How to Buy New Construction in Palm Beach County

Before the Offer

Most new homes in our markets are spec homes. A builder or a developer buys the lot, builds to its own plans and sells the finished house, often through a single-purpose company formed for that one project. The certificate of occupancy is usually issued before the listing goes live, so the buyer is buying a finished product with a short history. Pre-construction condominiums are a different contract and a different article.

Before we write an offer we gather the documents that say what was built and who stands behind it. The certificate of occupancy and the permit history show that the house was finished and closed out as approved. The as-built survey and the elevation certificate show what sits where and how the house rates for flood insurance. The selling company's filings show who the builder is, because the warranty will be that builder's promise and not the selling company's. The association documents show the dues and the rules. On this month's contract the annual dues ran to five figures, which is ordinary for a gated community in the Gardens.

The Contract and the Rider

The contract was the standard Florida As Is form, the same one used for a forty-year-old house. The price was paid in cash with no financing contingency. The deposit came in two steps: 5 percent within three days of signing and another 5 percent on day sixteen, the day after the inspection period closed. Closing was set about five weeks out. The seller designated the closing agent and paid for the owner's title policy, which is the custom in Palm Beach County.

The form gives a buyer of new construction almost nothing specific to new construction. The rider does. Ours ran to ten clauses, and the table sets out what each one did. Three matter most. The seller had to deliver the builder's warranty form within seven days. A warranty acceptable to the buyer had to be agreed before the inspection period ended, with every manufacturer and subcontractor warranty assigned at closing. The seller had to close every open permit, cure any code violation and deliver the contractor's final payment affidavit before closing. And the buyer could assign the contract to an entity he controlled, or to his spouse, to hold title the way his advisers chose.

The Inspection Period

Fifteen days is the buyer's only unconditional exit, so the work is front-loaded into it. A full inspection of a new house is different from an inspection of an old one. The inspector is checking the builder's work against the plans rather than looking for wear. The roof is walked by a roofer. The stucco is checked for cracks and for clearance above the soil. The drainage is watched after rain. Every system is run, and the serial numbers of the equipment are recorded for the manufacturer registrations. The elevation certificate is read against the flood zone, because the contract lets a buyer walk away within twenty days if the lowest floor sits below the flood elevation.

The warranty review happens inside the same fifteen days, with the attorney. The rider made the warranty's form a condition agreed before the period ended, which is the only moment a buyer has leverage over its terms. The first question is who the warrantor is, the builder or the selling company. The second is whether the ten-year structural promise is insured by a third party or rests on the builder alone. The third is what the standards say and which items are limited to a single repair. The answers change the price a buyer is willing to pay, and sometimes the decision to proceed.

The Walk-Through and Closing

The contract allows a walk-through on the day before closing to confirm the house is as it was. On new construction it is also the cosmetic deadline. The warranty covers chips, scratches, stains and paint only if they were written down before closing, and a condition the buyer knew about at closing is never covered. So the inspector walks the house again with the buyer, and every cosmetic item goes onto a written punch list that the builder signs, with a date for each repair. Items the builder cannot finish before closing are covered by a holdback at closing or by a credit on the price.

Closing on a new house carries three documents a resale does not. The first is the contractor's final payment affidavit with the termination of any notice of commencement. Florida lets subcontractors and suppliers lien a property for ninety days after their last work. The second is the set of assignments of the builder's warranty and every manufacturer warranty, signed at the table. The third is the elevation certificate, which the buyer's insurer wants before the policy binds. Taxes are prorated on the prior year's bill. On a newly built house that bill reflected the land alone, so the first full bill on the finished house arrives the November after closing. Our Palm Beach Gardens tax article shows what that bill looks like.

After Closing: the 1-2-10 Warranty

The builder's limited warranty arrived as an exhibit to the contract, 59 pages long. It covers workmanship for one year, the mechanical systems for two and the structure for ten, and each number is a separate promise with its own list. For one year the builder warrants the workmanship of the items on a forty-page schedule of standards, from grading and stucco to cabinets and paint. For two years it warrants the plumbing, the wiring and the mechanical equipment as installed. For ten years it warrants the load-bearing frame only. The list names foundations and footings, beams, girders and lintels. It also names columns, load-bearing walls, roof framing and floor systems. An item not on a list is not warranted.

The standards are measured, and the picture below shows three of them at true size. Hairline cracks in stucco and drywall are normal and excluded. Many items carry a one-time repair, after which the builder has no further duty. The exclusions run longer than the coverage. Appliances and equipment belong to the manufacturer, which is why the rider assigned those warranties. Landscaping, irrigation and pools have no coverage. Storm damage and flood are the owner's insurance. Mold, termites and rot are excluded outright, and so is any condition that has not yet caused physical damage.

A claim exists only on paper. The owner sends the builder's notice form naming the defect and the date it was first seen, never later than thirty days after the relevant term ends. The builder answers within thirty days and completes workmanship and systems repairs within sixty, unless the work needs longer. The builder chooses whether to repair, replace or pay. Its total obligation is capped at the original sales price, consequential losses are waived, and disputes go to mediation and then binding arbitration with no jury. The warranty transfers to every later owner for the remainder of each term, which makes the booklet part of the resale file.

The Calendar We Keep

In the week after closing the owner registers every manufacturer warranty, because the builder has stepped away from the equipment. Month eleven brings a full inspection before the workmanship year ends, and month twenty-three a systems check before the second year ends. Every claim goes on the form, by a method that proves delivery, and a copy goes in the file. The owner keeps the drainage, the caulk, the condensate lines and the gutters as the document requires, since neglect voids the cover. The booklet stays with the house. Buyers working through our buyer services get this calendar at contract, and the same reading applies to the homes on our new developments pages.

What New Costs, and What It Returns

New construction commands a premium here, and it is measurable. In Admirals Cove, where we have the deepest record, new single-family homes closed at a median of $2,050 per square foot in 2024 and 2025. All single-family sales there closed at $1,607, so the premium ran 32 to 40 percent by year. Over the full period from 2020 the premium blended to 29 percent across 48 new-construction sales. Homes from the 2018 and 2019 cohort have held most of that premium as they aged, which is the evidence that a well-built spec home keeps its price. The full study is our Admirals Cove new construction analysis.

Florida's Backstop

Three facts about Florida law shape the practical choices, and the attorney confirms how each applies to a given contract. Florida does not require a written new-home warranty, and a written limited warranty can narrow the protections a buyer would otherwise have, which is what this one does. The written document is the coverage. The construction defect statute sets outer limits on any claim: four years from discovery and seven years from the certificate of occupancy. The legislature cut that seven from ten in 2023. And Chapter 558 of the Florida Statutes expects an owner to give the builder written notice and a chance to repair before anything goes further. The arbitration clause makes that academic for most owners.

None of this replaces the rider, the inspection period or the warranty. It sets the outer edge of what an owner can do when all three fail. The practical protection sits in the documents gathered before the offer, the punch list signed before closing, the month-eleven inspection and the file of written notices.