David Weekley vs Scott Felder: The Real Cost of New Construction in Georgetown

In this David Weekley vs Scott Felder comparison, the surprising answer is that the cheaper home to buy can be the more expensive home to own. We toured two models in the same Georgetown zip code, pulled actual closed-sale data from both communities, and compared the things that matter after the excitement of the model-home tour wears off.

David Weekley’s Presidio starts about $29,000 less than Scott Felder’s Duval. It is also roughly 340 square feet larger and includes a fourth garage bay. Sounds like an easy win, right? Hold on to that thought, because the David Weekley home costs more each month once property taxes and HOA dues enter the chat.

For anyone moving to Austin suburbs and considering new construction in Georgetown, this is why the asking price is only the first number to investigate. The lot, the tax district, included finishes, construction standards, incentives, and future plans all deserve a spot in the comparison.

Table of Contents

• David Weekley vs Scott Felder Floor Plan Comparison
• Model Home Upgrades and Included Features
• Construction Quality, Lots, and Garages
• Customization and Warranty Differences
• Taxes, HOA Dues, and Monthly Ownership Costs
• Builder Incentives and Final Verdict

David Weekley vs Scott Felder Floor Plan Comparison

We are comparing David Weekley in Wolf Ranch with Scott Felder in Riverstone, both in Georgetown. Since Texas sale prices are not public record, we used 28 actual sales from these two communities instead of simply comparing the builder’s sign out front.

• David Weekley Presidio: Starts around $730,000, measures roughly 3,400 square feet, and includes a four-car garage configuration.
• Scott Felder Duval: Starts around $758,990 and comes in just over 3,000 square feet as a true single-story plan.

The Presidio has around 3,000 square feet on the main level. Downstairs are the primary suite, another bedroom with its own bathroom, a study, secondary living space, kitchen, main living area, and laundry. Upstairs is essentially a guest wing with two bedrooms, one bathroom, and a retreat.

That layout matters. The Presidio feels like a mostly single-story home, with bonus space upstairs for visiting family. If the goal is to avoid stairs in day-to-day life but still have room when people visit for a week, it is a very practical setup.

The Duval is a genuine one-level house. For someone who wants every bedroom, living area, and daily necessity on one floor, Scott Felder has the cleaner answer. This is not simply a square-footage debate. It is a lifestyle debate.

David Weekley also offers a true single-story plan called the Jacksboro, just over 3,000 square feet and starting around $680,000, although one was not available for this comparison.

Model Home Upgrades and Included Features

Model homes are beautiful for a reason. They carry upgrades, and neither model should be treated as a base-price home. In Wolf Ranch, David Weekley offers its highest design-option level, meaning more features start included than in some other communities. That does not mean every finish in the model is included at the advertised starting price.

Even there, buyers commonly upgrade flooring. On the Scott Felder side, it is critical to ask which collection is being shown. The difference is significant.

Scott Felder Regency And Prestige Collections

Scott Felder offers the base Regency collection and the upgraded Prestige collection. The Regency package is far from thin. It includes:

• A fully fenced backyard from the rear corner of the home, with a gate
• Stone on all four sides of the first floor
• Full front-elevation gutters and a salt-rock driveway finish
• A tankless water heater and water-softener loop pre-plumbing
• Eight-foot first-floor interior doors
• 42-inch upper kitchen cabinets with crown molding
• A choice of quartz or granite countertops
• Built-in Whirlpool stainless appliances with a gas cooktop
• A smart-home package with connected thermostat, video doorbell, and Wi-Fi garage opener
• A third-party energy rating and inspection

The roughly $20,000 Prestige package contains about $26,000 in options, according to the builder representative. Its biggest visual change is flooring, with hard surface extending into the family and formal dining rooms. It also upgrades wall insulation from R-13 batt to R-15 blown-in, and adds a linear fireplace, five-burner cooktop, and under-cabinet lighting.

