New Home Foundation Settling and Builder Warranties in Collin County

Collin County is building fast

The newest part of the county is also one of the fastest-growing places in the country. The Census Bureau's Vintage 2025 estimates, released May 14, 2026, ranked Celina the fastest-growing US city of 20,000 or more for the year to July 1, 2025, up 24.6% to 64,427 people. Princeton, Melissa and Anna were also in the top five, and McKinney added 8,504 residents, the tenth-largest numeric gain among US cities of that size.

The housing reflects that. Census estimates put the median year built at 2014 in Prosper, 2015 in Celina and 2009 in Frisco (ACS 2020 to 2024, table B25035), and 72% of Prosper's homes were built in 2010 or later (table B25034). A lot of Collin County homeowners are living through a foundation's first few seasons on expansive clay, often with a builder warranty still running.

What normal early movement looks like

A new house changes the soil under it: the site is graded, the slab covers the ground, and landscaping and sprinklers start watering it. The Foundation Performance Association (FPA), a Houston group of engineers and industry members, describes the result in its maintenance guide: the soils "have to be allowed to adjust and reach a new equilibrium," they "normally stabilize within the first one or two years after construction," and this initial movement "should not cause more than hairline cracking in the superstructure and is usually undetectable to the common building owner that is not looking for distress."

New houses also crack for reasons unrelated to the soil. The FPA's table of distress often mistakenly attributed to foundation movement, written for southeast Texas, lists several that are typical of new construction:

• Drywall separations at tape joints and corner beads, and gaps at crown molding, from lumber shrinking as it dries. The table suggests waiting about two years before repairing.
• Continuous cracks in floor tile grout, from the concrete below continuing to shrink after the tile was laid.
• Surface cracks in a post-tensioned slab before the tendons were stressed, from curing shrinkage, which "typically close after stressing."

The foundation cracks guide covers what engineers look at in a crack and how to keep a dated log.

When early movement is more than normal

The FPA maintenance guide's advice is specific: "If more than hairline distress is observed, the maintainer should contact the builder/inspector/engineer of record to determine if the distress is due to abnormal foundation movement." It adds that for a newly built house, the builder and the foundation's engineer of record "will already be familiar with the structure and usually have some responsibility to ensure its performance."

Signs that go beyond hairline cracking, drawn from the signs of foundation problems guide, include diagonal drywall cracks from door and window corners, doors that rack out of square, noticeably sloping floors, brick cracks that widen, and any crack that keeps growing.

A builder's view and an independent view can differ. In 2014, NBC 5 in Dallas-Fort Worth reported on an Anna family whose 2008 home, built by a large national builder, had cracks that the builder's foundation company called "cosmetic" and "within acceptable tolerances for new construction." Three other foundation companies recommended repairs, and a UT Arlington civil engineer told the station, "It's not cosmetic." That is one family's story, not a pattern, but it shows why an opinion from an engineer with no tie to the builder or a repair company can be worth paying for. See engineer report vs free inspection.

Post-tension slabs: don't drill or cut

Many newer homes on North Texas clay sit on post-tensioned slabs, with steel tendons inside the concrete that are tightened after it cures. The Post-Tensioning Institute describes these slabs as "a cost-efficient, high-performance solution" for homes on shrink-swell soils, and notes that the 2024 International Residential Code adds a requirement that post-tensioned slabs on expansive or stable soils be designed to its standard, PTI DC10.5. Frisco's new-home permit checklist asks for a "PTI Report" for post-tension foundations along with an Engineer of Record letter.

The tendons are under high tension. The Post-Tensioning Institute says post-tensioned structures "may become damaged by ... coring and drilling after construction, leading to tendon failure" (PTI repair overview). Before anyone cores, saws or drills into your slab, whether for a plumbing repair, a floor outlet, a safe anchor or a foundation repair, confirm whether it is post-tensioned and have the tendons located. While the warranty is running, also check what it says about alterations to the slab before any such work.

How builder warranties are usually structured

Many new homes come with a written warranty that runs in three tiers, often called 1-2-10. One warranty company, 2-10 Home Buyers Warranty, describes its builder warranty as one year for workmanship, two years for distribution systems (such as plumbing, electrical and HVAC lines), and ten years of "third-party insurance-backed coverage for qualifying structural defects."

