Buying New Construction in Bryan-College Station: What the Builder Contract Does Not Tell You

Buyer Tips · September 2026 · 8 min read

New construction is a bigger share of the Bryan-College Station market than it is in most Texas metros its size. Drive the arc from Greens Prairie Road down through Wellborn, out Highway 47 toward RELLIS, or north past Traditions in Bryan, and you are passing active subdivisions the whole way. NewHomeSource currently lists more than 100 communities in the Bryan-College Station area across roughly 50 builders, at price points from starter product to well over a million. If you are house hunting here, you will almost certainly walk through at least one model home.

What surprises a lot of Brazos Valley buyers is that the paperwork is completely different. If you bought a resale house in College Station five years ago, you signed a TREC promulgated contract — a state-standardized form with an option period, a familiar amendment process, and terms a Texas agency wrote to be balanced. Buy from a production builder and you will almost certainly sign the builder's own contract instead. Same house, same closing table, very different rules.

Why builder contracts are different in Texas

The Texas Real Estate Commission does publish new home contract forms — the New Home Contract (Completed Construction), Form 24-20, and the New Home Contract (Incomplete Construction), Form 23-20, both in their current versions effective July 1, 2026. Those forms exist for licensed agents representing sellers of new homes.

But builders are generally not required to use them. Most production builders sell through their own on-site sales staff and their own attorney-drafted purchase agreement. That contract is not a state form and there is no standard version of it. Two builders three miles apart in College Station may hand you documents that differ substantially on deposits, delays, warranties, and your right to walk away.

That is not a reason to avoid new construction. Plenty of Brazos Valley buyers are very happy in a new home. It is a reason to read what you are signing, and to have someone in your corner who reads these for a living.

The five clauses that matter most

Termination rights. The TREC option period — typically a handful of days where you can terminate for any reason at all and lose only the option fee — is often absent from a builder contract. Some builders offer a short review window, some offer none. Find out which before you write a check, because the deposit is usually much larger than a TREC option fee.
Earnest money and deposits. Builder deposits are commonly a percentage of the purchase price rather than a flat sum, and they are frequently non-refundable after a stated date. Ask exactly what makes them refundable and get the answer in the contract, not in conversation.
Completion dates and delay language. Read what happens if the home is not finished on schedule. Many builder contracts give generous extensions for weather, labor, and materials, and Texas summers plus regional supply timing mean delays here are ordinary rather than exceptional.
Financing contingencies. Some builders offer meaningful incentives for using their affiliated lender. That can be real money, but compare the full picture — rate, points, fees, and whether declining that lender changes your contingency protections.
Warranty and dispute resolution. Look for the structural warranty term, who administers it, and whether disputes go to arbitration. This section is easy to skim and expensive to learn about later.

Local considerations for new construction in the Brazos Valley

Beyond the contract, a few things come up repeatedly in newer Bryan-College Station subdivisions and are worth checking on any lot you are considering.

Special districts. A number of newer developments in Brazos County sit inside a Municipal Utility District or similar special district. That adds a tax rate on top of city, county, school, and college district rates. Ask for the district name and the current rate, then run the real monthly payment — not the one on the sales flyer.
Soil and foundation. Much of Brazos County sits on expansive clay. It moves with moisture. New construction is not immune; ask what foundation design the builder uses and what the drainage plan for your specific lot is.
Drainage and floodplain. Grading changes as a subdivision builds out. Pull the FEMA map for the address yourself and look at where water goes on your lot relative to the ones uphill of it.
Lot premiums. Corner, greenbelt, and cul-de-sac lots often carry premiums of several thousand dollars. Decide whether that premium is something a future buyer will also pay, or something only you value.
Phasing. A community that looks finished from the model home may have two more phases behind it. Ask for the phasing plan so you know what will be built, and driven, behind your back fence.
Commute reality. Test drive it. The Highway 6 and Wellborn Road corridors move very differently at 8 a.m. on a Tuesday than at 2 p.m. on a Saturday, and Texas A&M home game weekends change everything again.

Bring your agent to the first visit — really, the first one

This is the single most common and most costly mistake in new construction anywhere, including Bryan-College Station. Most builders will only recognize your agent if that agent is with you, or registers you, on your very first visit to the community. Walk in alone on a Sunday drive, sign the visitor card, and you may have given up representation on that community entirely.

It is also worth being clear about who the person at the model home works for. The on-site sales consultant is a professional and often genuinely helpful, but they represent the builder. Their job is to sell that builder's homes on that builder's terms.

One more 2026 wrinkle: under Texas SB 1968, effective January 1, 2026, a license holder must have a written agreement with a buyer before showing residential property. So the representation conversation now happens earlier and more formally than it used to. That is a good thing for buyers — it just means you should have it before you start touring, not after you have fallen for a floor plan.

A practical order of operations

If you are considering new construction in College Station, Bryan, or the surrounding Brazos Valley, a workable sequence looks like this: get pre-approved and know your all-in monthly number including any special district tax; sign a buyer representation agreement; tour communities with your agent present on the first visit; narrow to two or three floor plans and lots; then have the builder contract reviewed carefully before you sign, with a Texas real estate attorney if anything in it gives you pause.

And do not skip the independent inspection. You are entitled to have your own inspector look at a brand-new home — ideally at the pre-drywall stage and again before closing. New does not automatically mean flawless, and a good inspection report is the most useful document you will get during the whole process.

This article is general information, not legal advice; a Texas real estate attorney is the right person to review a specific builder contract. If you are looking at new construction anywhere in Bryan-College Station and want someone to walk the communities with you from the first visit, reach out to Rick — the earlier in the process, the more he can do.