By the Mountain Cove Homes team · Miami, Florida
Your first year in a new construction home runs on a calendar most owners never see. Systems reveal themselves on a schedule, the county advises action inside twelve months, and a statute quietly measures a deadline that started before you moved in.
What makes the year consequential is a gap in Florida law that almost nobody explains to single-family buyers. It is worth stating at the top, because everything else in this article follows from it.
Florida writes a warranty into statute for condominium buyers and cooperative buyers. It writes none for the buyer of a house.
One boundary before starting: what a warranty instrument is and how the types compare is already covered in the smart buyer’s guide to new construction home warranty in Florida. What follows is the calendar of action, and it does not repeat that explanation.
The Gap: What a House Buyer Does Not Get
Set the two side by side once, because the contrast is the whole argument for keeping records.
A condominium developer shall be deemed to have granted to the purchaser of each unit an implied warranty of fitness and merchantability for the purposes intended. The statute then sets terms: three years as to each unit, three years as to other improvements for unit owners, and as to the roof and structural components of a building or other improvements and as to mechanical, electrical, and plumbing elements, three years from completion or one year after owners other than the developer control the association, whichever is last, but never more than five.
Contractors and subcontractors are pulled in too. They grant the developer and each unit purchaser implied warranties of fitness — three years as to the roof and structural components and mechanical and plumbing elements, and one year as to all other improvements and materials.
Florida’s cooperative chapter contains a parallel provision. Its single-family chapter contains nothing of the kind.
A house buyer’s implied warranty comes from court decisions rather than from a statute, and the one statute that addresses it takes something away rather than granting it. The legislature recorded that the courts have reached different conclusions concerning the scope and extent of the common law doctrine or theory of implied warranty of fitness and merchantability or habitability, declared its intent to affirm the limitations to that doctrine, and provided that there is no cause of action in law or equity available to a purchaser of a home based on implied warranty for damages to offsite improvements.
Offsite is defined broadly — the street, road, driveway, sidewalk, drainage, utilities, or any other improvement or structure that is not located on or under the lot, plus things on the lot that do not immediately and directly support habitability. Contract, tort and statutory claims are expressly preserved, but the implied warranty route to that category is closed.
So the express warranty in your contract is not a supplement to a statutory floor. For a house, it is most of what you have — which is why the county recommends that a buyer obtain, at a minimum, a one-year warranty from the developer/builder.
One more line in the condominium statute is worth borrowing even though it does not bind you. Those statutory warranties are conditioned upon routine maintenance being performed, unless the maintenance is the developer’s obligation.
Express warranties in single-family contracts almost always carry the same condition, and it is the most common ground on which a first-year claim is refused. Keep filter changes, servicing dates and any professional visits in the same file as the photographs. A maintenance record is not paperwork for its own sake; it is the answer to the first question you will be asked.
The Deadline That Started Before You Moved In
This is the fact that turns the first year from a comfort exercise into a documentation exercise.
Florida’s defect chapter treats your house as complete on a date you may not have attended. Completion of a building or improvement means issuance of a certificate of occupancy, whether temporary or otherwise, that allows for occupancy or use of the entire building.
Your deadline to bring a defect action runs from that certificate date rather than from your closing, and the mechanics of it — the two periods, the trigger list and the latent-defect rule — are in what a certificate of occupancy means.
One consequence of that statute belongs here rather than there, because it governs the year you are living through. A builder returning to fix something under warranty does not restart your clock, extend it, or pause it. Repair time is not extra time.
Which produces a counterintuitive instruction. A long, cooperative, good-faith repair process is exactly the situation in which a deadline runs out quietly, because everyone involved feels the matter is being handled.
So keep the certificate date somewhere visible and treat it as the clock, regardless of how the repairs are going.
Step 1: Month One — Water, and Only Water
The first month is for the failures that get worse fastest, and in this climate they are all moisture.
