To check a new home builder in Montgomery County, Maryland, search the builder’s name in the county’s New Home Builders list on dataMontgomery, which shows the license number (starting with BC), the issued date and the expiration date, then confirm with the Office of Consumer Protection (240-777-3636). The county will not issue a permit to build a new home to a builder without this registration, according to the Department of Permitting Services, and registered builders must give buyers a written warranty: one year for materials and workmanship, two years for electrical, plumbing and mechanical systems, and five years for major structural defects.
By our count of the county list, 498 builder registrations ran past October 24, 2026. A quarter of them (126) were first issued in the past 12 months, 36 expire within 60 days, and 115 others expired in the past year. Under the county regulation, an expired registration cannot be renewed; the builder must apply again.
| Item | What we found |
|---|---|
| Where to check | New Home Builders list on dataMontgomery (updated October 22, 2026), then OCP |
| Registrations in force | 498 (of 2,564 records since 1991) |
| First issued in the past 12 months | 126 (25.3%) |
| Expiring within 60 days | 36 (7.2%) |
| Expired in the past 12 months | 115 |
| Business address | Maryland 83.7%, Virginia 12.4%, D.C. 1.6% |
| Owner-builder waivers since mid-2019 | 167 requests, 135 approved (median 9 days to approval) |
| Required warranty | 1 year workmanship, 2 years systems, 5 years major structural |
How to look up a Montgomery County new home builder
- Ask the builder for its county registration number (BC followed by digits) and the exact legal name on the sales contract.
- Search that name in the New Home Builders list and check that the expiration date is after your settlement date. Search parts of the name, since the list uses the registered business name and sometimes a trade name (for example, “T/A”).
- If the company that owns the lot or signs the sales contract is different from the company building the house, check both. The county regulation requires the builder to register as a new home builder and a separate property-owning seller to register as a new home seller.
- Call OCP to confirm the registration and ask about complaints, and look up the builder in the county’s merchant complaint records.
- Before settlement, ask for the builder’s written certification of the county inspections and check the permit and final inspection in DPS records.
What registration requires
Montgomery County Executive Regulation 15-23 (effective January 30, 2024) sets out the rules under Chapter 31C of the County Code:
- Who must register: anyone who builds a new home for sale, acts as general contractor on a new home for someone else, advertises as a new home builder, or applies for a building permit for a new home. Subcontractors, lenders and buyer’s agents are excluded.
- Review: applicants appear before the Board of Registration for Building Contractors, which recommends whether the builder is qualified. The application includes three material supplier references, a bank, a summary of building experience and a sample warranty.
- Fees: $805 for an initial or renewal builder registration and $400 initial or $250 renewal for a new home seller, plus the state Home Builder Registration Unit’s administrative fee.
- Term: two years. Renewal applications are due 30 days before expiration; once a registration expires it cannot be renewed and the builder must apply as new.
- Inspections: at occupancy or settlement, the builder must certify in writing that the home passed the required county inspections, from footing and foundation through final electrical, final plumbing and final building.
What the county new home warranty covers
- One year: defects in materials or workmanship. Appliances and devices such as smoke detectors, garage door openers and dishwashers are limited to the manufacturer’s warranty.
- Two years: defects in the electrical, plumbing, heating, cooling, ventilation and mechanical systems.
- Five years: major structural defects.
- Notice: the owner must give the builder written notice no later than 30 days after the warranty on that item expires. The builder chooses whether to repair, replace or pay the reasonable cost.
- Exclusions: driveways, walkways, fences, retaining walls, landscaping, pools, normal wear and damage from owner changes, among others. The warranty transfers to later owners for the rest of its term.
What the county builder list shows
We downloaded the county’s New Home Builders data (API version, updated October 22, 2026) and the Waivers Granted for Personal Home Construction data on October 24, 2026. These are our calculations. We counted a registration as in force if its expiration date was after October 24, 2026. The issued date appears to be the first registration date: expiration dates fall an even number of years after it (2, 4, 6 and more), which fits two-year renewals.
| First issued | Registrations in force | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Before 2010 | 85 | 17.1% |
| 2010–2019 | 64 | 12.9% |
| 2020–2024 | 131 | 26.3% |
| 2025 | 105 | 21.1% |
| 2026 (to October 24) | 113 | 22.7% |
- A young list. 43.8% of registrations in force were first issued in 2025 or 2026. That includes national builders and small custom builders alike, so a recent issued date says nothing about quality by itself, but it does mean the builder has a short record in the county.
- Turnover. 115 registrations reached their expiration date between October 2025 and October 2026 without a later date in the list, compared with 498 still in force.
- Out-of-state builders. 62 registrations in force (12.4%) list a Virginia business address and 8 a D.C. address.
- Owner-builders. People building a home for themselves can ask OCP for a waiver. Of 167 requests since June 2019, 135 were approved, 9 denied, 13 withdrawn, 4 referred to the board and 6 were pending. Approvals took a median of 9 days (90% within 35 days). Bethesda had the most requests (48). A home built under a waiver is not covered by the county warranty, and the regulation requires a certificate saying so with any sale to a consumer within five years.
Checklist before you sign with a new home builder
- Builder registration number and expiration date checked in the county list and with OCP.
- New home seller registration checked if a different company owns the lot or signs the contract.
- Written county warranty received by the time the sales contract is signed, with the warranty date defined.
- Building permit issued in the builder’s name and the inspection record reviewed before settlement.
- For a resale of a recently built house, whether it was built under an owner-builder waiver and is outside the county warranty.
- Warranty claim deadlines on your calendar: one, two and five years from the warranty date, plus 30 days.
For older permits and records on an existing house, see our Montgomery County permit records guide. Our contractor license lookup guide covers remodelers and other states, and our final inspection guide explains how to read a final.
For the wiring in a new house, see our Montgomery County MD electrical permit lookup: 97.5% of new-house electrical permits from 2022–24 were finaled.
Counts are our calculations from Montgomery County’s New Home Builders and Waivers Granted for Personal Home Construction data on dataMontgomery, downloaded October 24, 2026. Executive Regulation 15-23 and county pages checked October 25, 2026.