Harvest at Hopewell in O'Fallon, MO

Base prices run from McBride townhomes in the $200s up into the $700s for a Fischer & Frichtel Heritage plan, read off the builders' own sites in September 2026. But a base price is not what anyone pays: add 25-50% for the lot and upgrades. The builders' own listings bear that out. A Cottages plan based in the $330s is listed finished in the high $400s. Ask us for today's numbers before you budget against any of this.

McBride, Fischer & Frichtel and Consort, all three selling. McBride is the volume builder: lowest entry price, least room to change things. Consort starts highest and customises most. Fischer & Frichtel sits between them with three price tiers. As Kellie puts it, none of that makes one better than another. A builder either keeps costs down by building one product, or builds flexibility into the price.

It is billed yearly and it runs higher than most subdivisions out here, which is what 47 acres of common ground, nine lakes and ponds, the trails and the town square cost to keep up. Some Fischer & Frichtel villa and cottage sections add a monthly fee on top that covers lawn care and snow removal. The figure moves, and it is different by village, so ask us for the current one rather than budgeting off a number you read anywhere.

Yes, and it is the thing to know before you pick a lot. A permanent electrical substation sits immediately beside the neighborhood on Hopewell Road, owned by Central Electric Power Cooperative, with a permanent easement across the site. The lines mostly cross common ground, but a number of lots back directly onto them and some are otherwise attractive cul-de-sac lots. Walk the lot before you commit.

It is two lanes and already congested at school times. A $131 million multi-phase plan widens it to four between Lake St. Louis Boulevard and Highway Z, adds turn lanes and replaces some roundabouts with signals. Long term that is good news. Short term it means a few years of road construction.

Wentzville R-IV, not the Fort Zumwalt district most O'Fallon addresses feed. Duello Elementary, Frontier Middle and Liberty High, with Liberty about five minutes away. The mailing address is O'Fallon, so this surprises people. Confirm the assignment for a specific address with the district before you buy.

O'Fallon, and only since 2021. It was unincorporated ground until O'Fallon annexed it, and it sits where O'Fallon, Lake St. Louis and Wentzville meet. Locals call it the Highway N and Highway 40 corridor. Zip code 63385, Wentzville schools, Shoppes at Hawk Ridge for shopping.

Budget nine to twelve months and treat the closing date as a moving target. A builder typically cannot commit to a firm date until the drywall is up, and the slowest stretch is the permitting at the start, when it looks like nothing is happening for weeks. Builders also will not start on a home-sale contingency, so if you have a house to sell, plan the gap.

The structural ones, before anything cosmetic. A three-car garage, a walkout, vaulted ceilings, an extra bathroom, a deeper pour in the lower level, rough-ins for a future bathroom or wet bar: none of those can be added later without tearing something out. Flooring and light fixtures you can change any time. Same for the lot. A cul-de-sac or a lot backing to trees is money better spent than upgraded carpet.

You don't need one, but the person in the display home works for the builder and somebody should work for you. In almost every new construction purchase the builder pays the buyer agent commission, so representation costs you nothing directly. With three builders here running three different processes, the comparison is the part that is genuinely hard to do alone.