The home you’ve imagined, built on your land. Josh McMahon leads every project personally, from the first conversation to the final walkthrough, on a fixed-price contract with no surprises.
Building a custom home is one of the biggest decisions you’ll make, and it can feel overwhelming before it feels exciting. There’s a lot riding on it: your budget, your land, your family’s next chapter. It’s easy to worry about hidden costs, shifting timelines, or losing track of who’s actually in charge of your project. Josh McMahon built McMahon Custom Homes to take that weight off your shoulders. He’s been building homes across Central Virginia since 2006, and he leads every project himself, from the first walk of your land to the day you get your keys. One person, one phone number, and twenty years of experience standing behind every decision.
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Not sure yet which type of build is right for you? McMahon builds every new home on your lot, with one fixed price and one builder from first call to final walkthrough.
$2M+ BUILDS
For builds in the $2M-plus range, where the details matter most. Bespoke finishes, specialty rooms, and an extended pre-construction process built for a home at this level.
LOWER UTILITY COSTS
For buyers who care more about long-term utility bills than square footage. Built around insulation, air sealing, and mechanical systems that keep energy costs low for decades.
OPEN LAYOUT
The open layout and flexibility of a barndominium starts here. From a steel-frame shell to fully finished living space, Josh handles every stage himself.
FAMILY SPACE
A self-contained second living space on your property, its own kitchen, bathroom, and entrance. Attached to the main house or fully detached, built for family who need their own space nearby.
Most people start a custom build with a piece of land or a location in mind, not a finished floor plan. That’s the right place to start. Before you commit, it helps to know whether your lot can support the home you want: soil conditions, well and septic feasibility, setbacks, and grading all affect what’s possible and what it costs. It also helps to know your must-haves versus your nice-to-haves before design begins, since changes get more expensive the later they happen. Josh has walked lots across Goochland, Powhatan, Hanover, Chesterfield, Richmond, and Charlottesville for two decades, so he can usually tell you early what a piece of land will actually support before you’ve spent a dollar on design.
McMahon is based in Goochland and builds across Goochland, Powhatan, Hanover, Richmond, Chesterfield, and Charlottesville/Albemarle County. Each of these markets has its own site conditions, from Goochland’s rolling acreage to Chesterfield’s mix of established neighborhoods and newer development to Powhatan’s larger, more private wooded lots. Well and septic requirements, soil type, and county permitting timelines all vary by locality, and Josh’s familiarity with each market means fewer surprises during site evaluation and permitting. Charlottesville and Albemarle County are a newer market for McMahon, and Josh is building the same kind of local relationships there that he’s built everywhere else he works.
Pre-Construction Planning
3–4 months. Site evaluation, design, specifications, and permitting, all finalized before construction starts. This is where your fixed price gets locked in.
Construction
5–24 months, depending on size and complexity. You get weekly progress updates straight from Josh, the person actually running your build.
New Home Orientation
A full walkthrough of your finished home before closing, covering systems, finishes, and maintenance.
Close
Final paperwork and keys in hand.
One-Year Warranty
Full coverage on workmanship for the first year in your home.
Lifetime of Memories
The part that was the point all along.
McMahon is veteran-owned and locally owned, licensed by the Virginia DPOR (RBC #2705194257), and affiliated with NAHB. Josh personally evaluates your land, runs your build day to day, and is the one who hands you the keys at the end. Add a fixed-price contract, weekly updates straight from him, and a 5.0-star rating built one project at a time, and it’s clear why clients trust him with something this big.
Not sure which type of build fits your land and your budget? Every option above starts the same way: build-on-your-lot, fixed-price, one builder from start to finish.
Every great custom home starts with a conversation. Let’s walk your site, talk through what you’re picturing, and figure out what it takes to get there.
Most McMahon builds run 3 to 4 months of pre-construction planning, followed by 5 to 24 months of construction depending on the size and complexity of the home. Pre-construction is where your design, specifications, and permitting get finalized and your fixed price gets locked in, so the timeline is predictable from day one. After construction wraps, you'll walk through the finished home during New Home Orientation before closing.
Ask how the builder prices a job. Fixed-price means you know your number before construction starts, cost-plus means you don't. Ask who's actually on site day to day, since some builders hand your project to a rotating project manager once the contract is signed. Check their license status with the Virginia DPOR, ask about NAHB affiliation, and see how long they've actually been building in your area versus how long the company has existed on paper.
Beyond price and licensing, ask about the things that come up mid-build. Find out whether subcontractors will do the work or the builder will be on site personally. Design changes are common once construction starts, so ask how those get handled under a fixed price. It's also worth asking what happens if something unexpected turns up on your lot, like rock or a high water table, during excavation. At McMahon, Josh answers all of this himself, since he's the one actually on site.
