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# Buying New Construction in Colorado: The Builder's Form
- URL: https://truenorthboulder.com/guides/buying-new-construction-colorado/
- Published: 2026-08-11T09:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-16T14:31:16.000Z
- Description: Colorado exempts homebuilders from the state's contract, and the Real Estate Commission's Commission Position 1 bars your broker from advising you on the legalities of a form that isn't one. So the protections you assume are automatic were negotiated in before you signed, or they are not there.
- Author: Daniel Hsieh
- Tags: Buyer Guide, New Construction, Buying, Colorado Law

Most advice about buying new construction is about choosing finishes and reading the incentive sheet. This page is about the piece of paper, because in Colorado a builder's contract is not the contract you would sign on any other house, and that changes what your agent is allowed to do for you.

## Can my agent review the builder's contract in Colorado?

You brought a buyer's agent. Good. Bring them to the first visit, before you walk a model home alone: our [guide to buyer-agency agreements](https://truenorthboulder.com/guides/buyer-agency-agreement-colorado/) covers why that visit is the moment representation and compensation get decided.

Then, at the contract, you hit a boundary most buyers never hear about.

The Colorado Real Estate Commission's [Commission Position 1](https://dre.colorado.gov/real-estate-manual-and-position-statements?ref=truenorthboulder.com), on contracts provided by sellers who are not licensed, is direct. A broker representing a buyer who is purchasing from one of those sellers, on that seller's own forms, **is permitted to help the buyer with the transaction**, but **is not permitted to advise the buyer regarding the legalities and risks** associated with forms that are not Commission-approved. The position goes on to say the broker **should advise the buyer to seek legal counsel** if the buyer has questions or concerns about those forms.

Read that against what you hired them for. Your agent can still do a great deal: compare communities, price the incentives against an independent loan estimate, track your deadlines, push on price and terms, and tell you when a lot is wrong. What they cannot do is the one thing this contract makes you want most, which is tell you what an arbitration clause or a delay provision would mean for you. On a resale that question barely arises, because the form is the Commission's and the protections are already in it. Here the form is someone else's.

One distinction is worth holding onto, because it is the difference between a useful agent and a silent one. **Identifying an absence is not interpreting a presence.** "There is no appraisal termination right in this form" is a comparison against a public state form. "Your builder's appraisal clause does not protect you" is an interpretation of theirs. The first is what a good agent does for you. The second is the attorney's.

That is not a gap in your agent. It is a line drawn around the whole profession, and it leaves one route to actually having the contract read: an attorney, while it is still negotiable. The addendum is what you *ask for* once you know what is missing, and the honest odds on that are further down. There is no route where good representation quietly covers the reading for you.

## Why don't builders use the standard Colorado contract?

Colorado licenses real-estate brokers, and licensed brokers use Commission-approved forms. That is the assumption behind [our guide to buying a home here](https://truenorthboulder.com/guides/buying-a-home-in-boulder-county/), and it holds for a resale. Builders are not required to hold a license to sell their own homes.

Homebuilders sit in a category the Commission calls **Selling Principals**, alongside banks selling foreclosed property and instant-buyer companies. Statute exempts them from licensure, and as sellers they are **not required to use Commission-approved forms**. So the contract in front of you was drafted by the builder's attorney, for the builder.

The more interesting half is what the Commission says about its own form. Its position is that the Contract to Buy and Sell Real Estate is appropriate for the purchase and sale of **existing** construction, and **should not be used when the seller is selling new, incomplete, or speculative construction.**

That reframes the situation, and in a way that should lower the temperature. The state form is not being withheld from you by a builder driving a hard bargain. The state's own view is that a contract written for a finished house does not fit a house that does not exist yet. Someone has to write terms for a sale where the thing being sold gets built after the money is committed, and the builder's lawyer did it. That is not sinister. It does mean nobody in the room is required to write those terms in your favor.

The same exemption that removes the state form also means the person across the desk in the sales office may not be a licensed broker at all: no uniform duties, no Commission oversight, no agency or transaction-broker disclosure, and nothing like Commission Position 1 constraining what they may tell you. **So the one licensed person in the room is the one legally restrained from advising you on the paper.**

## What protections do you lose on a builder's form?

Here is the practical version. These are the protections the Colorado contract gives a buyer by default. Your builder's form may include versions of them, weaker versions, or nothing at all, and the only way to know is to compare them line by line.

