New Construction Loans in Tennessee —
Draws Funded the Next Day
Single-family, ground-up construction financing for builders and investors who already control the lot. We lend our own capital across Tennessee, with our deepest market knowledge in East Tennessee — so Chris and Flynt price your deal, approve it, and review your draws themselves. Rates from 9.99%, 2–3 points, from $50,000, on 9-month terms. Closings in 10–14 days.
- No third-party inspector
- No tax returns or W-2s
- Extensions for permit delays
- First-time builders considered
★★★★★ 30 five-star Google reviews · 300+ loans funded since 2021 · 65% repeat borrowers
Who this loan is built for
The usual call: someone owns a lot out toward Hardin Valley or Farragut, has a builder ready, and the bank wants three months of underwriting they don't have.
This is your loan if
- You own the lot free and clear, or are closing on it as construction financing starts
- You're building a single-family home — spec, build-to-sell, or your first ground-up project
- The project is in Tennessee
- You have a builder and a permit path, even if permitting is still moving
- You need to move faster than a conventional construction timeline allows
This isn't your loan if
- You're buying raw land with no build plan yet — land alone is a hard exclusion for us
- You're building a duplex, apartment building, or other multifamily project
- The build is outside Tennessee
- It's a primary residence you'll live in — we're a business-purpose lender
- It's a mobile home park or RV park
Two of those deserve a footnote. Multifamily — we do lend on multifamily up to roughly 30 to 40 units, and on commercial. What we don't do is ground-up multifamily construction, so a duplex build is a different conversation than a duplex purchase. Tennessee only — we lend across Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama, and Virginia on our other products, but new construction is a Tennessee product. That's a real boundary, not a soft preference.
Why we can't fund the land by itself
This comes up on nearly every first call, so here it is plainly.
A land loan and a construction loan solve different problems, and lenders treat them separately for a reason. Raw dirt has no square footage, no comps to speak of, and no finished product securing the note. If the project never gets built, there's nothing there but the lot — which is exactly the risk nobody wants to hold.
A construction loan works differently. We're lending against a plan, a builder, and a house that will exist on that lot. The land becomes part of the deal once there's a real construction budget, a permit path, and a build schedule we can track draw by draw. If you already own the lot free and clear, or you're closing on it the same day construction financing starts, that generally structures into the loan cleanly.
This trips up first-time builders more than anything else. You find a good lot, you want to lock it up before someone else does, and you figure the house financing comes later. The instinct makes sense and it's backwards from how construction lending works. Line up the builder and the numbers first, then bring us the lot and the build together — that's the version we can move quickly on.
Draws: the part that actually decides your schedule
On a ground-up build the rate matters less than how fast draws land. A build that stalls two weeks waiting on an inspector costs more than a point ever will.
What a construction draw usually involves
- Itemized invoices for the completed phase
- Signed lien releases from every trade
- A third-party inspector scheduled out to the site
- Three to five business days of waiting, longer in the busy season
- Subs idle, or moved to another job, while the draw clears
What a draw involves with us
- Hit the milestone — foundation poured, framing up, whatever's next
- Walk the site on video and send it over
- Chris or Flynt reviews it — the same people who approved the loan
- Funded the next business day
- No inspector to schedule, no invoices, no lien releases
There's no committee sign-off and no wondering whose desk it's sitting on. That's a direct consequence of lending our own money — the person reading your draw video is the person who underwrote your file.
When permitting slips, and it will
Anyone who's pulled a permit for a new build in Knox County knows the rhythm. Inspections get scheduled, rescheduled, and then you're waiting on the county again.
The 9-month term is built with some room in it, but some projects need more — usually when a permit sits in review or a utility hookup slips somewhere outside your control. Extensions are generally available. The condition is straightforward: stay current on payments and stay in touch with us.
That second part is the one that matters. A borrower calling to say the county pushed an inspection two weeks is a normal Tuesday. Silence is what turns an ordinary delay into a real problem, because by the time we hear about it there's less room to work with. Call when it happens, not sixty days later hoping it resolved itself.
- Stay current on your interest payments
- Give us a specific update on where the permit or inspection actually stands
- Send the paperwork so we can see the real timeline rather than guess at it
Rural and small-town builds add their own variable — a parcel needing a well and septic runs a different approval path than a lot in an established subdivision with utilities already at the road. Worth pricing that time into your schedule before you break ground.
What shapes your rate and terms
Every construction loan is priced to the deal. There's no rate sheet on a wall here.
The range runs 9.99% to 12.99% with 2–3 points on a 9-month term, from $50,000 with no stated maximum. Five things move you within that range:
- Credit history — we're reading whether you generally meet your obligations, not a threshold score. A one-time explainable event doesn't sink a file; a sustained pattern is a different conversation.
- Location — a lot in an established subdivision with utilities at the road prices differently than a rural parcel needing a well and septic.
- Building experience — your third spec home prices differently than your first ground-up project. First-time builders are welcome; experience affects your terms, not your eligibility.
- Income — not verified through tax returns or W-2s, but it factors into how we read the deal.
- Leverage — how much of the total cost you're asking us to carry.
Your commitment letter is your closing terms
The rate and fees we quote don't move between commitment and the closing table — the only exception being if the situation turns out materially different from what was represented. We lend our own capital, so there's no partner above us who can reprice your deal in week two. If another lender's number shifts between approval and closing, that isn't pricing to the deal.
Where we fund builds
Tennessee statewide, with our deepest read on East Tennessee — where we pull our own comps, know the submarkets, and have built ourselves. We also fund small towns and tertiary markets most lenders decline on population alone.
Builders and investors on working with us
All 30 of our Google reviews are five stars.
"They lend their own money so they can be quick and nimble when funding your project."
— Peter Amrein"Working directly with decision makers is invaluable when it comes to lenders."
— David Maier"Local expertise and willingness to problem solve set them apart."
— Brennan LiuNew construction loan questions
Got a lot and a builder ready to go?
Call and talk to the people who decide. One conversation tells you whether we can fund the build, what it costs, and how fast we can close.
(865) 999-8083