We are so excited to begin the process of building our Texas home! Our home will be built on the Bergheim Texas Ranch, owned by our Son in Law and Daughter. The inspiration for the home is derived from the "Texas Sunday House" style of architecture whereby German farmers and ranchers and their families who lived remotely many miles from a town would build a small (under 1000 sq. ft.) Sunday House in town. This enabled them to travel to the town on Saturday, go to a beer

What a great day as we received all our permits required to build our house in Bergheim, Texas. The shocker for us was how inexpensive these permits were and how simple and quick they were to get. 20 years ago we built our house in Carlsbad, California and I recall the permits were about six months to receive and around $40,000 in total. In Bergheim, Texas, the total permit fee for all permits to build our house was $500. This included a development fee a septic system fee an

From the Texas State Historical Association: Sunday Houses. Sunday houses were small second dwellings maintained near a church as a weekend place of residence. They became popular in the late 1800s among farmers and ranchers who lived in areas too remote to permit commuting to services. The families owning such houses normally left their farms and ranches Saturday morning, journeyed to town, took care of shopping and business, attended an evening dance or party, and spent