NEW CONSTRUCTION
Custom Home Builders for Sparta, Cookeville, and the Upper Cumberland
From an Empty Lot to Home.
United Home Builders builds custom homes, barndominiums, garages, shops, and pole barns across Sparta, Cookeville, and the Upper Cumberland. One team manages the whole job. That covers clearing the lot, coordinating the trades and inspections, and the final walkthrough, and you hear from us at every step.
Building Here Usually Starts With a Piece of Land.
A lot of new homes in the Upper Cumberland go up on rural property, family land, or a few acres outside town, not in a finished subdivision. That changes the job before any framing starts. Someone has to work out where the house sits, how the driveway gets in, where the water drains, and whether you’ll be on a septic system or city sewer.
We bring that early work into the same plan as the house. Site preparation, clearing and grading, excavation, driveways, drainage, utility coordination, and septic coordination are part of our site development work. So the people pricing your foundation are the same people who walked your lot.
If you’re still deciding where to build, our guide to moving to Cookeville and the Upper Cumberland covers the towns, the land, and the practical side of relocating.
What We Build.
Services include:
Custom Homes • Residential New Construction • Turnkey Home Building • Barndominiums • Garages • Shops • Pole Barns • Accessory Structures • Porches + Outdoor Living
Custom homes
Your plan, your property, your priorities. That can be a single-story ranch home you can age in, a two-story family home, or a brick home built to last a few generations. Rick Conley ran a masonry construction company for 26 years, so brick and stone get the attention they deserve.
Barndominiums
A barndominium puts living space and shop or barn space under one roof, usually on a steel or post-frame shell. They make sense on acreage, and they bring their own questions: insulation, interior framing, finish level, and how much of the building is house versus shop. We’ll walk through those trade-offs before you commit to a design.
Garages, shops, and pole barns
A detached garage, a workshop, or a pole barn can go up with the house or come later. Building it into the original site plan saves you from regrading or re-routing utilities down the road.
How a New Home Comes Together.
Building from the ground up comes with hundreds of decisions. There are plans to finalize. Trades to schedule. Materials to order. Inspections to pass. Budgets to track. Our job is to keep those pieces moving and keep you informed.
- Discover. We start with your property, your priorities, your budget, and your timeline. We’ll look at the land with you and talk honestly about what’s possible.
- Plan. We define the scope, build a preliminary cost estimate, review the plans for constructability, and set a schedule. Material takeoffs and subcontractor pricing happen here, before ground is broken.
- Build. With the plan in place, we manage construction: scheduling, subcontractors, materials, permit and inspection coordination, quality control, and any change orders, with clear communication from start to finish.
What Drives the Cost of a New Home.
Every custom home is priced on its own, but the same handful of things move the number:
- The site. Clearing, grading, rock, slope, and the length of the driveway. Well and septic versus city water and sewer.
- Size and footprint. Square footage, and whether it’s one story or two. A single-story home has more foundation and roof per square foot.
- Foundation. Slab, crawlspace, or basement.
- Structure type. Conventional framing versus a barndominium or post-frame shell.
- Finishes. Cabinets, counters, flooring, fixtures, brick or stone versus siding.
The fastest way to a real number is a preliminary estimate built from your plans and your property. That’s what our preconstruction and consulting work is for.
Who You’ll Be Working With.
Michael Dalton spent 20 years in the U.S. Army and another 15 in public service managing complex projects, people, and resources. His construction work has ranged from decks and additions to custom homes, and he runs each project with the same discipline.
Rick Conley has spent 32 years in construction, 26 of them owning and operating a masonry company. He’s a lifelong Middle Tennessee resident and a local pastor.
Questions About Building a New Home
Do you build on land I already own?
Yes. Much of our new construction planning starts with the property. We coordinate the site preparation, grading, driveway, utilities, and septic as part of the same project.
Do you build barndominiums?
Yes. Barndominiums are one of the new construction projects we build, along with garages, shops, and pole barns. Choose “Barndominium” on the contact form.
Can you help before I have house plans?
Yes. Our preconstruction services cover early cost estimates, feasibility, and planning, so you can find out what a project will take before you commit to a design.
What areas do you build in?
We build throughout Sparta, Cookeville, Crossville, Livingston, Monterey, Smithville, McMinnville, Gainesboro, and the surrounding Middle Tennessee communities.
What Are You Planning?
A new home. A barndominium on a few acres. A shop next to the house. Whatever you’re considering, the first step is a conversation. Tell us about your property and where you are in the process, and we’ll help you understand what comes next.
Not building new? See remodeling and additions or decks and exterior construction.