Orlando custom home building
Custom Home Builders in Orlando, FL
Global Arch Construction builds custom homes on private lots across Orlando and Central Florida. We draw the plans, submit for permits, and run the construction under one contract. You hire one company instead of managing an architect and a builder separately and standing between them when they disagree.
Homes only, for over a decade. If you already own a lot, or you are looking at one and want to know what it would take to build there, call (407) 989-3960 and describe it. We will give you an honest read before you spend money finding out the hard way.
Orlando office
Global Arch Construction
- Address
- 9640 Sidney Hayes Rd Ste 777
Orlando, FL 32824 - Phone
- (407) 989-3960
- [email protected]
- Hours
- Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM
What custom means here
Your lot, your plan, drawn and built by the same company
A production builder sells you one of six floor plans on a lot they already own in a subdivision they already developed. That is a reasonable way to buy a house. It is a different product from what we do.
We build on the lot you own or are about to buy, from drawings made for that lot. Some clients come to us with a rough sketch and a wish list. Some bring a plan they bought online that needs to be redrawn to meet the Florida Building Code. Some bring a full set from an architect and want us to price and build it. All three are normal.
What does not change is who is responsible. If something in the design costs more to build than we estimated, that is our problem to solve, not a bill we hand you halfway through framing.
Budget
What a custom home costs in the Orlando area
Most builders will not put a number on a page. We understand why, because every lot is different and the number moves. But you cannot plan around silence, so here is the range we see in the Central Florida market in 2026 for the vertical construction itself.
| Level of finish | Typical Orlando range, per square foot |
|---|---|
| Straightforward custom build, quality stock finishes | $200 to $275 |
| Mid range custom, upgraded cabinetry, stone counters, better windows | $275 to $375 |
| High end, complex rooflines, imported material, heavy millwork | $400 and up |
Market ranges for the Orlando area in 2026. This is not a quote. Your number depends on the lot and the drawings.
Those figures cover construction. Four other line items belong in your budget and they surprise people:
- The lot itself, which in Orange and Osceola counties ranges from under $100,000 to well past a million depending on where you want to be.
- Site preparation. Clearing, fill, compaction, and the driveway culvert. On a wooded or low lying lot this is a real number, not a rounding error.
- Impact fees, which fund schools and roads and are charged at permit. In 2026 these commonly land between $15,000 and $35,000 depending on the size of the home and which county and city you are in.
- Design and engineering, generally 8 to 15 percent of construction cost. On a design-build contract with us this is inside the same agreement rather than a separate bill from a separate firm.
You get a line-item estimate rather than one lump number. The tile allowance, the cabinet allowance, and the labor are all listed separately. That way a change order is a conversation about one line instead of an argument about the whole house.
Get a free estimateTimeline
How long a custom home takes in Central Florida
Design and permitting usually takes three to six months. Construction takes another ten to sixteen months once the permit is issued. On the first call we will tell you which of those two numbers your lot is likely to stretch, because it is almost always one or the other.
Residential plan review in Orange County typically runs 10 to 15 business days per submittal through the Fast Track portal. Corrections restart that clock. Osceola County and the City of Orlando run their own departments on their own timelines, and Marion County up in Ocala moves at a different pace again. We submit and follow the review through to issuance, including corrections, and you will hear from us during the wait instead of wondering.
One scheduling note worth knowing before you plan around a move in date: October through February is the busiest stretch in Central Florida. If you want a specific start, talk to us eight to twelve weeks ahead.
The process
How a custom build actually goes
-
First conversation and site walk
We meet you at the lot. We look at access, trees, grade, where the utilities are, and what the setbacks leave you to build on. This visit is free and there is no obligation attached to it.
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Budget range and feasibility
Before anyone draws anything, you get a realistic range for the house you have described on the lot you have. If the house you want and the money you have are not in the same neighborhood, this is where we say so.
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Drawings and engineering
Floor plans, elevations, then the structural set, energy calculations, and the site plan. You approve each stage. Changes are cheap on paper and expensive in concrete, so we would rather spend the extra week here.
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Selections against real allowances
You pick flooring, cabinets, tile, plumbing fixtures, and lighting against the allowances in your estimate. Real numbers, so the budget stays honest instead of drifting for six months and landing somewhere you did not agree to.
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Permit submittal
We submit to the county or city with jurisdiction over your lot and handle every correction that comes back. Permitting is our job, not yours.
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Construction
Site work, slab, shell, dry in, then the trades in sequence. One project manager and a written schedule. Alexandru Cosiuc, who owns the company, walks the sites himself and answers questions directly rather than routing them through an office.
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Certificate of occupancy and walkthrough
Final inspections, then we walk the house with you and you write down anything you want corrected. That list gets finished before the final payment goes out.
Local conditions
Building for Central Florida instead of somewhere else
A builder who learned the trade in another climate will specify what worked there and find out on your house that Central Florida disagrees. Some of the places that shows up:
- Slab-on-grade is standard here, so soil compaction, the vapor barrier, and termite pretreatment all have to be right before the concrete truck arrives. There is no basement to go back into later.
- Orange County sits in a 130 to 140 mph design wind zone depending on exposure. That drives the roof to wall connections, the sheathing nailing pattern, and whether your openings need impact-rated glass or shutters.
- We size the air conditioning off a load calculation for your actual house rather than a rule of thumb per square foot. Guess high and the unit short cycles, which means it never runs long enough to pull the humidity down.
- Where the water goes when it leaves your roof is a design decision. Rain here arrives fast and heavy, and a good share of the cracked concrete we get called about later started as a grading problem.