Run every fixture and look under every one. Check for plumbing leaks, noisy water lines, and any indication of a roof leak, and check that there are no clogged sewer lines, fixtures or drains.
Look at the air conditioning as a water system rather than a cooling one. Condensation on registers, on refrigerant lines or around the air handler is a first-month finding, and the county checks condensate drain trapping and pipe insulation at final for exactly this reason.
Walk the perimeter after the first real rain. Ponding near the foundation is the item on the county’s buyer list with the longest tail, because water that does not leave in year one does not leave in year five either.
Photograph everything, including the things that look fine. A dated photograph of a dry ceiling in month one is what makes a stain in month seven legible.
Step 2: Month Three — The Systems Under Load
By month three the house has been through a full South Florida cooling season, which is the only real test the air conditioning gets.
Ask three questions of the system. Does it hold humidity, does it run long enough to dehumidify, and does it cycle.
The standard a South Florida system should meet, and the questions to put to the builder about sizing and ventilation, are in the final walkthrough and punch list. What is new in month three is that you can now measure it: buy a hygrometer, log the reading twice a day for a week, and you have converted a comfort complaint into data.
A house that reaches temperature quickly and feels clammy is describing an oversizing problem, not a thermostat problem. Report it as humidity, with readings and times, rather than as a comfort complaint.
Electrical and appliance faults tend to surface here too. So does anything installed at the end of the job under schedule pressure — trim, hardware, sealants and low-voltage systems.
Step 3: Month Six — The Envelope and the Finishes
Six months in, seasonal movement has happened and the building has dried toward equilibrium.
This is when separations show at joints, when caulking pulls, when doors and windows that operated smoothly in month one begin to bind, and when tile grout cracks appear. Recheck the county’s list on caulking missing around windows, doors, and other finished areas and on doors and windows functioning properly.
Two cautions, because this is where owners are most often told not to worry.
Some movement in a new house is expected as materials reach equilibrium. But the Florida Building Code sets no crack-width tolerance for finished residential work, so a number quoted to you at the door is a trade convention rather than a code requirement. Ask which document it comes from.
That cuts both ways. The absence of a code tolerance is not evidence that a crack is acceptable either.
The related question is answerable, though, and it is one of the questions on the walkthrough list: was lumber moisture content recorded before drywall, and is there a record of it. That is a fact rather than an opinion, and it separates ordinary drying movement from a problem that was built in.
If nobody asked it before closing, ask it now. The answer does not expire.
What Counts as a Defect, and What Counts as Preference
Worth settling before month eleven, because the distinction decides which of your items are actionable.
Florida defines a construction defect as a deficiency arising out of design, specifications, surveying, planning, supervision, observation of construction or construction, resulting from defective material, products, or components, a code violation giving rise to a cause of action, a design failure against professional standards at the time of governmental approval, or a failure to build in accordance with accepted trade standards for good and workmanlike construction.
The last of those four is the workmanship clause, and it is the one most first-year items fall under. Note the measure: accepted trade standards at the time of construction, not what you would have chosen.
That cuts both ways, and honestly. A finish you dislike is not a defect. A finish executed below the standard of the trade is one, and the way to argue it is with photographs and a comparison rather than with an adjective.
The statute also sets a tempo. It asks a claimant to serve notice promptly after discovering a defect, which is worth reading as the intended rhythm of the whole year: report when you find it, not when you have collected enough to be worth a conversation.
Step 4: Month Eleven — The Month That Matters Most
If the first-year warranty in your contract runs twelve months, month eleven is when the year actually ends, because a claim needs time to be received, inspected and answered.
Miami-Dade puts its own advice in that window: within a year after the closing of a newly constructed home, notify the developer of any construction defects you notice.
Do a full repeat of the walkthrough, using the same list and the same order. Compare against your month-one photographs — that comparison is the single most useful document you will produce all year.
Then send one consolidated written notice rather than eleven informal messages. The county’s instruction on form is specific: complaints should be in writing and sent either electronically or by certified postal mail with a return receipt requested to verify that the builder received them.
