A large share of what sells in the Las Vegas valley was built by a production builder in a master plan on the edge of the metro: Summerlin and Skye Canyon in the northwest, Inspirada and Cadence in Henderson, Lake Las Vegas out east, the tracts filling in the southwest. Buying one of those homes is not the resale process with a newer kitchen. The builder's own contract replaces the Nevada purchase agreement, the deposit runs on the builder's schedule and is often not refundable the way earnest money is, the incentives are tied to the builder's lender and title company, the home may be appraised against plans, and instead of a seller's disclosure form there is a written warranty and Nevada's ten-year clock on construction defects. This guide walks those in the order you meet them.
The segment is homes the county record dates to this year or last: a builder's standing inventory and the first resales of it. To-be-built lots are sold at a sales office and never reach a listing feed, so they are not in this count. The homes are on the Las Vegas new construction page.
Spec homes and to-be-built homes
A spec home
Thirty to sixty days
Also called inventory or a quick move-in, finished or nearly so. The options are already chosen, the price is what it is, and it closes in the time a loan takes. It is a real house an appraiser can value like any other, and it is the home the builder most wants off the books, which is where the incentives concentrate.
A to-be-built home
Six to twelve months
A plan on a lot. You choose the elevation, the structural options and every finish, and you carry the risk that rates, your job or the builder's schedule move in the meantime. The appraisal is done from plans and specifications, then updated at completion.
Finding both kinds, on the feeds and off them, is the whole of how to find new construction homes.
The first visit, and your agent
Builders in the valley commonly require a buyer's agent to be registered at the first visit, either accompanying you or named on the sign-in card, before they will pay that agent anything. Tour the models alone and you may have given up your representation for that community. Policies differ by builder and change, so ask at the door and read the registration form.
The person at the desk is the builder's sales agent. Nothing they say is binding unless it is in the contract, and "we always take care of that" is not in the contract. Kouzr is a research platform and does not represent buyers or sellers, so nothing here is a substitute for someone on your side of the table.
The contract, line by line against a resale
| Item | Nevada resale purchase agreement | Builder's contract |
|---|---|---|
| The document | The Nevada residential purchase agreement, a form both sides use every day. | The builder's own contract and addenda, drafted by the builder's counsel. No standard form, and little of it negotiable. |
| Deposit | Earnest money, about 1% of price by Las Vegas custom, held by the escrow company and credited at closing. | A flat deposit plus a share of the options you pick, often held by the builder and non-refundable after a short window. |
| Contingencies | Inspection, appraisal and loan, each a deadline and each a way out with the deposit. | Limited or none. A financing contingency may survive if you use the builder's lender; an appraisal one usually does not. |
| Closing date | A fixed day, moved only by agreement. | A window the builder may move. Your rate lock and your lease do not move with it. |
| Price | One number, agreed. | Base plus lot premium plus options plus design-center selections. The model home is the top of that list, not the base. |
| Disclosure | The Seller's Real Property Disclosure form under NRS 113, served at least 10 days before conveyance. | The declarant's public offering statement under NRS 116.4103. No NRS 113 form: no prior owner to know of a defect. |
| Who drafts it | A neutral form, filled in by the agents. | The builder's counsel. The sales office works for the builder. |
The builder column is the common shape of a production builder's contract, not a statute. Yours governs. The resale column is the practice the buying guide walks through, with earnest money and contingencies defined in the glossary.
Incentives, and the builder's lender
Rate buydowns and closing-cost credits are usually conditioned on financing through the builder's affiliated lender. That is legal when the affiliation is disclosed, and the money is real. It is also the number most often misread.
Compare the package against an outside lender's quote taken the same day, because rates move and a week-old quote proves nothing. Ask for the incentive broken into a lender credit and discount points, so you can see what is buying the rate down and what is paying your costs. And check the shape: a 2-1 buydown lowers the payment for two years and then stops, so the payment you live with is the one in year three. The payment calculator turns any rate and price into a monthly figure with taxes, insurance and dues in it.
A credit that costs more than it gives. A builder's $15,000 credit at a rate a quarter point above an outside lender's is a bad trade over thirty years and a good one if you refinance in three. Run both, on the same day, at the same price. Nobody at the sales office will do it for you.