- Roof and paint products get specified for UV exposure rather than for what the catalog promises. The sun here shortens the life of both, which changes which option is actually cheaper across ten years.
Before you buy
Check these things before you close on a lot
People call us more often than you would think with a lot they already bought and a problem nobody mentioned at closing. If you are still shopping, look at these first:
- Zoning and setbacks decide how big a footprint you actually have, which is usually smaller than the lot lines suggest.
- Find out whether there is a sewer connection at the street. If there is not, you are paying for a septic system and a well, and that difference runs into tens of thousands of dollars.
- Flood zone and elevation drive your fill requirement, your finished floor height, and your insurance premium for as long as you own the house.
- Wetlands and protected trees can shrink the buildable area or add a permitting step nobody mentioned at the showing.
- If there is an HOA, ask how its architectural review works. Some communities run an approval process alongside the county permit that takes just as long.
We will walk a lot with you before you buy it. There is no charge for that and no expectation that you hire us afterward. It is a cheap hour that has saved people a lot of money.
Call (407) 989-3960Service area
Where we build custom homes
Our office is off Sidney Hayes Road in 32824, south of Orlando International. Most of our work sits inside an hour of it.
Orlando and Orange County Home base
Infill lots in the older neighborhoods and teardown rebuilds where an existing house comes down first. Permitting runs through Orange County Fast Track or the City of Orlando, depending on which side of the line you are on, and those are not the same process.
St. Cloud and Osceola County
New custom builds on the larger acreage lots east of town, where septic, well, and a long driveway are often part of the scope. Osceola permits through its own department.
Clermont and Lake County
Hilly lots by Florida standards, which means grade and drainage take real thought and a walkout or stepped foundation is sometimes worth doing.
Winter Garden and Horizon West
Mostly platted lots inside communities with an architectural review board on top of the county permit. We build to those guidelines and handle the submittal.
Ocala and Marion County
About 80 miles north. Bigger acreage, more ground up custom work, and outbuildings on horse property. Marion County permitting moves on its own schedule and we plan for that up front.
Bay Lake, Lake Buena Vista, and Tampa
We take selected custom builds in the Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista area and along the I-4 corridor toward Tampa. Ground up work makes the drive sensible in a way that small repairs do not. Call and ask about your address rather than assuming we are too far.
Straight answers
What we do not do
We do not take commercial work. We do not develop subdivisions or sell you a lot from our own inventory. We do not build modular or manufactured homes. And if your budget and your drawings are not going to meet, we would rather tell you on the first visit than take a deposit and let you discover it at the framing stage.
Reviews
What Orlando homeowners say about building with us
These are verified reviews from our Google Business Profile, published as written.
PASTE REVIEW 1 TEXT HEREFirst name and last initial, City, via Google
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FAQ
Common questions about building a custom home in Orlando
Are you a licensed custom home builder in Orlando, FL?
Yes. Global Arch Construction is licensed and insured in Florida, and we will send you the license number and certificates of insurance on request before you sign anything. You can verify any Florida contractor yourself through the Department of Business and Professional Regulation license search.
How much does it cost to build a custom home in Orlando?
In the Central Florida market in 2026, construction generally runs $200 to $275 per square foot for a straightforward custom build and $275 to $375 for mid range finishes, with high end work above $400. Add the lot, site preparation, impact fees of roughly $15,000 to $35,000, and design and engineering at 8 to 15 percent of construction cost. We give you a line-item estimate rather than a single number.
How long does it take to build a custom home in Central Florida?
Design and permitting typically takes three to six months, and construction another ten to sixteen months after the permit is issued. Residential plan review in Orange County usually runs 10 to 15 business days per submittal, and corrections restart that clock.
Do I need to own the land before I contact you?
No. We would rather hear from you before you buy. We will walk a lot with you and tell you what building on it is likely to involve, at no charge and with no obligation to hire us.
Can I bring my own architect or house plan?
Yes. We build from plans clients bring us, and we also produce the drawings ourselves under a design-build contract. Plans bought online usually need to be redrawn for the Florida Building Code and stamped by a Florida engineer before they can be permitted here.
What is design-build, and why does it matter on a custom home?
Design-build means one company handles the drawings and the construction under one contract. On the traditional route you pay a designer, take the finished plans out to bid, and then referee when a builder says the drawings will not work at that price. With design-build, a conflict between the design and the budget is ours to solve.
Do you charge for estimates?
No. Site visits and written line-item estimates are free. Full construction drawings are paid work and start after you have seen a number you are comfortable with.
Do you handle the permits?
Yes. We submit to Orange County Fast Track or to whichever city or county has jurisdiction over your lot, and we work the corrections through to issuance. You do not deal with the building department.
What areas do you build custom homes in?
Orlando, Winter Garden, Clermont, St. Cloud, Bay Lake, Lake Buena Vista, Ocala, and selected projects toward Tampa. Our office is in Orlando 32824 and most work is within an hour of it.
How far ahead should I book?
Eight to twelve weeks if you want a specific start date. October through February is the busiest stretch here, so plan further ahead if your build falls in that window.
Next step
Talk to a custom home builder in Orlando
Tell us about the lot and the house you have in mind. We will come out and look at it, put a written line-item number in front of you, and say plainly whether what you want and what you have budgeted are going to meet. There is no charge for any of that.
Why homeowners call us
- Free on-site visit and written line-item estimate
- Licensed and insured in Florida, certificates on request
- We pull the permits and follow the review to issuance
- Residential only, across Orlando and Central Florida