New Home Warranty in Texas: What Actually Gets Covered

Buyers in Leander, Georgetown, Hutto and the newer parts of Round Rock and Pflugerville are buying a lot of new construction, and almost all of them have heard the phrase "one two ten." Very few of them have read the document.

Here is what that structure actually is, what it is not, and the one thing a new-build owner should put on the calendar the week they close.

It is a contract, not a Texas law

Start here, because everything else follows from it. Texas does not require a homebuilder to give you a warranty. There is no state agency that administers one. The Texas Residential Construction Commission, which used to exist, was abolished years ago and was not replaced.

So your warranty is whatever your builder's warranty document says it is, and builders write different documents.

The reason the 1-2-10 pattern is so common has a specific legal driver behind it. In 2023, Texas passed HB 2024, which shortened the statute of repose for residential builders from ten years to six years, but only for builders who provide a written warranty meeting stated minimums: at least one year on workmanship and materials, at least two years on plumbing, electrical, heating and air conditioning delivery systems, and at least six years on major structural components.

Why the booklet is not your claim window

Read that again, because it is the part nobody tells buyers. The window in which you can actually bring a claim and the number printed on your warranty booklet are two different things. A booklet that says "10 year structural" does not necessarily mean you have ten years to sue. If you are looking at a real structural problem, talk to a construction attorney about your specific documents and timeline rather than relying on the cover of the booklet.

Separately, Texas courts have long recognized implied warranties on new homes, including an implied warranty of good workmanship and an implied warranty of habitability. How those interact with the express written warranty you signed is a legal question with real case law behind it, and it is not something to sort out from a blog post.

What each tier actually means

Year one: workmanship and materials. This is the broadest coverage you will ever have on the house and it is the shortest. Drywall cracks, paint, trim, cabinet and door alignment, flooring, grout, tile, hardware, caulking, minor roof and flashing issues, and generally anything installed badly. Builders publish tolerance standards, for example how much a floor can be out of level or how wide a concrete crack can be before it is a defect. Those tolerances are in your warranty document and they are the standard your claim gets measured against, not your opinion of what looks right.

Year two: systems. Note the wording in the statute and in most warranties: plumbing, electrical, heating and air conditioning delivery systems. That is the distribution infrastructure. The supply and drain lines, the wiring, the ductwork. It is generally not the equipment itself. Your furnace, condenser, water heater and appliances are covered by the manufacturer's warranties, which have their own terms and their own registration requirements.

Register your equipment. Some manufacturers extend coverage substantially if you register within a window after closing and shorten it if you do not.

Years three through six, or ten: major structural components. This is the narrowest tier by a wide margin, and it is the one buyers most misunderstand. It typically covers designated load-bearing elements: foundation, beams, columns, load-bearing walls and partitions, roof framing systems, floor systems. And it usually requires actual structural failure, meaning the component will no longer safely carry the load it was designed to carry.

What does not count as structural

Cosmetic evidence of movement does not qualify. A cracked brick line, a door that will not latch, a hairline crack across the slab, none of those are structural claims by themselves in most warranty documents. They are evidence you should investigate, not a claim that gets paid.

This matters here specifically. Central Texas clay soil moves. Foundations here move seasonally. Learn what your builder's foundation performance standard says before you need it.

Texas does not require a homebuilder to give you a warranty.

What is not covered

The exclusions section is the part worth reading twice. Common exclusions include:

• Normal wear and tear, and normal deterioration
• Damage from owner neglect or failure to maintain, which is the exclusion invoked most often
• Soil movement caused by the owner's own drainage or irrigation, meaning landscaping that slopes toward the house or sprinklers running against the foundation
• Anything the owner or a third party altered, added or installed after closing, including pools, additions and finished-out spaces
• Consequential and secondary damage, so the warranty may repair the failed pipe and not the flooring the leak ruined
• Appliances and equipment, which fall under manufacturer warranties
• Insurable losses, which belong to your homeowner's policy
• Insect damage, mold in most cases, and anything characterized as an act of nature

What you are required to do

Also watch for what you are required to do. Many warranties require the owner to maintain consistent moisture around the foundation and to keep positive drainage away from the house. If you do not and the foundation moves, the builder will point at that provision.

Builder warranty versus third-party administrator

These are different things and buyers routinely conflate them.

A pure builder warranty is the builder's own promise, backed by the builder's own balance sheet. If the builder is still in business and still cares about its reputation in your neighborhood, this can work fine. If the builder folds or exits the market, the promise is worth what the company is worth.