Under-cabinet lighting sounds small until you price it at an options center. Those little finish choices can pile up in a hurry. A great base price does not stay great if the design-center wish list is $80,000 deep.

Construction Quality, Lots, and Garages

Two homes can look similar from the street and be assembled very differently. In this David Weekley vs Scott Felder matchup, David Weekley spends more of the budget on the envelope of the house, while Scott Felder puts more value into the ground around it.

David Weekley Construction Standards

David Weekley uses 2-by-6 exterior framing, rather than the more common 2-by-4 construction. That deeper wall cavity allows approximately two more inches of insulation. Its exterior wall assembly reaches R-19, compared with Scott Felder’s R-13 Regency and R-15 Prestige insulation levels.

For Texas heat, insulation matters. It also helps with sound control when the house is full of kids, dogs, guests, or that one loud husband who cannot find the inside voice. David Weekley also provides a heating and cooling usage guarantee through the Environments for Living Diamond program, plus zoned HVAC on every plan.

Other David Weekley highlights include brick on all four sides in this Wolf Ranch section, gutters around the entire home, sod and landscaping with sprinklers, security equipment rather than just security wiring, a post-tension foundation, and lifetime-rated shingles.

Scott Felder Exterior And Lot Advantages

Scott Felder offers roughly five exterior styles, from farmhouse and modern looks to stone and stucco. The wood-look siding is cement-based, so there is no exposed wood on the exterior. Its homes also include stone on all four sides of the first floor.

The biggest Scott Felder advantage may be the land. Riverstone homesites are about 82 feet wide, with a quarter-acre minimum. Typical closed sales measured about 0.28 acres, versus approximately 0.22 acres in Wolf Ranch. Wider side setbacks can place homes close to 20 feet apart.

That extra breathing room is why multiple Riverstone owners have already added pools. If a future pool, generous backyard, or space between neighbors is high on the list, Scott Felder deserves serious attention.

Wolf Ranch has a different consideration: topography. West Bend has real elevation, and only a limited number of flat lots remained at the time of this comparison. Depending on the homesite and foundation, there may be steps at the front door or a drop into the yard. That can affect patio enclosure plans, pool feasibility, landscaping expenses, and long-term mobility.

Do Not Trust A Garage Count

Every David Weekley plan in this Wolf Ranch section has three or four garage bays, but some are tandem bays. A tandem third bay may not fit a full-size truck or large SUV. It may be better suited for two vehicles and a golf cart, storage, or workshop space.

Bring a tape measure. Honestly, bring the actual vehicle if possible. A brochure’s garage count is not the same thing as knowing your truck will fit.

Scott Felder takes a simpler approach in Riverstone. Every plan has a three-car garage, including the smaller plans, because the lots are wide enough to accommodate them.

Customization and Warranty Differences

Production builders sell floor plans, but the real question is how much of that plan is actually yours to change.

Scott Felder’s representative said the builder can customize almost anything. Certain walls can move, and portions of a plan can be reworked. That level of flexibility separates Scott Felder from many large builders in the area.

David Weekley works from predetermined floor plans, so moving walls is generally not an option. To be fair, that is not the lane David Weekley is trying to win. Its strength is construction standards, layouts, included features, and service. The builder also reported substantial repeat-buyer loyalty, which says a lot when people have enough experience to choose again.

On warranty, Scott Felder handles the first-year warranty in-house rather than passing it to an outside company. That is worth asking about in detail. Get warranty documents from both builders and compare not only the first year, but what happens after that first-year period ends.

Taxes, HOA Dues, and Monthly Ownership Costs

Here is the line item that changes the whole David Weekley vs Scott Felder comparison: the municipal utility district, or MUD.

Riverstone and Wolf Ranch share the same city tax rate, county tax rate, road district, and school district. Riverstone’s entire tax rate is just under 1.82%. Wolf Ranch adds Williamson County MUD No. 29, which adds 0.65%.

On an $800,000 home, that MUD line is roughly $5,200 a year, or about $433 per month. That one line creates the tax difference between the communities.

