No. No Texas statute requires a builder warranty or sets its length. The Texas Residential Construction Commission set statewide standards until it was abolished in 2009, and HB 2022 (2023) removed the last references to it from state law.

“1-2-10” is industry convention: one year on workmanship and materials, two years on plumbing, electrical, and HVAC delivery systems, and ten years on major structural, offered by the builder or a third-party warranty company. Under HB 2024 (effective June 9, 2023), a builder whose written warranty gives at least 1 year workmanship, 2 years systems, and 6 years structure gets a shorter legal deadline for defect claims (see the next answer), so some builders now offer “1-2-6.”

Read the actual warranty booklet, not the brochure. Texas law also implies warranties of good workmanship and habitability, but builder contracts often try to limit them. If the purchase matters to you, have an attorney read the warranty before you sign.

Two deadlines apply. The statute of limitations for your type of claim often runs from when you discovered, or should have discovered, the problem. The statute of repose cuts off claims entirely: Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code §16.009 sets 10 years from substantial completion for contractors.

Under HB 2024, that drops to 6 years for a detached one- or two-family home, or a townhouse up to three stories, when the builder gave a qualifying written warranty, on contracts signed on or after June 9, 2023. Some attorneys read the law as giving the 6-year period even to a builder offering 10-year structural coverage. No appellate court has settled that yet.

A written claim made inside the repose period can extend the deadline, but sources disagree on how long, so confirm with a construction attorney. Either way, report problems in writing, early, and keep copies.

The Residential Construction Liability Act (Texas Property Code Chapter 27) sets a required pre-suit process:

1. Your notice. At least 60 days before filing suit or arbitration, send written notice by certified mail, return receipt requested, describing each defect in reasonable detail with photos or reports.
2. Inspection. Within 35 days of your notice, the builder may ask to inspect, up to three times since HB 2022 (effective September 1, 2023).
3. Offer. The builder has until day 60 after your notice to make a written repair or settlement offer. It used to be 45 days, and many sites still say so.
4. Your response. If the offer seems unreasonable, you have 25 days to explain why in writing, and the builder may make one supplemental offer within 10 days.

If you turn down an offer a court later finds reasonable, your damages can be limited. If the builder never makes a reasonable offer, those limits don’t apply. HB 2022 also requires a habitability claim to show a latent defect that made the home unsuitable to live in.

This is separate from the builder’s everyday warranty request process. Talk to a Texas construction attorney before you send an RCLA notice, because the details of that letter matter.

It depends on which document covers the damage. A structural warranty usually covers only a “major structural defect”: actual damage to load-bearing parts of the home that affects how they work or makes the home unsafe. Cosmetic slab and drywall cracks usually don’t qualify, many warranties exclude damage caused by the homeowner’s drainage or watering, and repairs often count against a fixed limit, frequently the home’s original price.

Standard homeowners policies typically exclude earth movement and settling, so insurance is rarely the answer. If the warranty denies the claim, your remaining remedies against the builder run through the RCLA process, inside the repose period.

Keep the engineered foundation plan and soil report from closing, photograph and date any changes, and get an independent structural engineer’s report before you accept a denial.

Texas appraisal districts value property as of January 1. Dallas Central Appraisal District, for example, says a home 50 percent complete on January 1 is appraised at 50 percent of its finished value. Ellis and Tarrant appraisal districts follow the same January 1 rule.

If your lot was bare or half-framed on January 1, your first bill reflects that. The next January 1, the finished house is valued in full, so the bill can rise sharply with no change in the tax rate. The 10 percent homestead cap doesn’t stop this, and MUD and PID charges rise with the value too.

Lenders often set escrow from the small first-year bill, which is why so many new-build owners get a year-two shortage notice. Ask your lender to escrow on the estimated finished value, check your spring appraisal notice against your price and nearby sales, and protest by the deadline if it’s high.

