Home Builders and was awarded the designations of Graduate Master Builder, Certified Green Professional, and Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist.
OBCH rebranded to Built Green Custom Homes in 2009, as we wanted to get serious about helping clients build energy-efficient homes at affordable prices. In 2010, I was granted a license to start BGCH in Central Texas. Since that time, Rebecca and I have built 2 more custom homes for our own family.
Since 2011, our BGCH team has worked with hundreds of families to guide them in achieving their dream of an affordable energy-efficient custom home. I still love to teach. To scratch that itch, I’ve developed a series of 40 picture-intensive webinars that cover the entire range of planning and building a custom home in Central Texas. We want our clients to be equipped and confident that they can project manage the construction of their own home and be proud of the results. The current webinar offerings are available at builtgreentexas.com/education.
That’s my story. The question is: Could your story include managing the project of building your own custom home? Can you imagine the thrill of seeing your own new home rise from the ground? Can you picture yourself enjoying the Texas hill country from the back porch of the home you conceived and built? Could you enjoy the lifestyle that is available to you? BGCH can assist you in making your new home dream come true.
