Searching for a custom home builder in Clarkston, MI who can offer more than a rural lot and a long solo build? Evergreen Homes builds award-winning new homes at The Reserve at Crystal Lake, a lakefront community about 30 minutes southwest in Commerce Township. Family-owned for 25 years, we help Clarkston buyers trade a bare lot for lakefront living.
If you are weighing your next move around Clarkston, you have likely pictured two versions of it. In one, you find a rural lot on a wooded acre or two, hire a builder, and start from a blank sheet, hoping the well, the septic, the driveway, and the finished home all land where you want them. In the other, you keep the space and privacy you love about the area but let someone else carry the risk. This page is about that second path.
Building on your own Clarkston lot can be rewarding, and for some families it is exactly right. But it is also a lot to shoulder alone: site work surprises, a longer timeline, and a home with no neighbors, no shared amenities, and no community to grow into. Evergreen Homes offers a different option. For a short drive southwest, you move into The Reserve at Crystal Lake, a private lakefront community where the hard parts are already solved, and the lifestyle is already built in. You keep the calm you wanted near Clarkston and gain a lake, a beach, and neighbors who chose the same thing.
Think of it as a lifestyle shift rather than a downgrade. You are not giving up a dream home. You are trading an isolated build for a finished setting with luxury already included, a published starting point of $609,900, and a team that has done this hundreds of times.
The private 40-acre lake is the heart of The Reserve. It is calm, quiet water made for electric boats, kayaks, canoes, and paddle boards, the kind of evenings-and-weekends water that a wooded Clarkston lot rarely comes with. And the outdoors do not end at the community edge. The Reserve sits adjacent to Proud Lake Recreation Area, roughly 3,000 acres on the scenic Huron River with an extensive trail system for hiking, paddling, and riding. For buyers who love the rural feel around Clarkston, this keeps the nature and adds a shoreline.
The clearest way to understand the choice is to put the two experiences side by side. Here is how a home at The Reserve compares to a from-scratch build on a private Clarkston lot, feature for feature and in plain terms, not dollar figures.
| A Rural Clarkston Lot-to-Build | A Home at The Reserve at Crystal Lake |
|---|---|
| A private lot, but your view stops at your own property line. | A private 40-acre lake at the center of the community, with a boat dock for electric boats, kayaks, canoes, and paddle boards. |
| An isolated build with no shared amenities and no neighbors nearby. | A 203-home-site community with a private beach and beach house, so recreation and neighbors are part of daily life. |
| An unproven site where every result rides on your own decisions and results in added costs. | A community named 2025 Development of the Year by the Home Builders Association of Southeastern Michigan. |
| Nature is whatever happens to border your parcel. | Adjacent to Proud Lake Recreation Area, roughly 3,000 acres on the Huron River with an extensive trail system. |
The Reserve offers four distinct floor plans in Craftsman, Eastern Seaboard, and Farmhouse styles, ranging from 2,570 to 3,250+ square feet. Homes start from $609,900 and can be personalized, so whether you are an empty-nester ready to simplify or a growing family that needs more room, there is a layout built around how you actually live.
The Avalon is a special floorplan in that it offers a first-floor owner's suite, so the main living happens on one floor, and it comes with a standard 2.5-car garage. For empty-nesters leaving a larger Clarkston home behind, that first-floor owner's suite is often the deciding feature. The Madison is a well-balanced two-story plan with defined living zones and generous gathering space, a strong fit for move-up families who want room to spread out. The Newport offers the flexibility to add a third full bathroom upstairs, creating an en suite bedroom, an optional first-floor in-law’s suite, or a spacious second-floor loft. The Chelsea rounds out the lineup with a flexible layout you can tailor to your bedroom count and living space.
Here is a simple way to match a plan to your household, based on features rather than price:
| If This Sounds Like You | Start With This Plan |
|---|---|
| Empty-nesters who want main-floor living and less stair-climbing | Avalon, for its first-floor owner's suite and standard 2.5-car garage |
| A move-up family wanting clear zones for gathering and quiet | Madison, a balanced two-story with defined living areas |
| Multi-generational households or buyers who want room to adapt | Newport, with an optional first-floor in-law suite or upstairs en suite |
| Buyers who want to shape bedroom count and space to their own routine | Chelsea, the most flexible layout in the lineup |
If you are used to premium finishes showing up as line-item extras, The Reserve works the other way. The standard features here are genuinely standard, part of the base price rather than upgrades you negotiate later:
For Clarkston buyers comparing quotes, that is the number that matters. A low starting price means little if the granite, the windows, and the appliances are all billed on top. At The Reserve, the finishes most builders treat as upgrades are already in the base price, so the value you see is closer to the value you get. Structural options and finish selections you choose to personalize your home are quoted individually, with no surprises before you commit.
Choosing a builder is really choosing who you trust. Evergreen Homes has spent 25 years earning that trust near Clarkston and across Southeast Michigan. Our work and our community have both been recognized by the Home Builders Association of Southeastern Michigan: The Reserve was named 2025 Development of the Year, the Avalon, with its first-floor owner's suite, earned the 2025 Blue Ribbon Award, and the Madison earned the 2024 Blue Ribbon Award.
We are also members of the Home Builders Association of Southeastern Michigan, and we are family-owned and operated. Jon, the owner and builder, is on-site every day, which is uncommon in this market and shows in the finished work. You can meet the builder and read countless homeowner testimonials that describe us the same way: honest, responsive, and fair. When you want to talk numbers, our team can walk you through construction loan guidance and preferred lender options.
The Reserve sits about 30 minutes southwest of Clarkston, and for most buyers, that drive is the easiest part of the decision. Half an hour is a normal commute, and what waits at the other end is a private lake, a beach house, and a finished community instead of a bare lot and a construction schedule you manage alone. Many families find the trade is well worth the few extra minutes.
Schools are part of the picture too. Coming from Clarkston Community Schools, a move to The Reserve places you within Huron Valley Schools, served by Country Oaks Elementary, Oak Valley Middle, and Lakeland High. It is worth comparing those assignments against your current district as you weigh the move, especially if you have children still in school or are thinking ahead to resale.
Timing is straightforward as well. Most homes take about 10 to 12 months to build from signing, so you can plan your move with confidence rather than guessing. If your timeline is tighter, our quick move-in homes are already under construction or near completion, so you can settle into the community sooner without designing from scratch. Either way, you can also explore personalization options to make a proven plan feel uniquely yours.
