In the past two months, at least three homebuilding companies have either expanded or moved into new design centers in Brunswick County.

The emphasis on providing customers with more choices when it comes to the details of new homes, from flooring to countertops, seems to coincide with a rise in the construction of single-family homes in recent years throughout the Cape Fear region.

In Brunswick County, for example, building permits for 553 single-family residences were issued from March to August of this year, an increase of 69 homes over the same period last year.

Logan Homes, at 60 Gregory Road in Belville, is putting the finishing touches on its 10,000-square-foot design studio, located in a building the company moved into about 10 years ago. As previous tenants moved out of first-floor offices in the building, Logan Homes stopped leasing them out.

“Our company was growing in such a way that we needed the space,” said PJ Kelly, division manager for Logan Homes. “Then we made the decision to triple the size of the design studio. . . We just felt that we were at a place with our company that we needed more features, newer things that people in the market were asking for.”

In September, Trusst Builder Group opened offices and a design center in 2,500 square feet of space at 481 Olde Waterford Way in the Waterford Business Center, not far from the Logan Homes design studio.

“Here, they come to personalize their choices,” said Shawn Horton, broker and owner of Trusst, a builder and developer of homes and neighborhoods throughout New Hanover and Brunswick counties.

Trusst hired a design coordinator, Kristi Fisher, to help clients and provide input for the layout of the company’s new center.

“Selecting finishes for an entire new home can be a daunting task for some buyers, and Kristi quickly puts them at ease and uses her expertise to guide their decision-making,” Horton said.

With the options in one place, “there’s no need to ride around to a bunch of different vendors in town,” he said.

Builders aren’t the only group in the industry to be capitalizing on high expectations for the market in Brunswick County.

In the suite next to Trusst is the Leland office for Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Advantage, for which Horton is a broker.

The realty firm moved from Magnolia Greens to the 3,500-square-foot office in August.

“We’re seeing a return of confidence in the Cape Fear real estate market and felt this was an ideal time to invest in a commercial building,” Tim Milam, president of Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Advantage, said in a news release. “Brunswick County is poised to grow significantly in the near future, and this area in particular with the completion of the I-140 extension” to U.S. 17.

In July, JordanBuilt Signature Homes opened an 1,800-square-foot office in Suite 204 at 1120 E. Cutlar Crossing, on the other side of U.S. 17 from Waterford Business Center, said Cress Bell, division manager. He said half of the space is devoted to a design center.

“We try to cater to about everything we can with the space that we have,” said Bell, referring to the options the company’s clients can see in the design center, which is located in The Villages at Brunswick Forest.

All three companies have numerous projects in the works.

For one example, Trusst Builder Group is currently working on The Forks at Gallery Park, which consists of 72 single-family homes and 52 townhomes at 17th Street and Independence Boulevard, adjacent to the Cameron Art Museum and Halyburton Park in Wilmington.

Helms Port, a residential development underway off Masonboro Loop Road in Wilmington, is a current project for Logan Homes. The development will include 159 houses that start at $400,000, a 75-slip marina, a pool and a clubhouse, according to promotional materials.

Off Middle Sound Loop on the Intracoastal Waterway, JordanBuilt Signature Homes has partnered with the Mason Harbor Yacht Club Community to build high-end homes.