The Warranty Year and Beyond: What Our Commitment to You Looks Like After Move-In
The day you get the keys is a big one. There’s a walkthrough, a deep clean, a moment where the house is fully yours for the first time. And then the builder leaves — and that’s where, with a lot of builders, the relationship effectively ends.
We’ve always believed that’s the wrong way to think about it.
What the warranty covers
In Tennessee, a standard builder warranty covers workmanship and materials for one year from the date of closing. At RDG, that warranty is backed by the same team that built your home — the same project manager who knows every decision that was made, the same trade partners who did the work, the same standards we held ourselves to throughout the build.
When something comes up in that first year — and something almost always does, because a new home is a living system that settles and adjusts — you’re not calling a warranty department. You’re calling Dusty. You’re reaching the people who know your home because they built it.
The things that come up
A new custom home goes through a natural adjustment period in the first twelve months. Nail pops from lumber drying out. Minor cracks in drywall at stress points. Doors that need adjustment as the house settles. Caulk that separates at transitions. These are normal, expected, and fully addressed under warranty.
What matters is how a builder responds when they do come up. Promptly and without friction — or slowly and reluctantly. We take pride in being the former. A warranty call isn’t an inconvenience; it’s a commitment we made when we handed over the keys.
After the warranty year
Our relationship with clients doesn’t expire at twelve months. We’ve built homes for people who have become genuine friends over the years — people who call us when something needs attention, who refer their neighbors, who trust us with the next project when life calls for one.
That’s not by accident. It comes from treating every interaction after move-in — warranty or not — with the same care we brought to the build itself. If you have a question two years after closing, call us. If something isn’t right and you’re not sure whether it’s a warranty issue or not, call us anyway. We’d rather talk through it than have you sitting with a concern.
The real measure of a builder
Anyone can build a beautiful home for a client who is standing right in front of them, budget in hand. The real measure of a builder is what happens after — whether they stand behind what they built, whether they’re reachable, and whether the relationship holds.
We think about that standard every day on every job site. Because the homes we build today are the references we’ll be giving in five years — and the clients we hope will call us back.
Connect with us at rdgtn.com