The word to watch is "qualifying." The same company defines a structural defect as "actual physical damage to the designated load-bearing elements of the home caused by failure of such load-bearing elements, which affects their load-bearing functions to the extent that the home becomes unsafe, unsanitary or otherwise unlivable." That is a high bar. Cracked drywall, a sticking door, or brick cracks that don't reach that point may fall outside the structural coverage, and after year one or two may fall outside the workmanship and systems coverage too.

Warranties differ by builder and by warranty company, so read your own. Things to find in the booklet:

• Who handles each tier: the builder, or a third-party warranty company or insurer.
• How and where to make a claim, and whether it must be in writing.
• The definition of a structural defect, and any movement or deflection standard it uses.
• What's excluded, such as cosmetic cracking, damage from drainage or landscaping changes, or poor watering.
• Whether disputes go to binding arbitration.
• Whether it transfers to a buyer if you sell.

Texas law: the Residential Construction Liability Act

Texas Property Code chapter 27, the Residential Construction Liability Act, sets out steps that come before a lawsuit or arbitration against a builder over a construction defect. It also covers a later buyer who files a claim against the builder. A summary of section 27.004, which is not legal advice:

1. Written notice first. At least 60 days before starting an action, the homeowner must send written notice by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the builder's last known address, describing the defects "in reasonable detail." The homeowner must also provide evidence of the defect and the repairs needed, "including any expert reports, photographs, and video or audio recordings," if that evidence would be discoverable.
2. The builder can inspect. For 35 days after receiving the notice, the builder is entitled, on written request, to a reasonable opportunity to inspect, with up to three inspections.
3. The builder can offer to settle. Within 60 days of receiving the notice, the builder may make a written offer to repair or pay. Accepted repairs are to be made within 60 days of the builder receiving written acceptance, unless delays are beyond the builder's control.
4. Responding to an offer you think is unreasonable. You have 25 days after receiving it to explain why in writing, and the builder then has 10 days to make a supplemental offer.

The stakes of that step are real. If a homeowner rejects a reasonable offer, or doesn't allow a reasonable chance to inspect or repair, the act limits what the homeowner can later recover. The damages the act allows include reasonable repair costs and "reasonable and necessary engineering and consulting fees."

An independent engineer's report is the kind of evidence the notice asks for, and it gives you a way to judge whether a builder's offer is reasonable. Talk to a Texas attorney before sending a notice or responding to an offer.

Filing deadlines: a 2023 change

Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 16.009, as amended in 2023, sets an outer deadline for suits over the construction of a new residence: generally 10 years after substantial completion. If the builder provided a written warranty covering at least one year for workmanship and materials, two years for plumbing, electrical, heating and air-conditioning delivery systems, and six years for major structural components, the deadline to sue that builder is six years. A written claim presented within the period extends it by one year for these residential claims, and the section doesn't bar an action on a written warranty that expressly provides a longer period.

How those rules apply to a particular house and warranty, including one bought before 2023, is a question for a Texas attorney. The practical point is not to let years pass while a problem grows.

There is no state agency to call

Until 2009, Texas had a state agency for home builders, the Texas Residential Construction Commission. The Legislature didn't continue it. According to the Sunset Advisory Commission, the commission was abolished and its act expired on September 1, 2009, and its records went to the Texas Comptroller. Today a new-home foundation dispute runs through the warranty, the chapter 27 process, and, if it comes to that, arbitration or court.

A new-home foundation checklist

1. Collect the documents at closing, or ask for them now: the foundation plans, soils report, post-tension report where there is one, the engineer of record's letter, and the warranty booklet. The FPA's homebuyers' guide says local permitting authorities often keep copies of these drawings.
2. Start a crack log in the first month. Date, photo and width for every crack you notice, and note which doors stick. See the cracks guide.
3. Keep drainage and watering as designed. Don't regrade beds toward the house or bury the slab edge, keep downspouts discharging away, and follow how to water your foundation. Check what your warranty says about drainage and landscaping changes.
4. Report problems in writing, early. Follow the warranty's claim steps and keep copies. Put anything that looks like more than hairline movement in writing to the builder before year one ends.
5. Get an independent engineer before a big decision: before a warranty deadline, before accepting or rejecting a builder's offer, or before selling. You can check a Texas PE's license at pels.texas.gov. See engineer evaluation.

Your city's permit rules for any later repair are on the Frisco, Prosper and McKinney pages.

If an engineer recommends repair that the builder won't cover, this guide can pass your request to an independent local foundation repair company for a bid. See how it works, including how referrals are paid for.