20+ years
Armando Curiel
Co-owner · Design + estimating
Walked his first Houston build at 19. Now leads design and proposal walks across western Harris and Fort Bend. Speaks fluent HOA paperwork.
ABOUT MONARCH
Built by the people who show up to your build.
Three owners, twenty years in Houston soil, and a refusal to subcontract the parts that matter. Monarch is small on purpose — every project is led by a name you already know.
THE OWNERS
Three names on every proposal.
We’re owner-operators. The same Curiel or Alvarez who walks your yard is the one who texts you when the framers go up. No project managers in front of us; no sales reps quoting jobs they won’t see again.
18+ years
Jose Curiel
Co-owner · Field operations
Runs the build crews and the daily standups. If the framing or hardscape on your project is going up, Jose is on site or on the phone with whoever is.
12+ years
Cris Alvarez
Co-owner · Materials + warranty
Sources every stone, beam, and burner. Owns the year-one warranty walks — the visit at 30, 90, and 365 days where most builders just stop returning calls.
WHAT WE BELIEVE
Five things that don't move.
01
Owner-led, every job.
If the proposal has our name on it, we’re in your yard. The buck stops at three desks, not eight.
02
Specs in writing, not in vibes.
Every joist, beam, footing, and finish coat is called out before you sign. You read a manual, not a marketing slick.
03
Built for Houston, not for a brochure.
Houston clay moves, Houston humidity rusts, Houston wind loads matter. Every spec we write reflects what we’ve watched fail in 20 years here.
04
Fixed price. Real warranty.
Line-item bids, not lump sums. Two-year minimum labor warranty in writing, plus pass-through manufacturer warranties.
05
We come back.
Thirty days. Ninety days. One year. We re-tighten what needs tightening and answer the questions that surface only after you’ve lived with the space.
THE STORY
From one cedar pergola to seven services.
Monarch started in 2009 with a cedar pergola in a Cypress backyard — Armando, a circular saw, and a homeowner who paid in two installments. The work was good enough that the homeowner called back the next year for a covered patio, and the year after for an outdoor kitchen.
That pattern — a yard at a time, slowly adding services as customers asked for them — is how we grew. Jose joined in 2013 to run the build side once we had more than one project up at a time. Cris joined in 2018 to lock in the materials supply chain and the warranty program when the volume needed it.
Today we run seven services across western and northern Houston — covered patios, pergolas, outdoor kitchens, fire features, hardscaping, landscape design, and outdoor lighting. We’re still small on purpose: three owners, two crews, twenty active projects at any given time. Big enough to show up the same day. Small enough that the owner who walked your yard is the one in the truck at the build.
20+
Years building in Houston
640+
Yards built since 2009
5★
Average review across 240+ ratings
100%
Permits + HOA paperwork handled
Want to meet the people who'll build your yard ?
We do every proposal walk in person. No sales reps; no upsell scripts. Just a conversation about what you want and what it costs.