Garner Homes: Building client trust through predictable pricing with CBUSA
Learn how this long-time CBUSA member uses national contracts to guarantee material costs – giving clients peace of mind months before construction begins.
Who is Garner Homes?
For Trey Garner, founder and president of Garner Homes in Boerne, Texas, building homes is more than a career – it’s a calling rooted in craftsmanship, transparency and a deep respect for the people who live in the homes his team designs.
“I started the company in 1998 after working for a large commercial construction firm,” Trey said. “I decided to jump into residential as a custom builder.”
Since their first home in the prestigious Cordillera Ranch community in 2005, Trey and his team have focused their efforts on Texas’s Hill Country, building 12 to 15 custom homes each year with an average home price of $2.3 million.
What sets Garner Homes apart isn’t just the caliber of their projects – it’s the meticulous planning and care that happens before a shovel ever hits the ground.
“We’re big believers in spending a lot of time in pre-construction,” Trey said. “Getting the design right, ironing out the details, making sure pricing is extremely accurate – so once we start building, we’re really just executing a well-thought-out plan.”
Company name
Garner Homes
Industry
Custom homes
Location
San Antonio, Texas
That upfront clarity gives clients more than peace of mind. It gives them control.
Today, Garner Homes continues to thrive with that same thoughtful, people-first approach that Trey started with over 25 years ago – only now, they’ve built a legacy of trust and a portfolio of stunning custom homes.
Seeing the benefits: Buying power meets builder community
Garner Homes isn’t just building dream homes – they’re building smarter, thanks in part to the power of partnership. Trey and his team were early adopters of CBUSA’s group purchasing model, joining the San Antonio market chapter back in 2007 when the concept was still just getting started.
“Bill Smithers and Brian Pavlick came to town and got things going,” Trey recalled. “We were one of the first CBUSA groups. The idea just made sense – if we pull our purchasing power together with other like-minded custom home builders, we can get better pricing. That’s always been the goal.”
Before CBUSA, Trey had seen similar ideas try and fail – local GPOs that didn’t quite gain traction. But this one felt different. With a formalized structure, national reach and a team behind the scenes driving it forward, CBUSA brought a level of organization and reliability that gave builders confidence.
“It’s more than just a pricing tool,” Trey said. “CBUSA has grown a lot over the years and offers way more value now than they used to. From national contracts to education and networking, they’ve really become a strategic partner in our business.”
And that partnership goes beyond price tags – it’s helped Garner Homes deliver a better experience to their clients, too.
“Being a part of CBUSA allows us to be competitively priced,” said Natalie Johnson, general manager at Garner Homes. “We’re able to lock in pricing with national contracts, which gives us a lot of confidence when we’re budgeting early in a project. We can tell clients with certainty what their materials will cost, not just today but several months down the road.”
“We can offer our clients better pricing than we could ever get on our own – that translates to trust. When you tell a client you’re doing everything you can to keep their costs down – and you can back it up with real numbers – that makes a big difference.”
– Trey Garner, Founder and President of Garner Homes
That kind of foresight is critical in the luxury custom home space, where transparency and accuracy are non-negotiable. With CBUSA’s negotiated pricing and stability, Garner Homes has been able to avoid pricing shocks mid-project – something their clients deeply appreciate.
“It gives us a competitive advantage,” Trey said. “We pass those savings directly to our clients, so they know we’re doing everything we can to keep their costs down. CBUSA is one of the tools we talk about in our client meetings – it’s part of how we show that we’re not just building homes, we’re managing their investment wisely.”
Finding success: Relationships that build stronger business
For Garner Homes, CBUSA isn’t just about better pricing – it’s about better relationships. Since joining, they’ve strengthened their bottom line and expanded their network in ways that have had a lasting impact on their business.
“I think it’s exposed us to some other vendors and suppliers that we might not have been exposed to on our own,” Trey said. “And with that exposure, we’ve found opportunities to bring on new vendors that may or may not have better pricing – but definitely offer better quality or different value. It’s helped us grow our network of trusted partners.”
That access to new vendors, backed by the structure of CBUSA’s national and local agreements, has allowed Garner Homes to make smarter, more strategic decisions when choosing who they work with.
And the connections don’t stop with suppliers. One of the most valuable parts of CBUSA, according to Trey, is the builder community it fosters.
“There’s definitely a networking aspect to it that you don’t get when you’re not interacting with the group,” he said. “It’s nice having a group of like-minded builders to go to if you need advice or want to talk through challenges. It’s a big benefit that goes beyond the contracts.”
For Natalie, CBUSA’s support structure helps level the playing field for smaller builders like them.
“As a small business, we wouldn’t have the power or even the time or capacity to negotiate some of those national contracts without CBUSA,” she said. “They handle that for us – and that kind of support gives us more time to focus on our clients and our builds.”
So, what sets Garner Homes apart in a competitive market like San Antonio?
“It’s the negotiating power and the value CBUSA brings,” Trey said. “We can offer our clients better pricing than we could ever get on our own, and that translates to trust. When you tell a client you’re doing everything you can to keep their costs down – and you can back it up with real numbers – that makes a big difference.”
San Antonio is one of the first markets CBUSA launched over 18 years ago. Will your market be next?
Learn what it takes to open a market in your area or find a current market near you.
Apply to become a member today and start seeing the benefits of building relationships, fostering collaboration and gaining access to cost-saving opportunities.