__The absence table: what the Commission-approved Contract to Buy and Sell gives a buyer, section by section, and what to check in the builder's form. The left column describes the state contract only. It is not a description of any particular builder's contract.__
| Protection                      | What the state form does                                                                                                                                                    | What to look for                                                                                                   |
| ------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Inspection (§10.3)              | A right to terminate if the condition is unsatisfactory in the buyer's subjective discretion, or to object, requiring correction as a condition of going forward            | Is there an inspection right at all, who chooses the inspector, and can you walk if you do not like what you find? |
| Appraisal (§6.2.1.1)            | A right to terminate if the appraised value comes in below the purchase price                                                                                               | If the appraisal misses, are you released, or still bound at the contract price?                                   |
| Due-diligence documents (§10.6) | A defined list the seller agrees to deliver by a deadline where the box is checked, with a right to object or terminate if they are unsatisfactory *or simply not supplied* | What are you entitled to see, by when, and what happens if it never arrives?                                       |
| Earnest money (§24)             | On a valid termination, returned to the buyer                                                                                                                               | Under what circumstances is your deposit refundable, and how much of it is at risk?                                |
| Financing                       | A right to terminate if the loan fails by the loan deadline, with earnest money returned                                                                                    | Is there a financing out at all, and what happens to your deposit if the loan does not come through?               |
| Deadlines (§3)                  | A dated schedule both sides are held to                                                                                                                                     | Are the dates mutual, or do they bind only you?                                                                    |

The Commission form's dated deadline schedule is one of the things a builder's form replaces wholesale. And there are three the state form has no row for at all, because a resale cannot have them: a **deposit on design-center selections**, possibly due at selection and possibly not refundable; **access for your own inspector before drywall**, which some builders allow and some restrict; and **re-qualification at closing**, because you are underwritten twice, eight to fourteen months apart, and a rate move in between is yours to absorb. Ask about each specifically. Nothing in your experience of buying a house will prompt the question.

Two things before you read that list as an indictment. The first is that even on the state form these are **date-activated**: §3.2 says a deadline left blank, or marked "N/A" or "Deleted," deletes the provision that depends on it. A protection exists because someone filled in its date.

The second is the trade, and it is the honest answer to the whole table. The state form gives a buyer an inspection termination right **because** a resale seller warrants nothing. A builder's deal runs the other way: fewer contractual exits, and an express warranty on workmanship, systems and structure that no resale seller gives you. Whether that trade is fair depends on the tiers and the dates, which is the last section of this page.

The absence that costs the most is the appraisal. On the state form, an appraisal below the purchase price is an exit. On a builder's form it may not be, and new-construction pricing is exactly where a gap can open, because the comparable sales that support your price are often the builder's own earlier closings in the same community. And the timing runs against you: the appraisal is ordered near completion, so you commit in month zero and learn about value in month nine.

The second is the inspection. New does not mean inspected on your behalf. A municipal inspector signs off for the code. Nobody has signed off for you, and the inspection that matters most happens **before drywall**, because framing, waterproofing, rough plumbing and electrical are buried the week after. Our [Boulder County inspection guide](https://truenorthboulder.com/guides/home-inspection-boulder-county/) covers what a real inspection reaches here, and a new house is not exempt from any of it.

None of this is an argument against buying new. A new house in this corridor can be the best value on the board. It is an argument about *sequence*, because on a builder deal every protection you end up with is one you asked for before you signed.

## The date only the builder controls

This is the one that decides whether a good deal becomes a bad month, and it is specific to your situation as a move-up buyer.

You are not just buying. You are selling something first, or you are carrying two payments until you do. That means you are committing to a completion date on a house that does not exist, and the date sits on the other side of the contract: their trades, their inspections, their weather, their supply.

Your rate lock is not so flexible. Neither is your buyer's closing date. Neither is the school year.

So read the completion terms before the finishes. The state form's §3 schedule is dated and it binds both sides, and that is exactly the row a builder's form replaces. What replaces it tends to be an *estimated* date, broad delay language, no per-diem or rent reimbursement, and a right to walk only after some outside date, if the form names one. Which of those yours does is worth the attorney's hour. Go in expecting little here rather than hunting a remedy and being surprised by its absence.

The remedy that does exist is usually the lender's. Extended rate locks are available on new construction in a way they are not on a resale, and are often tied to the builder's affiliated lender. **That, rather than the headline rate, is frequently the real argument for taking it** — ask what lock length is available and what it costs.

