Best Areas to Build a Custom Home Near Portland, Oregon

Sherwood and Hillsboro: Suburban Custom Homes Near Portland

Portland draws people for a lot of reasons — the culture, the food, the access to mountains and coast. But when it comes time to build a custom home, many buyers look beyond the city itself to surrounding communities that offer more land, lower costs, and a lifestyle that's harder to find inside the urban growth boundary. The greater Portland region is uniquely positioned: within 30–45 minutes of downtown, you can find everything from suburban lots in top school districts to rural acreage with vineyard views. The question isn't whether you can build a custom home near Portland — it's where the right fit is for you.

Yamhill County: Wine Country Custom Homes Within Reach of Portland

Sherwood has emerged as one of the most popular choices for custom home buyers who want suburban amenities with a small-town feel. Located in southern Washington County, Sherwood offers a top-rated school district, a charming Old Town, and a 20-minute drive to both downtown Portland and the beginning of wine country. Lots here tend to be smaller than rural builds but large enough for a well-designed custom home, and the community's growth has brought excellent parks and local services. Hillsboro, the largest city in Washington County, offers a different appeal: proximity to Intel and the tech corridor, diverse neighborhoods ranging from established to newly developed, and MAX Light Rail access to Portland. Custom builds in Hillsboro often serve families who work in tech and want a home designed to their specific standards rather than a production builder's template.

Cost Advantages of Building Outside the Portland Metro Core

For buyers drawn to rural character and wine country living, Yamhill County offers exceptional options within commuting distance of Portland. McMinnville — the county seat and cultural hub of wine country — sits about 40 miles southwest of Portland and has become a destination in its own right, with a nationally recognized downtown, farm-to-table dining, and the kind of community identity that larger cities struggle to maintain. Newberg, 25 miles from Portland, serves as the gateway to wine country and offers a growing downtown, George Fox University, and hilltop lots with panoramic views of the Chehalem Valley. Dundee, Carlton, and Dayton — smaller towns within the wine country corridor — offer estate-sized parcels, vineyard views, and the privacy that comes with rural building. These communities deliver a quality of life that's hard to replicate closer to the city.

Where Creekside Homes Builds

The cost dynamics shift meaningfully once you look beyond the Portland metro core. Land in Yamhill County typically runs 30–50% less than comparable parcels in Washington or Clackamas County, and construction labor costs are lower as well. Permitting in Yamhill County is generally more straightforward than in Portland-area jurisdictions, which translates to shorter timelines and fewer delays. For buyers willing to trade a slightly longer commute for more home and more land, the value proposition is compelling. We regularly work with clients who started their search in the Portland suburbs and discovered that wine country gives them the custom home they actually want — not a compromised version of it.

Creekside Homes builds throughout this region — from Sherwood and Hillsboro in Washington County through every community in Yamhill County. We're based in McMinnville, which gives us deep local knowledge in wine country, and we've maintained strong relationships with subcontractors, permitting offices, and engineers across both counties. Whether your ideal site is a half-acre lot in Sherwood or a 20-acre parcel in the Dundee Hills, we can walk you through what's involved in building there — honestly, and without the sales pitch.

Ready to talk about your project? Reach out to Creekside Homes — we'll give you an honest assessment of what's involved and how we can help.