A custom home builder in Hollis, ME works with lot rules written around septic soils and groundwater: 2 acres in the RR2 zone, 3 in RR3 and 5 near Killick Pond. We match your house to its zone before the drawings start.
Building a custom home in Hollis, Maine is what this guide walks through, in a rural York County town along the Saco River with no public water or sewer. The service is a complete house on land you own, from the lot walk and septic design through foundation, framing, finishes and a walkthrough at the end.
Hollis zones house lots by soil and groundwater, so the zone on your parcel sets the acreage, frontage and setbacks before any design does. Custom Home Builder Biddeford reads that zone first, then prices the septic, the well and the drive in writing.
Worth knowing: the town counts an acre as 40,000 square feet, and a 2,200 sq ft Hollis house averages $627,000 to $726,000 at the simple tier, before land and site work.
Hollis lot sizes change from zone to zone because the town drew them around septic soils and groundwater. RR3 asks 3 acres where soils are not ideal for septic, and the North Hollis conservation zone asks 5 over the aquifer.
Test pits on wetter ground, like the hydric soils around Hollis Center
Front setbacks laid out 50 feet from the right-of-way, or 75 from a three-rod road's center
Lot coverage kept under the cap: 15 percent in RR3, 20 in RR2
Free estimate requests
Permit filed with the town
Final walkthrough together
Neighboring towns
A new Hollis house involves a zone, a soil test and sometimes a teardown.
The Hollis zoning ordinance, amended June 2026, counts an acre as a builder's acre of 40,000 square feet. An RR3 lot is 120,000 square feet with 250 feet of frontage and a 35-foot height cap.
Three builder's acres is less land than three survey acres. We check the deed's square footage before siting the house.
The town's 2008 plan puts nearly half of Hollis over significant aquifers, almost all land north of Haley Road among them. The ordinance calls the North Hollis and West Buxton village zones sandy, gravelly ground with high potential groundwater yields.
To keep septic systems off that water, the town sets larger lots there: 2 acres in West Buxton village, 5 near Killick Pond.
An older Hollis house that sits inside today's setback can still be replaced near its old spot. The ordinance allows it when the permit comes within one year of removal and the new house meets the setback as far as the Code Enforcement Officer finds practical.
That one-year window is the deadline in a Hollis knockdown. We line up drawings and septic design before demolition.
Hollis builds draw on these.
Hollis Code Enforcement works from the 2021 IRC and IECC and takes most permit applications online. We file yours with the plans; the Code Enforcement Officer decides.
We walk your Hollis parcel, confirm its zone and square footage, and set test pits with the site evaluator.
Your plans, the septic design and the drive are priced in writing before any ground is broken.
Footings go below frost, weekly updates run to the finish, and the last day is a walkthrough together.
You choose a custom home builder in Hollis, ME by asking which zone your lot sits in and what that zone allows. A builder who cannot answer has not read the ordinance that sizes your lot.
Next, ask what energy standard they build to. Hollis has more than 4,000 residents, so it enforces MUBEC.
We build tighter than that minimum. Mineral wool, careful air sealing, an ERV for fresh air and a cold-climate heat pump keep a Hollis house dry and even.
New houses in Hollis are built by people who want two acres or more within reach of Portland. That pull grew the town 85.4 percent from 1980 to 1990.
The ground takes a septic most easily in western Hollis, north of Route 202 and west of Route 117, according to the 2008 comprehensive plan.
A Hollis build should start most of a year ahead of move-in, so design and permits finish before a spring-to-fall foundation pour. A Saco River lot adds a Saco River Corridor Commission permit.
A new Hollis house costs $285 to $330 a square foot for simple and efficient work, $330 to $395 for mid-range custom and $395 to $445+ when the detail runs high, turnkey but before land. Each band averages many builds.
| Finish tier | What it usually means | Average per sq ft | A 2,200 sq ft house |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simple and efficient | A cape with vinyl siding and windows, click flooring | $285 to $330 | $627,000 to $726,000 |
| Mid-range custom | A farmhouse with engineered wood siding, more tile | $330 to $395 | $726,000 to $869,000 |
| High detail | Fiberglass windows, a metal roof, custom cabinetry | $395 to $445+ | $869,000 to $979,000+ |
Hollis averages for a turnkey house, land excluded. Well, septic and site work follow below.
In Hollis a drilled well runs $14,000 to $24,000 and a septic $16,000 to $40,000, since every house supplies its own water and wastewater. Hydric soil like Hollis Center's pushes a septic toward the top.
Site work on a Hollis lot that is already cleared and near power adds about $70,000 to $95,000 with well, septic and power counted. Ledge under a wooded lot, or a long driveway, can push that past $150,000.
A Hollis house moves within its tier on finishes, a full basement versus a frost wall and slab, and the builder's model. In-house trades tighten control of the calendar; subcontracted trades put a dedicated crew on each part.
Tell us the road, acreage and zone of your Hollis lot with a free estimate request. Then we walk it and hand you a written price.