Third-party administered warranties

A third-party administered warranty is a product from a warranty company. Typically the builder handles years one and two directly, and the administrator backs the structural years, often with insurance behind it. Those programs usually add their own layer of process: a claim form, a response deadline, and frequently mandatory binding arbitration.

Ask which one you are getting before you are under contract, and ask for the actual warranty document, not the sales brochure. Read the dispute resolution section. If it requires arbitration, you may be giving up your right to a jury on a dispute about the house you just bought. Ask a real estate attorney what that clause means before you sign, rather than finding out during a fight.

The 11-month walkthrough

If you take one thing from this article, take this.

Around month ten or eleven, before the one-year workmanship and materials coverage expires, hire an independent inspector to walk the house again and give you a written report. Then submit everything on it to the builder as a warranty claim before the anniversary of your closing date.

This is the highest-return few hundred dollars a new-build owner spends. Here is why. The first year is when the house does its initial settling and when construction shortcuts become visible: the HVAC that never balanced, the roof flashing that leaks only in a driving rain, the grading that sends water toward the foundation, the attic insulation that was never actually blown to depth in the far corners.

That first year is also the only period with broad coverage. After it closes, you are down to systems, and then quickly down to structural only. Things that would have been a routine builder repair in month eleven become your problem in month thirteen.

Put the date in your calendar at closing. Builders are not going to remind you.

How to document and submit a claim

Warranty claims get denied on process as often as on substance. Do it this way.

Submit in writing, through the builder's stated channel. Most builders have a warranty portal or a specific email address. A text to your construction superintendent is not a warranty claim, even if he is helpful and even if he says he will take care of it.

Photograph everything, with dates. Wide shot for context, close shot for detail. If something is progressive, like a crack, photograph it repeatedly over time with a reference object for scale.

Describe the condition, not the fix. Write "water stains on the ceiling in the northeast corner of the primary bedroom after heavy rain on these dates" rather than "the roof needs to be replaced." Your job is to report the symptom. Diagnosis is theirs, and leading with a demanded remedy gives them an easy denial.

Keep every piece of correspondence. Every claim number, every response, every scheduled appointment, every no-show. If you eventually have a real dispute, the paper trail is the case.

Know the escalation path. If a claim is denied and you disagree, your warranty document sets out the process. Separately, Texas Property Code Chapter 27, the Residential Construction Liability Act, generally requires a homeowner to give written notice to the builder at least 60 days before filing suit or initiating arbitration over a construction defect, and it gives the builder rights to inspect and to make a written offer of repair. If you are heading that direction, get a lawyer before you send anything.

Get an independent inspection even on a brand new house

I get pushback on this from buyers and occasionally from builder sales staff. The argument is that the house passed municipal inspections and the builder has its own quality process.

Why code compliance is not enough

Municipal inspection confirms code compliance. Code is the legal minimum, and a house can be fully code compliant and still be built poorly. The inspectors are also inspecting a large volume of homes in these subdivisions, and they are looking at specific items at specific stages, not at whether your particular house was finished well.

I recommend inspections at three points on a build: after framing and before drywall goes up, which is the only chance anyone will ever have to see the structure and the rough-ins; before the final walkthrough; and again at month eleven.

One more thing new construction buyers should know. Texas Property Code 5.008 exempts new construction never previously occupied from the seller's disclosure notice requirement. You will not get a disclosure from a builder, because nobody has lived there and nobody has history to report. Your inspection is your disclosure. That is what makes it worth paying for. On a resale, the TREC contract form in use since July 1, 2026 includes a separate Seller's Water Disclosure with its own termination right. I went into what an inspection does and does not cover in this post on Texas home inspections.

Also understand that most builders use their own contract rather than the TREC form, with their own terms on timing, deposits and remedies. I covered that and the rest of the new-build process in buying new construction in Texas.

What to ask before you sign

• Is this a builder-backed warranty or is it administered by a third party, and which one
• Can I see the complete warranty document, including the performance tolerance standards and the exclusions, before I am under contract
• What is the exact process and channel for submitting a claim
• Does the warranty require binding arbitration
• Does the warranty transfer if I sell, and is there a fee or a form
• What are my maintenance obligations, particularly around drainage and foundation moisture

A builder who hands over the full document without hesitation is telling you something good. One who says you will get it at closing is telling you something else.