• Timing. Since January 1, 2022, Tax Code §11.42(f) allows a prorated exemption for the rest of the year you buy, if the prior owner (usually the builder) didn’t receive one that year. File Comptroller Form 50-114 with your appraisal district once you own and live in the home, and before the first anniversary of your purchase. You don’t have to wait for January 1.
• Amount. Proposition 13, approved November 4, 2025, raised the school-district exemption from $100,000 to $140,000 starting with tax year 2025. Owners 65 and older or disabled get an extra $60,000. It applies only to school taxes; city, county, and MUD exemptions are optional and vary.
• The 10 percent cap. The cap in Tax Code §23.23 starts January 1 of the year after you first qualify, and it never limits value from new improvements. A new build’s first full-value year is not capped.

Confirm the deadlines and your eligibility with your appraisal district. Filing early in the purchase year is one of the easiest dollars a new-build buyer can save.

A Municipal Utility District sells bonds to build water, sewer, and drainage, then repays them with a property tax that shows as its own line on your bill, generally over 20 to 30 years. The rate can fall as the district fills in, but the tax ends only when the debt is paid off or a city annexes the district.

A Public Improvement District is created by a city or county under Local Government Code Chapter 372 and charges an assessment set by a Service and Assessment Plan, typically for 20 to 40 years. Unlike a MUD tax, a PID assessment can usually be paid off early; ask the PID administrator for a payoff quote.

DFW rates vary widely. For tax year 2025, several Collin and Denton County MUDs were at $1.20 per $100 of value, while Trophy Club MUD 1 was about $0.07. At $1.00, that’s $4,500 a year on a $450,000 home.

Ellis County has fewer MUDs than Collin or Denton, but newer subdivisions here do use PIDs and other districts. Check every community, every time.

Texas Water Code §49.452 requires the seller (the builder, on a new home) to give you a written MUD notice before you sign a binding contract. Since 2023, the law sets its content and title, “Notice to Purchaser of Special Taxing or Assessment District,” in large bold type. If you sign without it, you may be able to terminate; if it arrives late and you close anyway, you’re generally treated as having waived that right. Property Code §5.014 requires a separate PID notice before contract.

Don’t wait for the notice. Before you pay a deposit, look the address up on the appraisal district site for its taxing units, read the district’s current rate on its website, read any PID Service and Assessment Plan, and have the title company confirm assessment liens.

Most DFW builders still pay buyer-agent compensation, but it’s negotiated and documented differently now. Since August 17, 2024, the NAR settlement has kept compensation offers off the MLS and required written buyer agreements before touring.

SB 1968, effective January 1, 2026 (Occupations Code §1101.563), made a written agreement state law for every Texas license holder. It must be signed before an agent shows you residential property, state the compensation, and say plainly that broker fees are not set by law and are fully negotiable. It also created a non-representation option for showings.

Your agreement sets what your agent is owed. The builder may agree to pay some or all of it, and on TREC’s new-home contracts any builder contribution is credited toward what you owe. Get the builder’s commitment in writing before you sign.

A builder can’t legally require you to use its affiliated lender as a condition of the sale, but it can reward you for choosing it. Under RESPA (12 U.S.C. §2607) and Regulation X, an affiliated business arrangement is lawful when it’s disclosed and its use isn’t required, and the CFPB has said RESPA doesn’t prohibit giving a consumer a discount for doing business with a provider. That’s why builders can tie a buydown or closing credit to their lender, and sometimes their title company.

Get Loan Estimates from the builder’s lender and at least one outside lender within the same few days, and compare APR, points, fees, and cash to close, not just the advertised rate. Sometimes the incentive wins. Sometimes it’s priced back in.

A 2-1 temporary buydown sets your payment as if the rate were 2 points lower in year one and 1 point lower in year two, then the full note rate from year three on. The note rate never changes; builder money held in an account covers the difference in those early payments. You still qualify at the full rate, under both Fannie Mae and FHA rules.

A permanent buydown uses discount points to lower the note rate for the life of the loan. Its value is lost if you refinance early.

