Short answer: yes, usually. A builder is generally liable for construction defects under an express warranty and, in most states, an implied warranty of workmanlike construction or habitability. But two rules sit on top: a "right to repair" notice process most states require before suit, and a statute of repose, a fixed number of years after construction that ends the claim, whether or not the defect had shown up yet.
Express warranty vs. implied warranty
An express warranty is whatever the builder put in writing at closing. An implied warranty exists whether or not it wrote anything down. Virginia codifies one directly:
Va. Code § 55.1-357: "In every contract for the sale of a new dwelling, the vendor shall be held to warrant to the vendee that ... the dwelling with all of its fixtures is, to the best of the actual knowledge of the vendor or his agents, sufficiently (i) free from structural defects ... and (ii) constructed in a workmanlike manner."
Other states reach the same place through a purpose-built defect statute. California's Right to Repair Act defines construction standards and makes violating them the claim itself:
Cal. Civil Code § 896: "In any action seeking recovery of damages arising out of, or related to deficiencies in, the residential construction, design, specifications, surveying, planning, supervision, testing, or observation of construction, a builder ... shall ... be liable for, and the claimant's claims or causes of action shall be limited to violation of, the following standards."
North Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee have no standalone statutory warranty or right-to-repair act. The claim there is ordinary breach of contract or negligent construction.
Right-to-repair acts: notice before suit
In most of these states you cannot go straight to court. A right-to-repair statute requires written notice to the builder first, giving it a window to inspect and offer a fix. Washington's window is 45 days:
Rev. Code Wash. § 64.50.020: "In every construction defect action brought against a construction professional, the claimant shall, no later than 45 days before filing an action, serve written notice of claim on the construction professional."
Colorado's CDARA requires 75 days:
Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-20-803.5: "No later than seventy-five days before filing an action against a construction professional ... a claimant shall send or deliver a written notice of claim to the construction professional by certified mail, return receipt requested, or by personal service."
Texas (RCLA), Florida (Ch. 558), and South Carolina (Right to Cure Act) run comparable processes. Arizona's Purchaser Dwelling Act puts the burden on the homeowner to start it:
Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 12-1363: "Before filing a dwelling action, the purchaser shall give written notice by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the seller specifying in reasonable detail the basis of the dwelling action."
Skipping notice can stall a claim right when you need to be moving toward the deadline below, not away from it.
Statute of repose: the deadline that does not wait for you
A statute of limitations runs from when you discover a problem. A statute of repose runs from substantial completion, full stop, and bars the claim after that many years even if the defect had not appeared yet. Texas sets it at 10:
Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code § 16.009: "a claimant must bring suit for damages for a claim listed in Subsection (b) against a person who constructs or repairs an improvement to real property not later than 10 years after the substantial completion of the improvement."
California and Nevada also use 10 years; Arizona, Georgia, and South Carolina use 8; Colorado, Washington, and North Carolina use 6. Florida ties its 7-year deadline to the certificate of occupancy:
Fla. Stat. § 95.11(3)(b): "In any event, the action must be commenced within 7 years after the date the authority having jurisdiction issues a temporary certificate of occupancy, a certificate of occupancy, or a certificate of completion, or the date of abandonment of construction if not completed, whichever date is earliest."
The two shortest windows here: Virginia at 5 years, Tennessee at 4:
Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-202: "All actions ... to recover damages for any deficiency in the design, planning, supervision, observation of construction, or construction of an improvement to real property ... must be brought ... within four (4) years after substantial completion of an improvement."
Repose runs on a calendar, not discovery: a defect found in year 9 of a 10-year window leaves almost no time to give notice and still file.
What this means for you
- Get the substantial-completion or certificate-of-occupancy date in writing now, it starts your repose clock.
- Do not wait to see if a defect gets worse; notice periods and repose deadlines share the same calendar.
- Repose is a hard bar regardless of theory, contract, negligence, or statute, so "I only just found it" is rarely an exception.
Look up a specific state at the lookup, ask your own situation at /ask/, or browse by issue.
This is general information, not legal advice; repose deadlines are strict, confirm your state's law and act early.