New construction contracts for relocating buyers

A builder's contract is not the TREC form you used before

Texas builders are not required to use the standard TREC residential contract, and nearly all of them use their own attorney-drafted purchase agreements, which trade the resale form's option period for a set of builder-controlled deadlines. The TREC vs. builder contract chapter is the full read: termination rights, inspection windows, delay provisions, deposits, and the warranty. The point to hold from another state is simple: do not assume the resale contract you closed on before has anything in common with this document beyond the title.

Builders commonly draw their forms from industry templates like the Texas Association of Builders contracts, which are drafted to favor the builder's schedule and risk allocation, and Texas does not license home builders, so the contract is where a new build's protections live or die. Plan to have the whole package, the base form plus every addendum, reviewed before you sign, not after.

Earnest money and the option period: what changes at a distance

The option period is the resale buyer's no-fault exit: for a fee, you can terminate for any reason within the negotiated window and get your earnest money back. Builder contracts usually do not include one, replacing it with limited deadlines, which means the question "how do I get my deposit back" has a different answer on a new build. The earnest money chapter covers who holds the deposit, the staged deposit schedules common on new builds, and what you lose if you terminate.

From another state, two practical consequences follow. First, your deposit is at risk on the builder's deadlines, so every deadline in the contract is a calendar event you must track yourself, not a professional you can drop in on. Second, the financing and appraisal contingencies that protect you on a resale have to fit the builder's calendar, so your lender's expected timeline and the builder's completion date must reconcile on paper before you sign, not after.

What to verify before you sign, from another state

• The parties and the property. Confirm the correct legal name of the builder entity you are contracting with and the exact lot and legal description, not the model's address. The obligation runs to the entity on the signature line.
• Every number in writing. Base price, lot premium, design center minimums, incentive stack, and listed closing costs, itemized in the contract or its addenda, because a number in a sales email is a number in a sales email.
• The attachment list. Plans, specifications, and the finish schedule should be attached as exhibits, because the house you are buying is defined by those documents, not by the model home or the renderings.
• Deadlines and defaults. When selections lock, when inspections may happen and who may perform them, what happens if the builder is late, and what happens if you are late. Builder contracts commonly allow schedule extensions for weather, materials, and municipal inspections, so read the delay clause as a list of ways the date moves.
• Dispute terms. Where disputes are resolved, whether attorney's fees shift, and what the builder's warranty actually covers, in writing, before you sign.

Allowance items and change orders

Allowances are placeholder amounts in the contract for categories you have not selected yet, typically flooring, countertops, cabinets, fixtures, and appliances. You pick against the allowance at the design center on the builder's selection schedule, and if your choices exceed the allowance, the difference is charged through a change order, usually before installation. Some builders credit you when selections come in under the allowance; some do not, so the credit policy belongs on your question list.

A change order is the written amendment that records any change in scope, price, or schedule, and it is the mechanism that should move money after you sign. From another state, the risk is drift: each upgrade pushes the price, and each change order can push the completion date, so track the running total and ask that every change order restate the completion date next to the price. Texas construction-law practice guides recommend itemizing materials, labor, and markup on every change order and requiring written approval from both sides.

Completion dates and the closing-date-slip risk

Builder contracts usually treat the completion date as an estimate tied to milestones, not a promise with a clock, and they commonly list weather, material delays, and municipal inspection backlogs as reasons the date moves. Buyers who plan their move around the estimated date without reading the delay clause are the ones who end up with a month of temporary housing and a storage unit. The force of this is stronger for a relocating buyer, because your lease, your movers, and your job start date are all fixed while the build date is not.

What to do about it: read the delay provisions before signing, understand how much extension latitude the builder keeps, and hold a buffer of weeks, not days, between the estimated close and any date you cannot move. If a hard drop-dead date matters to you, that is a term to negotiate and get in writing, not a thing to assume.

Agent protection: register your agent before the first visit

Builders pay buyer's agent commissions as a policy, not a requirement, and the policy almost always conditions payment on the agent being registered before or during your first visit to the model home or sales office. Sign in alone and the builder records you as self-sourced; your agent may be unable to register later or collect their commission on that community, which quietly leaves you unrepresented on the most document-heavy purchase you will make. Have your agent pre-register you before the first visit, and do not sign the guest log without them.

Texas law now meets this from the other side: Senate Bill 1968, effective January 1, 2026, requires a written buyer representation agreement before an agent shows you a property, so sign with your buyer's agent before you set foot on a builder's lot, ideally before the first phone call. The buy before you move chapter sequences this moment into the broader remote protocol.

The Why you need an agent who specializes in relocations story on the Where you're coming from hub is the shortest version of this argument: a buyer built a new home without an agent, never checked the zoning or future land use around the lot, and a church is now going up on the land behind the home.