And builders here will generally not accept a home-sale contingency on a house that does not exist yet, which is what pushes the move-up seller toward carrying, bridging, or occupancy after closing. We work through both halves of that squeeze in [owning two homes during a move](https://truenorthboulder.com/guides/owning-two-homes-during-a-move/) and [bridge loan versus sale contingency](https://truenorthboulder.com/guides/bridge-loan-vs-sale-contingency-boulder-county/). The rate side has its own piece: [the mortgage lock-in problem](https://truenorthboulder.com/guides/mortgage-lock-in-boulder-move-up/).

## The money that does not appraise

Two smaller items worth pricing honestly.

**The design center.** Upgrades chosen at the design center are priced by the builder, not by the market, and they are typically rolled into the purchase price and financed. An appraiser does not owe you the retail figure you paid for them. Decide which upgrades you want because you want them, not because you expect to recover them. Ask one more question before you sit down rather than after: whether a deposit on those selections is due at the design center, whether it is refundable, and whether any of it is cash outside the loan.

**The lender incentive.** Builder incentives are frequently tied to using an affiliated lender, which is legal and ordinary and not automatically the better deal. The [Berthoud guide](https://truenorthboulder.com/berthoud/living-in-berthoud/) works through that trade in the corridor's most new-build-heavy town, along with the metro-district mill levy. One thing does change on a build: the lock length can be worth more than the rate, so price the incentive against the lock and not against the sheet.

## What happens if you find a defect after you move in?

Two things are worth knowing before you sign, not in year four.

**The warranty is the part you will actually use**, and it is the other half of the trade above. Read yours for the tiers and the dates. The tiers are where that trade is either fair or not, and the one date to put in your calendar at closing is an independent inspection at about **month eleven**, while the workmanship tier is still open.

**And the outer clock does not start at your closing.** Colorado's limitation statute for actions against builders runs from **substantial completion**, which matters most if you buy a finished spec home: you inherit a clock already running. Beyond that the remedy is a statutory *process* rather than a right to sue, your contract may commit you to **arbitration**, and the deadlines are counsel's to give you, not ours. The figures circulating online come mostly from firms with a stake in the answer, the 2025 amendments are unsettled in ways the sources below set out, and **if you think you have a defect the call to a Colorado construction-defect attorney comes before the second email to the warranty department.** The clock does not pause while you negotiate.

## What to actually do

1. Before the first model-home visit  
Do not walk a model without your broker  
If you do go alone, register their name at the door on that first visit. Many builders will not recognize buyer representation, or pay a buyer-agent's fee, if you toured alone first. This is builder policy rather than law and it varies, but it is decided on visit one and it is not fixable afterward.
2. Before you sign anything  
Line up the attorney before you are in the queue for a lot, not after  
The window is short: lot releases tend to come with a decision measured in days, a deposit due at signature, and a price that is not final until the design center. Have the name in your phone first.
3. At the contract  
Ask for the protections you want as an addendum, and expect to be told no  
On a production build the legal terms are usually the terms. Your leverage is dollars and dirt: price, incentive, closing-cost credit, lot premium, upgrade allowance, which lot and which elevation. Not language. Ask anyway, in writing, because a local or semi-custom builder is a different conversation and some will edit their own form. This is also why the attorney's job here is usually not a redline. It is telling you what you are agreeing to, so you can decide whether to sign or walk.
4. Before the design center  
Read the completion and delay terms before the finishes  
You are selling or carrying against a date you do not control.
5. About month eleven, after you move in  
Book an independent inspection while the workmanship tier is still open  
Put the date in your calendar at closing. It is the cheapest hour in the transaction and the one most owners miss, because nobody sends the reminder.
6. When you compare the incentive  
Ask what rate lock the builder's lender can hold, and for how long  
On a build that is often worth more than the headline incentive. Price the metro-district levy too, if the community has one.

Common questions

## Frequently asked

Can my real estate agent review a builder's contract in Colorado?+ 

They can help you with the transaction, but the Colorado Real Estate Commission's Commission Position 1 states that a broker representing a buyer is not permitted to advise that buyer on the legalities and risks of forms that are not Commission-approved, and should advise the buyer to seek legal counsel. A builder's contract is not a Commission-approved form. So your agent can walk the community, compare incentives, track deadlines and negotiate price and terms, and cannot tell you what an indemnity clause means.

Why don't builders use the standard Colorado real estate contract?+ 

Because they are not required to. Colorado treats homebuilders as Selling Principals, exempt from licensure, and the Commission's position states plainly that its own Contract to Buy and Sell is appropriate for existing construction but should not be used when the seller is selling new, incomplete or speculative construction. The state form is not merely absent from a builder deal. The state's own view is that it does not fit the transaction.

