New Construction: What the Builder’s Warranty Covers — and When It Runs Out

When everything in the house is brand new, coverage feels like the last thing you need. And for the first year or so, that's fair — your builder is on the hook for a lot. The trouble is that a builder's warranty expires in layers, most of them quietly, and almost nobody notices the day the good part ends.

The 1-2-10 structure

Most production builders in the U.S. write some version of the same three-tier warranty:

• Year 1 — workmanship and materials. The broadest year by far. Drywall cracks, sticking doors, paint defects, tile and grout, leaky fixtures, trim, hardware.
• Years 1–2 — systems. The distribution side of plumbing, electrical, heating, and cooling: ductwork, wiring, supply and waste lines.
• Years 1–10 — structural. Only major structural defects — load-bearing framing, foundation failure serious enough to make the home unsafe. This tier is much narrower than the number "10 years" makes it sound.

Read your own document rather than trusting the summary. Terms vary by builder and by state, and a few states require specific coverage that others don't.

What the builder's warranty doesn't touch

This is where new-construction owners get surprised:

• Appliances. Your refrigerator, range, dishwasher, washer, and dryer are covered by the manufacturer, not the builder — typically one year, sometimes less on parts.
• The equipment itself, past year two. The furnace and air conditioner are usually covered by the manufacturer for parts on a longer schedule, but labor is often only a year, and labor is most of the bill.
• Normal wear and tear. Builder warranties cover defects — something built or installed wrong. They do not cover things that simply wear out.
• Maintenance items. Filters, flushes, batteries, caulking, and anything a homeowner was supposed to do and didn't.

The 11-month walkthrough is the whole ballgame

Put a reminder on your calendar for month ten. Walk the house room by room and write down every defect, however small, then submit the list in writing before the one-year mark. Builders honor documented, in-window requests far more readily than a phone call in month fourteen.

Check the things that only reveal themselves after a season: doors and windows that stick after the frame dried out, nail pops, grout cracks, grading that pools water toward the foundation, HVAC rooms that never get comfortable, and any outlet or switch that has never worked.

The gap years

Here's the pattern. Appliance coverage ends around month twelve. Workmanship ends at month twelve. Systems coverage ends at month twenty-four. Structural stays, but only for catastrophic defects that most homes never have. From roughly year three onward, a "new" house is financially the same as any other house — except the owner still feels like it's new and usually has no plan for a failure.

That matters because the bills don't scale down for young homes. Industry figures put a full AC system replacement in the range of $5,000–$12,000 depending on size and efficiency, a water heater replacement around $1,200–$2,500, and a typical refrigerator or dishwasher repair at $200–$650. A builder-grade water heater that fails in year seven costs the same as any other.

Where a home warranty fits

A home warranty covers the opposite thing from a builder warranty: not construction defects, but the mechanical failures that come with age and use. When a covered system or appliance fails from normal wear and tear, you file a claim, pay a flat service fee, and a licensed technician handles the covered repair or replacement under your plan's terms.

Two practical notes. First, don't double-pay — while an item is still under the builder's or manufacturer's warranty, that coverage comes first, and warranty plans generally exclude what someone else is already obligated to fix. Second, don't wait until something is failing to shop, because problems that already exist when coverage begins are excluded across the industry. The natural moment is as your builder's window closes.

The short version

New construction buys you a couple of very good years, not a decade. Use the 11-month walkthrough hard, know exactly which month each tier ends, and have a plan for year three — that's the one nobody circles on the calendar.