The landscape surrounding Lake Travis is home to arguably some of the most beautiful vistas in all of Texas. Nestled in between the hills of the Texas Hill Country, the Lake Travis area is the perfect marriage of land and water. As the Colorado River was dammed to create Lake Travis, the water level rose nearly straight up the sides of the hills. This created prime waterfront real estate all along the 270+ miles of shoreline.
The views from the homes built on the waterfront properties of Lake Travis are breathtaking to say the least, as they are built on the top of hills, cliffs, and bluffs that overlook the lake. Building custom homes on Lake Travis can be difficult because of the unique terrain of these hills, cliffs, and bluffs. At Sterling Custom Homes, we have many years of experience building custom homes on the challenging waterfront properties on Lake Travis. Let’s discuss a few of the design techniques we implement to build the best custom homes on Lake Travis, which set us apart from other custom home builders in Lakeway.
We recently built a waterfront home in The Reserve at Lake Travis that is sits 50+ feet above the lake. The lot is an interesting one as it begins to slope down to the lake at almost a 45 degree angle when you reach to middle of the lot. To maximize the view from a home, you want to positionthe home as close to the beginning of the slope as possible. In this case, we took the design a step further. We built the home on the edge of the slope and down the slope a little bit to have an even better view from the outdoor living area and swimming pool. This was achieved by the second level of the home being the main level of the home. The outdoor living area on the main level of the home steps down to the swimming pool. The swimming pool is entirely suspended out of the ground, above the slope, a true engineering feat.
Some lots we build on slope entirely from front to back, all the way down to the lake. In this case, we design an “upside-down” house. In these homes, the main level of the home is actually the second level where the main living area, kitchen, and master suite are. The lower level usually features the secondary bedrooms and media/game rooms. This design also maximizes the views of the lake from both levels of the home.
We are currently completing a home in Rough Hollow that is on a cul-de-sac at the end of a cove on Lake Travis. It would have been so easy to design the home parallel to the street and the view out the back of the home would have a nice view of the wooded canyon behind it. Instead, the home’s floor plan was pivoted to the right to a certain degree to have a perfect view straight down the cove.
There are many considerations to take into account when you are deciding between custom home builders in Lakeway to build your custom home. When you are choosing, make sure your custom home builder has plenty of experience building on waterfront properties on Lake Travis and is innovative with their custom home designs to maximize your lot’s view potential.