New construction looks simpler than a resale. It is the transaction where buyers give up the most leverage without realizing it, because nearly everything happens on the builder's paperwork and the builder's schedule.
I'm Wes Johnston, a Realtor with Trueblood Real Estate in Fishers. Before I got into brokerage I spent nearly 10 years designing custom homes and running construction projects across Central Indiana, after earning a BS in Construction Engineering Management from Purdue. I have supervised hundreds of contractors and managed builds from a bare lot through final walkthrough.
That is why I wrote this page. Buying new construction looks simpler than buying a resale. There is no seller to negotiate with, nothing is worn out, and the sales office makes it feel easy. In practice it is the transaction where buyers give up the most leverage without realizing it, because almost everything happens on the builder's paperwork and on the builder's schedule.
Here is what I tell every client before they walk into a model home in Fishers.
The questions below explain how buying new construction works. When you're ready to look at real homes, this page lists 215 of them from 14 builders — filter by city, builder, price and timing.
No. The person sitting in the model home works for the builder and is paid by the builder. Their job is to sell that builder's homes on that builder's terms.
They can be helpful, knowledgeable, and pleasant to work with, and most of them are. But they do not owe you fiduciary duty. They are not going to tell you which lot has a drainage problem, which upgrades are marked up the hardest, or which contract clauses are negotiable. Nobody in that building is working for you unless you bring them.
The first visit. Before you sign in.
Most builders require your agent to physically register with you on your very first visit to the community. If you tour alone and sign the visitor sheet, many builders will refuse to recognize an agent later, and you will go through the entire build unrepresented. This happens constantly and it is almost always unfixable once it happens.
The builder pays the buyer's agent compensation out of their marketing budget, so bringing me costs you nothing on the purchase price. Walking in alone does not get you a discount. It just means you have nobody on your side of the table.
If you have already toured a community on your own, tell me before you do anything else. Sometimes it can still be worked out. Sometimes it cannot.
A resale purchase in Indiana runs on the standard MIBOR forms, which are written to balance both sides. A builder's contract is written by the builder's attorney to protect the builder.
The clauses I read most carefully:
Earnest money and deposits. New construction deposits are usually much larger than resale earnest money and are often non-refundable after a short window. Know the exact date your money stops being yours.
The completion date. Read whether the date is a firm obligation or an estimate. Most builder contracts give the builder broad authority to extend for weather, labor, and material delays, with no penalty and no exit for you. If you are selling a current home or ending a lease, that language determines whether you have a plan or a gamble.
Material and price escalation. Some contracts allow the builder to pass through cost increases after signing. Find out whether your price is locked and, if it is not, what the cap is.
Change order terms. What a change costs, how long it delays the build, and at what point in construction changes stop being allowed at all.
Dispute resolution. Many builder contracts require binding arbitration and waive your right to a jury trial. This is common and frequently not negotiable, but you should know it is there before you sign, not after a dispute.
What the base price actually includes. This is where the surprises live. Landscaping, sod, a driveway, a garage door opener, window blinds, gutters, appliances, and the final grade may or may not be in the number on the sign.
I am not an attorney and this page is not legal advice. On a builder contract I recommend having a real estate attorney review it, and I can refer you to several who do this work routinely in Hamilton County.
The lot is the one decision in the entire build you can never change later. You can repaint a wall. You cannot move the house.
What I look at when I walk a site with a client:
Grading and drainage. Where does water go when it rains hard? Low lots and lots at the bottom of a slope collect runoff from everything above them. Ask to see the community's drainage plan and find out where the swales run.
Walkout, daylight, or slab. This is dictated by the topography of the specific lot and it materially changes what the finished house can be and what it is worth later.
Easements. Utility and drainage easements limit where you can put a fence, a pool, a shed, or an addition. They are on the plat. Read it before you pick.
What gets built next to you. Look at the overall development plan, not just the lots for sale today. Find out what is planned for the adjacent parcels and where the community's final phase boundaries are. A lot that backs to trees today may back to a road in three years.
Orientation. Which way the house faces determines afternoon sun on the back patio, snow and ice on the driveway in January, and how the natural light works in the main living space.
Utilities and infrastructure. Confirm sewer versus septic, the water provider, and whether any pending assessments attach to the lot.
For school attendance zones, confirm directly with Hamilton Southeastern Schools or the applicable district, and get it in writing. Attendance boundaries change, and in a new development they change more often than most people expect. I will point you to the district's official boundary tool rather than tell you what zone a lot is in.
Yes. New does not mean flawless. It means nobody has lived there long enough to find the problems yet.