The Month-Twelve Item Nobody Puts on the List
Your first insurance renewal lands in the same window, and on a new house it is worth a phone call rather than an automatic payment.
The reason is that the documents from construction are exactly what a Florida insurer prices against, and in year one you finally have all of them — the wind mitigation information, the product approvals, the elevation data. How those move a premium is in what a Florida homeowners policy covers and, where the parcel is mapped, in flood insurance in Miami-Dade.
The same applies to your tax bill, which in year two is assessed on a completed house rather than on land. If you have not filed for the exemption, the Florida homestead exemption has a deadline of its own and it does not wait for you to settle in.
Step 5: Three Situations That Go Wrong, and What Each One Means
Problem: A stain that reappears after it was repaired
A repair that holds for six weeks and then returns is usually treating the symptom rather than the source, and each cycle consumes calendar you do not get back.
Photograph the stain each time with a date, and say so in writing: this is the third occurrence at the same location. A repair history is the evidence that distinguishes an unresolved defect from a resolved one, and the deadline does not pause while the cycle repeats.
Problem: A claim refused because maintenance was not performed
The most common refusal, and the easiest to prevent. Express warranties routinely condition coverage on routine maintenance, and the burden of showing it lands on you.
Keep servicing dates, filter changes, invoices and the name of whoever performed the work in the same file as the photographs. Produce it with the claim rather than after the refusal.
Problem: A builder who stops answering
At this point the informal route has ended, and the value of everything you have written down is about to be tested.
Move to writing, sent the way the county describes, and start the two routes below in parallel rather than in sequence. Waiting for a reply is not a step; it is the absence of one.
Step 6: If the Builder Does Not Respond
There are two routes, and they run in parallel rather than in sequence.
The county route is a code enforcement route. If the builder fails to respond, the county directs you to contact the Contractor Enforcement Section to file a complaint. The department will investigate complaints concerning violations of the Florida Building Code and/or plan deviations, and if a violation is found, a Notice of Violation will be issued allowing 30 days to correct.
Bring documents. The county requires the complaint together with copies of your contract, warranty documents, letters of complaint to the developer/contractor, and any engineer reports you obtained independently. Notice how much of that you can only produce if you built the record during the year.
The civil route has its own mandatory front end. A claimant must, at least 60 days before filing any action, serve written notice of claim on the contractor, subcontractor, supplier or design professional, describing in reasonable detail the nature of each alleged construction defect and identifying its location well enough for the responder to find it without undue burden.
The statute also asks for speed: the claimant shall endeavor to serve the notice of claim within 15 days after discovery of an alleged defect, though missing that does not bar the action.
Then the responder’s calendar. Within thirty days of service they may perform a reasonable inspection of the property, and within forty-five days they must serve a written response — offering to remedy at no cost with a timetable, offering money, offering a combination, disputing the claim, or stating that the insurer will decide within thirty days.
Sixty days of notice plus forty-five days of response is why a defect discovered in month eleven needs to move in month eleven.
Step 7: Establish Which Entity You Actually Contracted With
This question decides which of the remedies above are available to you, and most buyers have never asked it.
Florida’s state recovery fund is the clearest illustration. It reaches losses caused by a licensed contractor’s specified violations, on a contract signed with that licensed contractor, and only after making a claim and exhausting the limits of any available bond, cash bond, surety, guarantee, warranty, letter of credit, or policy of insurance — with a judgment obtained and execution on it returned unsatisfied. Its structure and caps are set out in how buying pre-construction actually works.
The point for a house buyer is the precondition rather than the caps. If your purchase contract is with a developer or a builder-seller rather than with the licensed contractor who performed the work, that fund is very likely not your route at all.
The same question shapes the defect notice. The statute lists the contractor, subcontractor, supplier and design professional — and your counterparty may be none of the four, in which case the notice-and-cure chapter governs your claim against the trades while your contract governs your claim against whoever sold you the house.
