Our team
Small on purpose. Vetted on principle.
“We don't have a traditional model home — our ‘model’ is the home we're currently building. We don't have a huge staff or fancy videos or commercials. We do work with very talented designers and craftsmen. Our vendors, mechanical trades, and subcontractors are carefully vetted, too.”
Who you'll talk to
Four people. No call center.
On a custom build, what matters most is who is on the other end of the phone when something needs deciding. Here it is one of the four people on this page: Aaron and Sherry, who own the company, and Phil and Wanda, who run the open houses and help check the work on site.
We don't employ outside agents or call centers. When you call one of us, somebody from our team — this team — will return your call.
Aaron Vaughn
Builder | Co-Owner
Ever since he was 8 years old, Aaron dreamed of being a homebuilder. He spent summers on the family farm in Oregon where his mom grew up, listening intently to his Grandpa Earl's stories of building his rural Oregon town from scratch — with the help of Earl's brothers and other members of the local Malin community. After college and several unrelated career stops, Aaron finally built his first home in 1994. He owned or co-owned three homebuilding companies before creating Vaughn Custom Homes with his wife, Sherry, in 2021 in the Texas Hill Country.
Sherry Vaughn
Office Support | Co-Owner
Married to Aaron since 2002, Sherry has decades of experience as a project coordinator for a major engineering firm. She spent many hours of her working life in a single-wide jobsite trailer helping the contractors and engineers communicate and function effectively. Sherry uses that acumen to help keep the back-office side of our business efficient and legally compliant. She also helps us create exceptionally functional floorplans that marry architectural design flair with practical needs like ample and varied storage areas that serve a thoughtful family workflow layout.
Phil Walsh
Director of Client Services
Phil handles client communication, jobsite open houses, and construction quality control. He has decades of real estate experience, which includes owning a real estate brokerage, being an experienced handyman, and helping out around his own house. Phil lives his life with integrity and compassion, and is an exceptional client advocate.
Wanda Walsh
Client Support | Design Consultant
Wanda supports Phil with clients and open houses. She also helps with on-site quality assurance reviews and interior design issues. She can be spotted on occasion at the jobsite open houses. Her instincts for design and workmanship issues are an integral part of our constant quality review program.
- Your calls are returned by one of us — no outside agents, no call center.
- One of the team members walks the jobsite daily.
- Aaron or Phil walks the jobsite before the weekly client update calls are made.
- Aaron or Phil attends each walk-through.
- One of us sits in on your intake meeting and your design preview alongside the designers.
Since 1994
Four company names. One trade, the whole way through.
Aaron has been building houses under his own name since 1994 — long enough that the first clients' children are buying houses of their own. A construction loan is a serious thing to hand somebody; this is the track record behind it.
Wilson/Vaughn Construction, Inc.
1994–2002
The first house, built under his grandfather Earl Wilson's name. The original 1994 permit still has Aaron's name on it.
Evergreen State Builders
2002–2005
Co-founded with a partner in Washington State: a production builder that closed hundreds of homes across Pierce and Thurston counties. Where the scheduling and cost discipline came from. Aaron sold his shares to his partner in 2005.
Conifer Homes
2005–2021
Sixteen years and the longest single chapter — the bulk of the houses behind him.
Conifer Builders LLC, dba Vaughn Custom Homes
2021–present
Build-on-your-lot custom homes across the Texas Hill Country, deliberately kept to a handful of houses at a time. The dba is registered with the State of Texas.
The full three-generation story — Earl Wilson building by hand before plywood was easy to get, and the 1994 permit with Aaron's name on it — is on our story page.
The bench
The team is bigger than the payroll.
A big staff is a fixed cost that ends up inside your house. Real quality depends on the hands holding the tools, and how many houses those hands have finished for him. Aaron's list is short, repeat-booked, and vetted before anyone gets near your slab.
- Architectural designer
- Runs the intake meeting and draws your preliminary plans — floor plan, front elevation, electrical plan and site plan — with one of us working alongside them on your behalf.
- Interior designer
- Holds a design preview meeting early, then takes you through interior and exterior selections so the specifications book and allowance schedule match the house you actually pictured.
- Vendors and mechanical trades
- The trades who put the systems in the walls. Carefully vetted, used repeatedly, and held to the same standard on the fifth house as the first.
- Subcontractors and craftsmen
- Talented people Aaron has already stood behind on finished homes. Third-party and internal quality control inspections check the work either way.
Your calls go to the four people on this page, never an outside agent or call center, and one of us returns them. One of us walks the jobsite every day, and Aaron or Phil walks it before each weekly client update call. There is no account manager between you and the people responsible for the house.
See how a build runsFrom the family albums
Some young, some old.
The people you'll be talking to, then and now — plus the two office helpers who never miss a day.
Aaron, long before his first build. Sherry at Magnolia Market in Waco. Phil, off the clock. 
Young Aaron. 
Phil and Wanda. 
Phil and Wanda Walsh. Gizmo, office helper. Mister, office helper.
Come and meet us
The best way to meet the team is on a job site.
Walk a finished Vaughn home and one that's still in framing, talk to the clients living in them, and decide for yourself. That's the first step here — not a contract.