The public offering statement, the HOA, and the SID
A new home in a master plan is a unit in a common-interest community, so instead of a resale package from a prior owner you receive the declarant's public offering statement. NRS 116.4103 sets out what must be in it: the declaration, bylaws and rules, the budget, the fees due at closing, the terms and limits of the declarant's warranties, and what the declarant still intends to build. Under NRS 116.4108 it must reach you no later than the date the offer becomes binding, which in practice means at signing.
The same section gives a cancellation right, narrower than it is usually described. Unless you have personally inspected the unit, you may cancel by written notice until midnight of the fifth calendar day following the date the contract was executed, and the contract must say so. Cancellation is without penalty and every payment made before it must be refunded promptly. Read both limits together: the five days run from signing, not from the day the statement arrives, and the right belongs to the buyer who did not walk the home. A to-be-built home off a plan is exactly that case. A finished spec home you toured is not. If the declarant never delivers a current statement, the purchaser is entitled to actual damages, rescission or other relief, but rescission is gone once you have accepted the conveyance.
Two structures cost money later. Most valley master plans have a master association and a sub-association, which is two sets of dues on one home, and the declarant controls the board until turnover, so the budget you are handed is the builder's, written before anyone lives there. The HOA guide covers dues, reserves and Nevada's super-priority lien.
From signing to the eleventh month
A to-be-built home runs on the builder's calendar rather than escrow's, so these are stages, not deadlines. The filled dot is the moment something is recorded with the county.
Signing
Contract and deposit
Read the cancellation and default clauses first: what you get back, when you stop getting it back, and what happens if the builder is late.
Weeks 1 to 6
Design center and options
The deposit grows here, and option money is the part builders most often make non-refundable, because they cannot resell your choices. Know beforehand which items are structural (only now) and which are cosmetic (later, cheaper).
Months 2 to 9
Construction, and the pre-drywall inspection
Hire your own inspector to walk it before the drywall, while framing, wiring, plumbing and ducts are visible. Roughly $300 to $600 in the valley in 2026. The superintendent and the city inspector work to code; yours works for you.
Mid-build
Appraisal against plans
The appraiser values the home from plans, specifications and comparable sales, then updates at completion. A home that appraises under contract price is the same problem it is in a resale, minus the appraisal contingency you would have had.
Mid-build
The rate lock
A lock covering a build is an extended lock, and those cost money in the rate or a fee. Ask the price at 90, 180 and 270 days, and what happens if the builder's date slips past the last.
Final week
Final walkthrough, the blue-tape list
Tape every defect: a scratched pane, a binding door, a missing outlet cover. Get the list in writing with a date beside each item. Run every faucet and both air-conditioning systems.
Closing
Closing and title
The incentive is often conditioned on closing at the builder's affiliated title company. Federal rules limit a seller's ability to require one as a condition of sale, so ask whether you may bring your own and what that costs you.
Closing day
Recording
The deed records with the Clark County Recorder. The assessor picks up the improvement on the next roll, which is why the first tax bill may not look like the second.
Month 11
The eleven-month warranty walk
Most builder warranties cover workmanship for one year. Walk the house at eleven months, or pay an inspector to, and submit everything in writing before the year closes. Settlement cracks, sticking doors and stucco hairlines show up after the first summer here.
Inspection pricing is the valley's usual range in 2026, not a quote: the inspection cost answer has the spread. Who pays which closing costs is custom and contract both, and a builder's contract moves it: who pays closing costs.
The warranty, and the ten-year clock
A production builder gives a written warranty, commonly one year on workmanship and finishes, two years on the plumbing, electrical and mechanical systems, and ten years on major structural elements. That 1-2-10 shape is common, not universal and not statutory, so the document you are handed governs. Note what it excludes, who administers it (some are backed by a third-party warranty company), and whether it requires arbitration.
Nevada law sits behind it. NRS 11.202 is a statute of repose: no constructional defect action may be brought more than ten years after substantial completion, fraud excepted. Before such a suit, NRS 40.600 to 40.695 (the process everyone here calls "Chapter 40") requires written notice to the builder and gives the builder a chance to inspect and repair. The Nevada State Contractors Board licenses the builder, takes complaints, and runs a Residential Recovery Fund for homeowners with certain unpaid awards against a licensed contractor; the caps and eligibility are the Board's to state, so check them there.