What about the homestead exemption? A primary residence receives a $140,000 school-tax exemption, worth about $1,472 annually in this example. Both communities receive the same benefit because they share the Georgetown school rate. The gap does not change because the MUD is not a school tax.

For homeowners age 65 and older, there is another $60,000 school-tax exemption, and Georgetown freezes city taxes. Again, those benefits apply to taxes the communities share. The MUD continues.

Then add HOA dues. Wolf Ranch charges about $1,120 per year, while Riverstone is around $600. On the same $800,000 home, Wolf Ranch costs approximately $477 more each month in taxes and dues, or about $5,720 annually. Over 10 years, that is around $57,000.

That is not a knock on Wolf Ranch. We love Wolf Ranch. It is one of our favorite Georgetown communities, and that additional money buys meaningful amenities:

• Two amenity centers with pools, cabanas, clubhouses, and a gym
• More than 16 miles of hike and bike trails along the San Gabriel River
• Parks, playgrounds, sports courts, pickleball, and a dog park
• A full-time lifestyle director and year-round events
• Wolf Ranch Town Center retail nearby, plus HEB across the street

Riverstone’s amenity list is more straightforward: oversized homesites, dedicated green space, Hill Country views, a river greenbelt, and a lower tax rate. It sits about three miles from the same town center, HEB, and Target.

The honest question is not whether Wolf Ranch is worth it. The question is whether you will use the pool, gym, trails, and event calendar enough to justify the extra monthly cost. Both communities feed the same three schools, so the premium is not buying a different school assignment.

Builder Incentives and Final Verdict

Neither builder expects buyers to simply pay the price on the sign. At the time of this comparison, David Weekley offered an 8% incentive off base price on a brand-new build. On the Presidio, that worked out to roughly $58,000.

Scott Felder was around 5% on a new build, or about $38,000 on the Duval, and around 6% on inventory homes, or about $45,000 on a move-in-ready Duval. David Weekley quick move-ins were described as having roughly $30,000 in discounts, which works out to less than 4%.

But an 8% incentive is not automatically an 8% discount. The result depends on where the money goes.

• Money spent in the design center raises the final home price.
• Money toward financing can lower the monthly payment.
• Money off the list price lowers the amount borrowed, but may not lower assessed value.

Those are three different outcomes from the same incentive dollars. Ask for the annual percentage rate, points, down payment, deadlines, and the break-even month for any rate buydown. If a sale or refinance is likely before that break-even point, those dollars may serve you better somewhere else. And get every incentive in writing because promotions change.

The Bottom Line

Go with David Weekley if the priority is maximum square footage per dollar, a mostly single-level layout with a guest wing upstairs, a possible four-car garage, stronger exterior wall insulation, or Wolf Ranch amenities that you know you will use. The new-build incentive was also stronger in this comparison.

Go with Scott Felder if the priority is lower carrying costs, wider lots, more space between homes, a future pool, a true one-story design, or moving walls to better fit your life. Scott Felder also stands out for standard inventory incentives and customization flexibility.

One final timing note: Wolf Ranch is a 1,120-acre community planned for 2,465 homes with eight builders. David Weekley had about 15 opportunities remaining at the time of this comparison and expected to leave once those were sold. Riverstone, expected to have about 147 homes at completion, was halfway through its second section and had more runway.

When moving to Austin suburbs, do not choose a builder based on cabinet doors alone. Compare the house, the lot, the tax bill, the community, the incentive structure, and the life you want to live after closing. That is how you avoid buying a less expensive house that quietly becomes the more expensive one.

Choosing between builders like David Weekley and Scott Felder is about more than the home’s price tag. From taxes and HOA dues to lot sizes, upgrades, incentives, and long-term ownership costs, the right choice depends on your goals and lifestyle.

If you’re considering new construction in Georgetown or another Austin suburb, let’s talk about what makes the most sense for your move.

Book a free consultation to discuss your plans, compare your options, and make a more informed decision before you buy.