Light-filled kitchen with warm wood and navy cabinetry

Custom homes. Personally led.

Oakwood Estate Homes builds custom homes and substantial renovations across the Houston area. Sam Zivley leads each project from early planning through completion, supported by Oakwood's team, trade partners, and the client's design professionals.

Direct leadership

Sam stays closely involved in the decisions that shape your project.

Coordinated project team

Oakwood's team and trade partners support planning, communication, coordination, and construction.

Clear communication

Receive straightforward updates about the budget, schedule, progress, and decisions ahead.

Collaboration with your design team

We work alongside the architect, engineer, and interior designer you choose.

Featured Work

Built around the way you live.

Each project begins with how the client wants to live and what the property can become. Explore a selection of Oakwood's custom residential work and substantial renovations.

View Featured Projects
Caversham pantry with warm wood cabinetry
Caversham Custom Home

Direct leadership. Coordinated execution.

Oakwood combines direct access to leadership with a coordinated team behind the build. Sam stays involved in major decisions while Oakwood's team and trade partners handle the planning, coordination, and construction required to keep the project moving.

Leadership you can reach

Sam remains accessible throughout the project and directly involved in the decisions that affect cost, schedule, quality, and execution.

A team behind the build

Oakwood's project team and trade partners work together to coordinate the many details required to move a custom home from plans to completion.

Clear decisions

We organize upcoming decisions, explain their cost and construction implications, and help you understand what comes next.

Process

A process you can follow.

Building a custom home involves many moving parts. Oakwood keeps the next steps visible and the responsibilities clear.

  1. 1

    Conversation

    We begin with your goals, property, timing, investment expectations, and current plans.

  2. 2

    Planning

    We collaborate with your design team and provide practical cost and construction input as the drawings develop.

  3. 3

    Preconstruction

    Before construction begins, we establish the working budget, preliminary schedule, selections already made, and the decisions still ahead.

  4. 4

    Construction

    Oakwood coordinates the work, communicates progress, and keeps upcoming decisions visible throughout the build.

  5. 5

    Completion

    We review the finished home with you, address the remaining details, and guide the project through final handoff.

Building your first custom home?

You do not need to have every answer before the first conversation.

Oakwood will help you understand the process, the decisions ahead, and the factors affecting cost and schedule. You will know what information is needed, who is responsible for each part of the project, and what happens next.

By the time construction begins, the process should feel less like a mystery and more like a plan you helped shape.

Sam Zivley reviewing project plans

The Principal

Meet Sam Zivley.

Sam Zivley brings more than a decade of experience across residential construction, roofing, property operations, and real estate. He began working in construction while completing his undergraduate studies and has remained closely involved in the residential building industry ever since.

Get to Know Sam

Let's talk about what you're planning.

Whether you are preparing to build a custom home, considering a substantial renovation, or still evaluating the possibilities, a conversation is the right place to begin.

Tell us where you are in the process and what matters most to you.

Start a Conversation