A temporary buydown fits buyers who expect higher income or plan to refinance. A permanent one fits buyers who plan to stay. Also price the same builder dollars as a straight price cut, and ask the lender to compare all three over five years.

Standard locks last 30 to 60 days, which is too short for a home that isn’t built yet, so new-construction lenders offer extended locks of 180, 270, or 360 days, usually at a cost. Industry guides put typical pricing around 0.375 to 0.75 of a point for 180 days and 1 to 1.5 points for 360 days, and extensions often run 0.125 to 0.25 of a point per 7 to 15 days. Some lenders charge an upfront fee that’s credited at closing, and some include a one-time float-down.

Ask who pays for an extension if the builder is late, whether there’s a float-down, whether the upfront fee is refundable if the deal falls apart, and whether your loan type qualifies. Pick a lock that covers the estimated completion date plus 30 to 60 days.

In fall 2026, DFW builders are leaning on rate buydowns through their own lenders, closing-cost credits, discounts on finished inventory, design-center credits, and smaller lot premiums. In NAHB’s September 2026 builder survey, 66 percent of builders were using sales incentives and 38 percent had cut prices, with an average cut of 6 percent.

A price cut lowers your loan, your down payment, and the value future taxes start from, and it survives a refinance. A buydown lowers the payment but disappears if you refinance.

Ask for the total incentive amount, then decide how to use it yourself instead of taking the builder’s package as offered. Finished homes the builder needs to close by quarter-end usually carry the biggest offers. Incentives change weekly, so treat any number you see online as a dated example.

New builds can appraise low because appraisers can’t always support lot premiums, structural options, and upgrades with comparable sales, especially early in a community. Lenders lend on the lower of price or value, so the gap is yours to cover. Many builder contracts have no appraisal contingency, or only a narrow financing one, and builders resist lowering recorded prices because those sales become the next comparables.

Typical outcomes: you pay the gap in cash, the builder moves incentive money into the price, you restructure the loan, or you terminate if the contract allows it, possibly losing deposits.

Before you sign, ask whether the contract has a financing or appraisal contingency, budget for upgrades you may not get back in value, and ask the lender how appraisals in that community have been coming in.

Builder contracts usually require earnest money at signing, and many production builders also take design or option deposits for structural changes and upgrades, which can be large on a build-to-order home. For every dollar, ask who holds it (a title company escrow or the builder), when it becomes non-refundable, and whether it’s credited at closing.

Money the builder holds is exposed if the builder fails. In a bankruptcy, buyers with deposits generally become unsecured creditors, and the Bankruptcy Code gives consumer deposits priority only up to about $3,800 per person for cases filed after April 1, 2025.

Keep upgrade deposits as small as you can until the home is under roof, and get receipts that show who was paid. When you can get your money back is covered on the process page.

Plan for lender charges (origination, any points, appraisal, credit report), title charges, prepaid interest, and escrow deposits for taxes and insurance. In MUD and PID communities, that tax escrow can be large. The Texas Department of Insurance sets title insurance premiums, so the premium isn’t negotiable, but who pays it is, and builders often cover title costs.

Many DFW builders offer closing-cost credits tied to their own lender and title company, and loan programs cap how much a seller can contribute. Your lender must give you a Loan Estimate within three business days of application and a Closing Disclosure at least three business days before closing.

Compare those two documents line by line, and set money aside for the year-two escrow increase before it shows up.

On a typical production or spec home, the builder owns the property until closing and carries builder’s risk insurance during construction. Your lender requires a homeowners policy effective at closing; bind it early, because carriers re-underwrite carefully in hail-prone North Texas.

On a custom build on land you own, or a construction loan where you hold title, you may need your own builder’s risk policy. Confirm in writing who insures the structure at each stage, and check deductibles, especially percentage-based wind and hail deductibles.

Homeowners policies generally exclude earth movement and wear, so they don’t replace your structural warranty. Confirm the details with a licensed insurance agent.