Steve Zbranek
Austin Builders Hall of Fame inductee and two-time National Master Builder of the Year. Nearly five decades building custom homes, today in Austin, on Lake Travis, across the Highland Lakes and throughout the Texas Hill Country.
Licensed Texas Real Estate Broker · Commercial pilot · Air Force veteran
Steve Zbranek is a partner in Zbranek & Holt Custom Homes, an Austin Builders Hall of Fame inductee and a two-time National Master Builder of the Year. He has built custom homes for nearly five decades, beginning in San Antonio and then in Austin, the Highland Lakes and the Texas Hill Country, and for more than twenty years he taught the classes builders take to earn their Graduate Builder and Master Builder designations.
What clients say about working with Steve
I am a Realtor in Austin and represent more than 20 custom builders. When I made a decision to build my home I chose Steve Zbranek and his team, and I did not even represent him at the time. … Zbranek and Holt's follow through after our home was completed was the best I have ever seen.
Steve Zbranek and team were a pleasure to work with every step of the way. From initial design consultation through the punch process, they focused on making our dream home come to life.
The lot was solid granite with little to NO top soil. … I can say my experience in working with Steve and Tony and your job superintendents was remarkably easier and more pleasant than I’ve heard from virtually everyone else that I know who has built a home with another builder.
How Steve came to building
Steve's draft number came up when he was young, and he was selected for Air Force Intelligence. He spent seven years in the United States Air Force, earned the Air Force Commendation Medal and the Air Force Meritorious Service Medal, and in that time learned to do two things faster than most people manage either: fly a plane and speak Mandarin.
He never gave up the first of those. Steve is a commercial pilot and a multi-engine flight instructor, still active in the cockpit today, and he is only half-joking when he offers to teach a client to fly while their home goes up. He walks and talks fast; stay close and you might catch a Steve-ism.
Building came after the service. Steve built his first custom homes in San Antonio, then moved with his family to the Austin area and started Zbranek Custom Homes. It became Zbranek & Holt Custom Homes when Tony Holt joined him. Today the firm builds in Austin, on Lake Travis, across the Highland Lakes and throughout the Texas Hill Country, and Steve lives on Lake LBJ with his wife and their three dogs.
The end result of a successful custom home project should be an excellent home, a happy client and a fun process to get there.
Twenty years with the University of Housing
For more than twenty years Steve was on the faculty of the University of Housing, the educational arm of the National Association of Home Builders. He traveled the country teaching the required classes for the Graduate Builder and Master Builder designations. He has also judged custom home competitions nationally and written for Professional Builder magazine.
He is a past president of the Greater San Antonio Builders Association and of the Home Builders Association of Greater Austin, and he founded the association's Lakeway and Bee Cave chapter and served as its president. He has served on the boards of the National Association of Home Builders and the Texas Association of Builders.
The firm runs the way he taught it.
Budget first
The budget is set first and the home is designed to it. Steve's article on whether to start with an architect or a builder explains why the order matters.
Fixed price with allowances
The firm signs fixed-price contracts. Cabinets, appliances and flooring carry allowances inside that price. If you go over an allowance you pay the difference, and the firm adds no margin or overhead to it.
After move-in
The firm stays reachable after you move in. Dawn, a Realtor who built with the firm, wrote that the follow-through after completion was the best she had seen.
Articles by Steve
Steve writes the firm's articles. These four cover the questions clients ask most.
Architect first, or builder first?
Why the budget has to come before the plans.
Understanding price per square foot
What makes two homes of the same size cost different amounts.
The best custom home lots are hiding
Where the good lots are, and what a builder looks for before you buy one.
Customer service, looking back and ahead
What Steve expects of his own company after the sale.
Consumers are not a pain, they are the point.
Community
Zbranek & Holt has built three benefit homes whose profits went to SAFE House / Center for Child Protection, the Lake Travis Youth Association and the Lake Travis Education Foundation. The Youth Association home alone put $150,000 into a youth athletic organization.
Steve is the founding chairman of Leadership Lake Travis and of the Lakeway Police Memorial and Benevolent Foundation, a past chairman of Leadership San Antonio, and the Lake Travis Chamber of Commerce's Citizen of the Year.
Awards and designations
Questions about Steve
Is Steve Zbranek still building homes?
Yes. Steve is a partner in Zbranek & Holt Custom Homes and focuses on the firm's homes in the Lake LBJ area. Clients work with Steve and Tony Holt and the firm's project managers.
Does Steve work with an outside architect?
Yes. Zbranek & Holt is a design-build firm that works side by side with outside architects, and families who come to the firm first are introduced to architects it has worked with for years.
Where does Steve Zbranek build?
Austin and West Austin, Westlake, Lakeway, Bee Cave, Spicewood, Lago Vista, Dripping Springs and Driftwood; Lake Travis and Lake LBJ; Horseshoe Bay, Marble Falls, Granite Shoals, Kingsland and Burnet; Johnson City, Blanco, Wimberley, Fredericksburg and the ranch country west of Austin. He lives on Lake LBJ.
Talk with Steve and Tony about your land
If you are looking at land, ask us to walk it with you before you buy. Call 512.261.0444 or ask for a design-build consultation.
Ask for a consultation