Warranty: We Don't Disappear
Ask anyone who's built or renovated in Northern Virginia what happened after the final payment cleared. For too many, that's when the builder's phone stopped ringing.
Our business has grown for eight years almost entirely on referrals. That only works one way: the relationship has to outlast the punch list. So here's exactly what happens after you get the keys.
The warranty in plain terms
Every project comes with a one-year labor warranty — if something we built fails because of our workmanship in the first year, we fix it. No fine-print gymnastics, no "submit a claim and wait" system. It's in the contract in one sentence, because it doesn't need more than one.
On top of that, the manufacturer warranties on the products in your home from windows, appliances, roofing, mechanical equipment, many running years or decades longer, pass through to you. This is all documented in your New Urban Homes Handbook so you know exactly what's covered, by whom, and for how long.
Two scheduled visits before you have to ask
The 30-day check-in. A month after move-in we come back to check on things. You've lived in the house through real mornings and real weekends by then, and you've noticed things no walkthrough catches — a door that needs adjusting, a switch that should be dimmed differently. We bring the list, and we handle the warranty items on the spot or schedule them.
The 1-year check-in. Before your labor warranty expires, we come back again deliberately timed after your home has been through a full cycle of Virginia seasons. Wood moves, houses settle, humidity swings from January to July. Whatever the year shook loose, we catch it and fix it while it's still on us.
Most builders make you chase them for warranty work. We put both visits on the calendar before we hand over the keys.
The Handbook
During the final walkthrough you receive your New Urban Homes Handbook: warranty coverage and manufacturer documentation, maintenance schedules, and the record of how your home was built. This includes your complete pre-drywall photo record, every pipe, wire, and stud photographed before the walls were closed. If a question comes up in year six, you’ll be able to see inside any wall without opening it.
After year one
The warranty has a term. Picking up the phone doesn't. Call, text, or email — you reach Clayton or Christian, the same two people who built your home, not a service department. Need a referral for something outside our scope? A question about maintenance? Something just seems off? We're there for it. Our clients refer us to their neighbors for years after move-in; that's not luck, it's the whole plan.
What a warranty honestly covers and doesn't
Some straight talk you won't find on most builders' websites: every home including a well-built one will settle. Caulk lines crack, hardwood gaps in dry winters and closes up in humid summers, drywall can show a hairline seam. That's physics, not defect, and a builder who promises you'll never see it is selling rose-colored glasses. What you should expect is a builder who knows the difference, tells you the truth about which is which, and fixes what's actually ours to fix, both quickly and without a fight. That's the standard here. It's also why we build the bones right in the first place: the expensive problems are the ones we prevent, not patch.
One boundary worth stating plainly: work performed by others, work you hired directly, or pre-existing conditions in a home we renovated isn't ours to warrant. We'll still help you figure out who's responsible and what to do about it.
Common Questions
What warranty does New Urban Homes provide? A one-year labor warranty on our workmanship, plus manufacturer warranties on products and equipment passed through to you and documented in your move-in Handbook. We also schedule 30-day and 1-year check-ins to handle warranty work proactively.
What happens at the 30-day and 1-year check-ins? We walk the home with you, collect everything you've noticed living in it, and complete the warranty items. The 1-year visit is timed before your warranty expires after a full cycle of seasons so settlement and seasonal items get fixed on our dime and not yours.
What if something comes up in year three? Call or text us. The warranty has a term; our responsiveness doesn't. You'll reach the same owners who built your home, and your Handbook and pre-drywall photo record mean we can usually diagnose the issue fast using our knowledge and the experience of our experienced tradesman, sometimes without opening a wall.
Are settlement cracks and seasonal wood movement covered? Normal settlement and seasonal movement happen in every home and aren't defects and we'll tell you honestly which is which. We meticulously plan our homes and fundamental decisions in the planning stage avoid these future problems. For example, at all times possible we will lobby for a rooflet over an exterior door as an extra measure in the battle against wind driven rain.
Build with a team that's still here in year five.
Start with an honest conversation about your project and ask our past clients how fast we text back.