The new-construction buying process, step by step

A resale purchase is a negotiation about an object that exists. A new build is a contract about an object that does not, and almost everything that is different follows from that sentence.

Here is the sequence, and where the money and the risk actually sit.

1. Before anything: the lot, and what is under it

Two questions to settle before you fall in love with a floor plan, because both attach to the lot rather than the house.

The flood zone. Look the parcel up on FEMA's Map Service Center. A new house in a mapped zone is still in a mapped zone, with the same insurance requirement. See flood zones in Marion County.

Water and sewer, or well and septic. Large parts of Marion County have no public water and sewer, and that applies to new construction as much as to anything else. Ask which the address will have. A well and an onsite sewage system are ordinary here and they come with their own permits, siting rules and long-term maintenance.

Also worth establishing early: whether the community has a homeowners' association, because if it does, Chapter 720 requires a disclosure summary before you sign anything — HOA basics for Florida buyers.

2. The contract, which is the whole ball game

This is the step people underestimate, and it is the step where all the leverage lives.

A new construction contract is drafted by the seller. It is not the standard form you may have used to buy a resale, and the protections that form gives you as standard are things to look for here rather than assume:

• What makes the deposit refundable, and what does not. Read this first and read it twice.
• Is there a financing contingency? If the contract does not contain one, a loan falling through is your problem in a way it would not be on a resale.
• Is there an inspection right? Including access during construction, which is how you get a pre-drywall inspection at all.
• What does the schedule commit to? Most schedules are estimates. A firm outside date with a remedy is a different thing from a target.
• What happens if the specification changes? Substitution clauses are normal and their breadth varies a lot.
• What is the dispute resolution clause? Arbitration, venue, who pays.
• What survives closing? Warranty terms, and anything on the punch list.

Have a Florida real estate attorney read it before you sign, particularly on a first new build. It is a small cost against a large document you did not write and will not get to renegotiate afterwards.

3. Deposit and selections

The deposit goes down on the contract's terms. Where it is held, and on what conditions it comes back, is in the paragraph you read in step 2.

Then selections: finishes, fixtures, options, upgrades. Two practical notes.

First, upgrades chosen here are usually paid for as part of the purchase rather than separately, which means they are financed over thirty years if you are borrowing. That is fine for things that are genuinely hard to change later — structural options, rough-ins, anything inside a wall — and expensive for things you could buy yourself in year three.

Second, the selection window is typically short and it closes. Decide what you actually care about before you walk into the room where the decisions happen.

4. Permits, construction and inspections

The local building authority issues permits and inspects at defined stages: foundation, framing, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and final. Those inspections verify code compliance. They are not a review of workmanship, they are not comprehensive, and they are not conducted on your behalf.

So: get your own inspection, and get it twice if the contract allows.

• Pre-drywall. Once the walls close, everything inside them is invisible until something goes wrong. This is the single most valuable inspection on a new build and the one most people do not know to ask for.
• Pre-closing. The full inspection of the finished house, feeding your punch list.

An independent inspector finds things that are perfectly legal and not right: missing insulation in an awkward corner, a duct that is not connected properly, drainage that falls the wrong way. All of it is trivially fixable while trades are still on site and irritating afterwards.

5. The certificate of occupancy, and what it is not

The building authority issues a certificate of occupancy when the structure meets code and may be lawfully occupied.

That is a floor, not a standard. A house can hold a certificate of occupancy and still have twenty items on your list. The two documents are answering different questions, and the one that decides whether you are happy is yours.

6. The walkthrough and the punch list

Your orientation and inspection of the finished house, and the point at which things get written down.

• Go slowly. Take as long as it takes.
• Bring your inspector's report and work from it.
• Open every window and door. Run every tap. Test every outlet and switch. Run the air conditioning and the heat. Flush everything.
• Write it all down and get it acknowledged in writing. A verbal "we'll take care of that" is not a record.
• Photograph everything you list.

Whether items must be completed before closing or may be deferred after it is a contract question — see step 2 again. Post-closing promises are harder to enforce than pre-closing conditions, and that is true of every builder and every market.

7. Closing, and the Florida-specific costs

The state taxes on a Florida purchase apply here exactly as they do on a resale: documentary stamps on the deed, doc stamps on the note, intangible tax on the mortgage, the promulgated title premium. See Florida closing costs explained.

Two new-build particulars:

• Insurance. Bind a policy before closing. A new house should document its windstorm mitigation features well — get the documentation, because Section 627.711 requires insurers to disclose the discounts and they are not applied to features nobody has evidenced.
• Property tax. The lot may currently be assessed as land. Once the house exists, the assessment changes, and your first full bill is not the prorated figure at closing. Use the estimator with your own numbers, and file homestead by March 1.

8. Warranty, and the statutory process behind it

Typical structure: a short period covering workmanship and finishes, a longer one covering systems, a longer one again covering major structural elements. The definitions and exclusions in each tier are what matter, and they are in the warranty document rather than in anything anybody said.

Florida also has Chapter 558, a statutory notice and opportunity-to-repair process that applies before a construction defect action is brought. It sets out how a claim is notified, how long the recipient has to respond, and what inspection and settlement steps come before litigation. Knowing it exists is enough for now; the time to read it is the day you think you have a defect.

Keep everything: the contract, the selections, the inspection reports, the punch list, the acknowledgements, the warranty. Two years from now the paperwork is the only version of events that survives.