One thing carries over. Nevada's seller disclosure under NRS 113 does not apply to the builder, but it applies to you the first time you sell that home, and what you learned during the build is a known defect from then on. The disclosure guide is the form and the deadlines. A builder's warranty is also not the same instrument as a home warranty bought on a resale.
Property tax on a new home
The first tax bill on a new build often reflects land only, because the improvement joins the assessment roll after the county picks it up. The bill that follows is the real one, and it can be a large step up. Budget from the finished value, not the first statement.
Then make the owner-occupied tax-cap claim, at closing on the declaration of value or on the assessor's card when it arrives afterward: claimed, the annual increase is capped at 3%, unclaimed the cap is up to 8%. And read the SID line, which is an assessment rather than a tax and does not move with the cap. The property tax guide works the arithmetic, and the county record guide shows where the assessor publishes land and improvement values for a parcel.
Three Las Vegas particulars
The heat
Ask which way the lot faces and where the glass is: a west-facing wall of windows is a July electric bill. Ask how many air-conditioning systems the plan has (two-story plans here usually have two) and what upgrading the window package costs now versus later. These are structural choices, made once.
The water
The Southern Nevada Water Authority's rules generally bar functional turf in the front yard of a new home, so desert landscaping is what you get and grass is not something to add later. Confirm the current rule with the authority. The back yard is commonly bare dirt at closing.
The drive
The new homes are on the edge, and so is the commute. Drive from the lot to work at the hour you would actually drive it, both directions, before you sign. Twenty minutes is worth more than most of the options list.
Where the numbers live
The Las Vegas new construction listings carry every recent build on the market with the county record beside the listing copy; the ZIP rankings say what a square foot costs where the builders are working, which is the comparison a base price should be read against. The payment calculator folds dues and taxes into a monthly figure, and the rent vs buy calculator is the one to run when the build is six months out and you are renting until then. The vocabulary is in the glossary: escrow, HOA, price per square foot.
General information about buying a newly built home in Nevada, not legal, tax or financial advice. Builder contracts, warranties and incentive terms vary and change; the documents you are asked to sign govern, and NRS chapters 116, 40 and 11 are the statutes cited. Kouzr Inc. is a research platform, not a brokerage, lender, title company or builder, and does not represent buyers or sellers.
Questions people ask
Is it cheaper to buy new construction in Las Vegas?
Usually not per square foot. New homes in the valley generally price above resale homes of the same size nearby, and the lot is often smaller. What narrows the gap is the incentive package, the warranty, and a decade before the roof and the air conditioning need money. Compare the monthly cost, not the price: two sets of HOA dues, a possible special improvement district assessment on the tax bill, and the back-yard landscaping a builder does not include all belong in it.
Do I need an agent to buy from a builder?
No, but if you want one, register them at your first visit. Builders commonly require the agent to accompany you or be named on that visit before they will pay a commission, and afterwards it is usually too late. The sales office represents the builder. Kouzr is a research platform and does not represent buyers or sellers.
Can you negotiate with a builder in Las Vegas?
Rarely on the base price, because a recorded discount lowers the comparable sales for every home the builder has left in that phase. Often on everything else: options thrown in, the lot premium, closing-cost credits, a rate buydown through their lender. The room is widest on a finished inventory home, at the end of a quarter.
Is a builder's deposit refundable?
Often not, and that is the largest single difference from a resale. Earnest money in a Nevada resale is protected by the inspection, appraisal and loan contingencies. A builder's contract typically makes the deposit refundable only during a short window and treats design-center money as non-refundable once ordered. Read the cancellation and default clauses before you sign.
What warranty comes with a new home in Nevada?
The builder's written warranty, commonly one year on workmanship, two years on plumbing, electrical and mechanical systems, and ten years on major structural elements. That structure is common in the industry, not required by statute, so read the document. Separately, NRS 11.202 bars a constructional defect action brought more than ten years after substantial completion, and NRS 40.600 to 40.695 sets a notice-and-repair process the builder is entitled to before a suit.
How long does new construction take in Las Vegas?
For a to-be-built home, commonly six to twelve months from contract to keys, depending on the plan and the phase. A finished inventory home closes in the thirty to sixty days a loan takes. The contract usually states an estimated window rather than a fixed date, and may move it.
