Sussex County
Custom Home Builder in Millsboro, Delaware
Millsboro is where a good deal of our completed work stands. Two of the homes in our portfolio are Millsboro builds, and that gives us a level of detail about this town we could not honestly claim everywhere, so it seems worth saying so directly rather than writing the same page for every location.
- Drive from our office
- About 1 hr 35 min
- Permits issued by
- Town of Millsboro
- Typical ground
- Sandy, high water table near the river
- Wastewater
- Town sewer in town, septic outside
A town growing quickly around a river
Millsboro has expanded substantially, driven by its position between Georgetown and the coastal resorts and by the Indian River running through it. Residential development has been steady, which means the town's permitting department deals with new construction regularly and the process is well worn.
Inside town limits, Millsboro issues its own permits and town sewer serves much of the developed area. The surrounding land is county AR-1 in most cases, with the three-quarter-acre minimum on septic, dropping to 20,000 square feet where central sewer is available.
The water table is the recurring problem
This is the thing we would tell anyone buying land around Millsboro. Ground water sits high through much of this area, particularly toward the Indian River and the low ground along its tributaries. It affects the septic design first and the foundation second.
Basements are frequently not practical here. Crawl spaces and slabs are the normal answers, and where a client really wants below-grade space the engineering and waterproofing cost is substantial enough that it needs to be a deliberate decision rather than an assumption carried over from somewhere else.
Soils are sandy and drain fast at the surface, which can be misleading. Fast percolation at eighteen inches tells you very little about where the seasonal high water table sits. Only the test pits do.
The Indian River and its flood mapping
Parcels near the river and the tributary creeks carry floodplain designations, and the tidal reach extends further inland than people expect. A lot that feels well away from open water can still be mapped. Where it is, lowest floor elevation and foundation type stop being choices.
Built here before
Two of the completed homes in our portfolio are Millsboro builds, and the crews who framed and finished them are the crews we would put on yours. Those are local Sussex trades, not people we would be bringing down from the north of the state.
Our office is in Bear now, about an hour and thirty-five away, and we would rather say that plainly than imply otherwise. What it means in practice is that the subcontractors are local and our own visits are planned around the stages that need them. If you want a builder who drives past your lot twice a day, we are not that on a Millsboro job, and you should weigh it.
Nearby towns we build in
Millsboro sits in Sussex County. We cover the rest of it too, and the main site has our completed work and how we price a build.
Thinking about building in Millsboro?
Send us the parcel number and we will tell you what we find before you spend anything. Zoning district, sewer or septic, who reviews it, and whether the lot will take the house you have in mind.