I recommend three inspections on a new build, and the middle one matters most:
Foundation and pre-pour. Before concrete goes down, footing depth, rebar placement, and grade can still be verified. Once it is poured it is permanent.
Pre-drywall. This is the one people skip and it is the one that matters. Once drywall goes up, nobody sees the framing, the plumbing runs, the electrical rough-in, the HVAC ductwork, the flashing, or the insulation again for the life of the house. This inspection needs to be scheduled the moment rough-ins pass and before insulation goes in, which is a window of a few days. Put it on the calendar early.
Final walkthrough. Full punch list before closing, in writing, with the builder signing off on what gets fixed and when.
Then a fourth pass at month 11, before the one-year warranty closes.
Municipal inspections through the City of Fishers verify code compliance. Code is a minimum standard, not a quality standard, and the inspector works for the city, not for you.
Allowances are the builder's budgeted dollar amount for a category like flooring, lighting, or countertops. If what you choose costs more than the allowance, you pay the difference, and that difference is almost always billed at retail with the builder's margin on top.
Two things worth knowing:
Design center pricing is generally higher than what the same product costs from an outside supplier, because it includes the builder's coordination and warranty. That is not a scam, it is how the model works, but it means the cheapest path on some items is to take the base allowance and replace the item after closing. On other items, especially anything structural or behind a wall, doing it during the build is far cheaper than doing it later. Knowing which is which is most of what I do at this stage.
Structural changes have a hard cutoff. Once framing starts, options that were available on day one are gone. If you want a bump-out, a different window configuration, extra rough-in for a future bathroom, or additional electrical, decide before the cutoff date in your contract.
The main difference is time. A resale closes in 30 to 45 days. A new build can be six to twelve months out, and most rate locks do not run that long.
Ask about extended lock programs and what they cost. Ask what happens if the build runs past your lock. Ask whether the lock has a float-down if rates drop.
Builders usually offer incentives to use their affiliated lender, and those incentives can be real money, often in the form of closing cost credits or rate buydowns. Get a competing quote anyway and compare the total cost, not just the headline rate. Sometimes the builder's lender genuinely wins. Sometimes the incentive is smaller than the rate difference. You will not know without the second quote.
Also confirm how the appraisal is handled and what happens if the home appraises below the contract price on a build that was priced twelve months earlier.
Most production builders offer a tiered warranty. Roughly one year on workmanship and materials, two years on mechanical systems like plumbing, electrical, and HVAC, and ten years on major structural components. Read the specific document for your builder, because the definitions and the exclusions vary and the exclusions are where it counts.
Two things I tell every client:
Submit warranty items in writing, always, and keep the record. Verbal requests to a superintendent disappear when that superintendent moves to another community.
Walk the house at month 11 and submit everything then. The one-year workmanship window closes fast, and settling cracks, sticking doors, grout and caulk failures, and grading and drainage problems tend to show up in months eight through twelve. That is not a coincidence. That is the house going through its first full freeze and thaw cycle.
Nothing added to your purchase price. On new construction the builder pays buyer agent compensation out of their marketing budget, and that amount is set before you ever walk in. Buyers who tour alone do not get a lower price. The builder simply keeps the difference.
We will sign a buyer representation agreement before I show you anything, and I will walk you through exactly what it says and what it commits you to. If I am not doing my job, you can cancel it.
Call or text me before your first visit to a community. That one phone call preserves your representation and costs you nothing.
I am not going to tell you which builder to use. What I will do is read the contract with you, walk the lot before you pick it, tell you which upgrades are worth doing during the build and which are cheaper after closing, and be at the pre-drywall inspection with you.
If you are a year out from building, that is the right time to start the conversation, not too early.
Fishers resident. BS in Construction Engineering Management, Purdue. Committed to your success.
Builder registration rules mean one unaccompanied visit can cost you representation for the entire build. A two-minute call before you go preserves it, and it costs you nothing either way.
Start the ConversationMost new-construction buyers have a home to sell, and a build that lands six to twelve months out makes that timing the hard part. Start with a real number rather than a national algorithm's guess.
If you are looking at a community, reading a purchase agreement, or trying to work out whether an upgrade is worth it, send it over. I spent ten years on the construction side before brokerage, and most of these questions have a straight answer.
Ask before your first visit if you can. Builder registration rules can cost you representation for the whole build.
This page is general information about the home buying process and is not legal, tax, or financial advice. Contract terms, warranty coverage, and builder policies vary by builder and by community. Have a licensed Indiana attorney review any builder contract before you sign.