So ask early, and get it in writing: which entity is the seller on my contract, which entity held the building permit, and are they the same. It is a question with a documentary answer, and every remedy in this article turns on it.
Questions Worth Asking Your Builder in Month Eleven
Send these together with the punch-list comparison, in one written message.
- What is the exact date and number of the certificate that was issued for this house?
- Which entity is the seller on my contract, which entity held the building permit, and are they the same?
- What does the express warranty cover, on what terms, and what is its exact expiry date?
- What maintenance does the warranty require me to have performed, and what proof do you want?
- Of the items I reported this year, which are you accepting, which are you declining, and on what basis?
- For the items you accept, what is the date by which each will be completed?
- Which subcontractor performed the work in question, and are they the party who will return?
The Record That Makes Your First Year in a New Construction Home Worth Something
The certificate date and number, in writing. It is the clock, and it is not on your closing statement.
Month-one photographs of every room, ceiling and perimeter, dated — including everything that looks fine.
The approved plans, the survey, the blower door report, the energy performance card and the product approvals. All were obtainable before closing and most are difficult afterward.
Every complaint in writing, sent electronically or by certified mail with return receipt, with the builder’s replies kept alongside.
Humidity readings with dates, if the air conditioning is ever in question. A number beats a description.
A calendar entry at month eleven, not month twelve.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Florida give single-family new home buyers a statutory warranty?
No. Florida’s condominium and cooperative chapters create implied warranties from the developer by statute, with three-year and one-year terms. There is no equivalent for a single-family house, where the implied warranty comes from court decisions and the express warranty comes from the contract.
Does a warranty repair extend your deadline to sue over a defect?
No. Where the work was permitted and a certificate was issued, correction or repair of completed work, whether performed under warranty or otherwise, does not extend the period within which an action must be commenced.
When should you report a defect in your first year?
The county advises notifying the builder within a year of closing, in writing, sent electronically or by certified mail with return receipt. Practically, month eleven is the deadline, because a claim needs time to be received, inspected and answered.
What happens if the builder does not respond to your complaints?
Miami-Dade’s Contractor Enforcement Section will investigate alleged Florida Building Code violations or plan deviations, and if a violation is found it issues a Notice of Violation allowing thirty days to correct.
Does finding a defect in month eleven leave enough time?
Barely, which is why month eleven rather than month twelve is the deadline to work to. The pre-suit notice period alone runs sixty days before an action can be filed, with a further forty-five for the written response, so a late discovery consumes most of a quarter before anything is resolved.
Is cracking normal in a new home’s first year?
Some movement is expected as materials reach equilibrium, but the Florida Building Code sets no crack-width tolerance for finished residential work, so a quoted standard is a trade convention rather than a code requirement. Ask which document it comes from, and document what you see with dates and photographs.
The first year is not a grace period. It is the only window in which the house, the record and the people who built it are all still available at the same time, and what you write down during it is what you will have afterward.
About Mountain Cove Homes. Mountain Cove Homes is a boutique home builder based in Miami, Florida, building single-family homes and townhomes in small communities across Miami-Dade County — including Golden Park and other communities currently selling. Its personnel have been constructing homes in South Florida since the early 1980s. More about how the company works and where it builds.
This article is general information about warranties and construction defect procedure in Florida. It is not legal advice, and it does not describe any particular warranty or contract. Statutes and deadlines change, and what applies to a specific home depends on its own documents. Verify your own situation with your own attorney and a licensed professional before relying on any of it.
For additional legal disclaimers please see the legal information document.
Talk to Mountain Cove Homes
Mountain Cove Homes is a boutique home builder in Miami, Florida, building single-family homes and townhomes in small communities across Miami-Dade County — most of them with no HOA and no CDD tax. If you want to walk through lot availability, pricing, and what is included at this stage of construction, we will give you the numbers directly.
Office 4878 Southwest 74th Court, Miami, FL 33155 786.458.1805 [email protected]
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