What protections do I lose on a builder's contract?+ 

Whatever the builder's form does not grant. The Colorado contract gives a buyer a right to terminate on an unsatisfactory inspection, a right to object, a right to terminate if the appraisal comes in below the purchase price, a set of due-diligence documents the seller must deliver, and a rule returning earnest money on a valid termination. A builder's form may include versions of these, weaker versions, or none. Read yours against that list with an attorney, before you sign.

Do I need a lawyer to buy new construction in Colorado?+ 

The Commission's own position says a broker should advise the buyer to seek legal counsel about a non-Commission form, so on a builder contract the state is effectively pointing you to one. Weigh it against the size of the deal: an hour or two of review against the largest purchase most people make, at the only moment the terms are still negotiable, which is before you sign.

The leverage is real, and it is worth asking about directly: a finished house the builder is already carrying is a different negotiation from a lot on a release list.

One geographic note, since this page is written for a move-up buyer in this corridor: the in-band new construction here concentrates in Larimer County, around TPC Colorado and Heron Lakes and the upper end of Centerra, rather than in Boulder County, which is largely growth-capped and built out. The paper is the same either way. Where you will actually find the houses is not.

The form is someone else's, your broker is not permitted to interpret it, and nobody downstream is going to add a protection you did not negotiate.

So here is the bounded version of what we do on a build, whether the contract is already in front of you or you are only deciding whether to walk a model this fall. We work under a written buyer-agency agreement signed before we tour, and what we are paid is negotiable and written into it. From there: we name which of the protections above are missing from the form you have been handed, draft the addendum requests worth making and tell you honestly which are likely to be refused, set the builder's completion date against the sale you are running on your own side, and price the lock and the incentive against an independent loan estimate. What the form legally *means* is an attorney's hour, and we will tell you which hour is worth buying. [Talk to us before the lot release](https://truenorthboulder.com/contact/), while the terms are still terms.

*Daniel Hsieh is a licensed Colorado real estate broker with True North Boulder, brokered by eXp Realty.*

*This is general information about published Commission positions and a state-approved contract form. It is not legal advice, and it is not an interpretation of any builder's contract. Questions about what a specific contract requires belong with a Colorado real estate attorney.*

Sources & data notes 
- The advice boundary and the Selling Principal exemption: Colorado Real Estate Commission, [Commission Position 1 — Contracts provided by Principals Selling Real Property](https://dre.colorado.gov/real-estate-manual-and-position-statements?ref=truenorthboulder.com), recodified 2 August 2022 (its previous title was the Commission Policy on Homebuilder's Exemption from Licensing). The exemption itself is at section 12-10-201(6)(b), C.R.S.
- The default protections described above are those of the Colorado Real Estate Commission's [Contract to Buy and Sell Real Estate (Residential)](https://dre.colorado.gov/real-estate-broker-contracts-and-forms?ref=truenorthboulder.com), the version mandatory for use on or after 1 January 2026 — inspection at §10.3, appraisal at §6.2 with the termination right at §6.2.1.1, due-diligence documents at §10.6, termination and earnest money at §24\. They are listed to show what a Commission-approved form contains, not to describe any builder's contract.
- The outer time limit on actions against builders: **C.R.S. §13-80-104** — six years after substantial completion at §(1)(a), the discovery rule at §(1)(b)(I), and the extension where the cause of action arises in the fifth or sixth year at §(2). Read from a codified text current as of 1 January 2025; confirm the current edition with counsel before relying on it.
- The notice-of-claim mechanics that precede a suit (§13-20-803) are deliberately **not** stated. We did not retrieve that section's text, and the figures circulating online come mostly from firms with an interest in the answer. The shape of the process is described; those numbers are a question for counsel.
- The 2025 change: [HB25-1272](https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb25-1272?ref=truenorthboulder.com), signed 12 May 2025 and effective 6 August 2025, creates a Multifamily Construction Incentive Program covering multifamily, attached housing of two or more units. Its *program* rules reach participants only. However, industry accounts report that parts of the same act's notice-of-claim amendments apply to all construction-defect claims from 6 August 2025, with a legislative correction anticipated since, which we have not confirmed was enacted. We have not verified any of this against the enrolled act, which is why this page states the shape and routes the timing to counsel.
- Model-home registration practice varies by builder and is not a legal requirement.