Most buyers of newly built homes enter their first year of ownership with a working assumption: the house is new, so serious repairs are someone else’s problem for a while. Builders routinely cover systems and structures for the first year. That coverage reinforces a sense that protection is already in place.
The assumption has an expiration date. It arrives at exactly the wrong time.
Vicki Hamp, a senior account executive with Choice Home Warranty, said in a homebuyer education discussion: most new construction does come with a one-year warranty, but starting at year two, it makes sense to have a home warranty in place because appliances and systems today have far more features than they used to. More features mean more components. More components create more points of failure.
Modern HVAC systems carry sensors, circuit boards, and control modules that didn’t exist in residential equipment a decade ago. Smart refrigerators, Wi-Fi-enabled washers, appliances with built-in diagnostics.
These are not the machines their predecessors were, and they don’t fail the same way either. The added features expand what can go wrong and, in many cases, make repairs more expensive when something does.
The Timing Problem
Builder warranties typically cover structural components and installed systems for one year from the closing date. What buyers often miss is that the appliances in a new construction home may have been manufactured months before closing. They sit in inventory before installation begins. “New construction” describes when the home was completed, not when every appliance inside was last put in service.
By the time the builder’s first-year coverage expires, many appliances are already two or three years old by actual calendar. The second year of ownership, when buyer protection drops to zero if nothing supplemental is in place, lands at the exact moment early wear-related failures start to appear.
Hamp said it plainly: the appliances, as always, are the first thing to go. New buyers always think that new construction is going to last forever, but it’s just like a resale, it still gets wear and tear.
Buying Coverage Before the Gap Opens
CHW lead the industry by distributing coverage plans directly to consumer through two primary plan options – Basic and Total. The optimal window to purchase is before the builder’s warranty expires, not after the first post-builder repair bill arrives.
Choice Home Warranty offers two, three, and five-year plans with pricing locked at the time of purchase. For a new construction buyer who wants continuous coverage from the end of the builder’s year-one warranty, a multi-year plan purchased before that expiration eliminates any coverage gap. A five-year plan started at month 11 of ownership locks in the rate and runs uninterrupted through year six.
Terms and conditions apply. Visit chwpro.com for more details.
How Claims Work
When a covered appliance or system fails, homeowners file a claim with a simple click or call. CHW’s highly automated platform begins matching immediately. It surfaces available qualified technicians in the homeowner’s area. In most cases, the assigned contractor has manufacturer-specific certification for the applicable appliance type.
Tech Times reported on how CHW’s real-time dispatch infrastructure identifies manufacturer-certified technicians for applicable equipment types. An engineer trained specifically on the equipment brand understands the diagnostic path before walking through the door. That shortens the repair timeline and reduces the back-and-forth that comes with general-purpose service calls. For new construction buyers dealing with feature-heavy appliances, that match matters.
A Security Step Specific to New Construction
CHW’s real estate plan includes a re-key benefit that new construction buyers rarely use, and rarely think to ask about.
The construction process involves a rotating cast of people with access to the property over weeks or months: contractors, subcontractors, inspectors, and site managers. Many of them have passed through with keys at various points. Buyers have no way of accounting for who has copies of what. At closing, a homeowner can file a claim to have up to six standard locks rekeyed for a service fee. Initiating the claim at the closing table starts the new owner’s occupancy with a clean slate.
Rely Home, Inc., CHW’s parent company, announced the appointment of Mandy Dowson as chief operating officer in June 2026 via PR Newswire. Her background managing large-scale operational platforms across multiple industries was cited as central to the hire, a profile consistent with a company expanding its footprint across multiple home warranty brands.
Homeowners can follow coverage updates and homeowner resources through CHW’s Facebook page. For new construction buyers, the builder’s warranty is a real benefit for exactly as long as it lasts. The decision about supplemental coverage is best made before that coverage ends, not after.