New construction: the parts the sales centre will not raise

This is the single most consequential piece of new-construction procedure, and almost nobody is told it before it is too late.

Most builders require that your agent accompany you or be registered on your first visit to the community for representation to apply to that purchase. Walk in alone, give your details, and you may have permanently forfeited the ability to be represented on that home — at no saving to you, because the builder's marketing budget is already priced in either way.

The on-site sales representative is a licensed professional and is often genuinely helpful. They also work for the builder and owe their duties to the builder. That is not a criticism; it is the arrangement. Understand which side of the table each person is on.

Base price is usually the least negotiable item, because a builder protects the recorded prices in a community for the sake of appraisals on subsequent phases. That does not mean nothing is negotiable.

• Incentives — closing cost contributions, rate buy-downs, design-centre allowances. Frequently substantial, and frequently conditional on using the builder's affiliated lender or title company. Price the alternative before accepting.

• Included specification — what moves from optional to standard. Often easier to win than a price reduction, and worth more.

• Lot premium — sometimes, particularly on lots that have been slow to sell.

• Timeline and contract terms — what happens if delivery slips, what your deposit is at risk against, and what the warranty actually covers versus what the brochure implies.

End of quarter, end of phase, and standing inventory that has been completed for a while are when flexibility appears. So is the last handful of homes in a closing-out community, where the builder's cost of keeping a sales office open starts to work in your favour.

A new home is built by dozens of subcontractors under schedule pressure and is inspected by the municipality against code minimums, not against your interests. Independent inspection at pre-drywall and again before closing regularly finds items worth many multiples of the fee — and pre-drywall is the only moment anyone will ever see the framing, plumbing runs and electrical rough-in.

Do not let a warranty argue you out of it. A warranty is a promise to fix what you can prove and get them to return for. An inspection is how you avoid needing one.

You are buying into an unfinished place. Ask what has been approved but not yet built — within the community and within three miles of it. Ask where the remaining phases sit relative to your lot, which direction construction traffic will run, and what the amenity delivery schedule is contractually rather than aspirationally.

Ask about the HOA: what the dues are at build-out rather than during the builder-subsidised period, when control transfers from the builder to the owners, and whether any special assessment is contemplated.

Resale is the other half of this. The homes competing with yours in five years will include the ones the builder has not built yet, sold new, with current finishes and a warranty. That is a real factor in bands where new construction dominates supply.