"New construction" carries an assumption most buyers never say out loud: nothing to fix, a builder on the hook for a decade, protection baked into the deal simply because the house is new. In Lyon Park, where a four-unit cluster of townhomes sold down one contract at a time over the better part of a year, the gap between what a builder markets and what Virginia law actually requires shows up the moment you read the paperwork instead of the listing sheet.
That cluster is Irving + Ninth, four rowhomes at 909, 911, 913, and 915 N. Irving Street, built by BCN Homes a few blocks from Rocky Run Park and the Custis Trail, walkable to the Clarendon Metro. The community sold out unit by unit, and the last contract on that block did not read like the first one. That difference is the whole lesson.
The Fourth Townhome on N. Irving Street
Early in the build, Irving + Ninth was marketed as a to-be-built opportunity, framed and under construction with a completion window aimed at early summer 2025. By the time 911 N. Irving Street went to market as the final unit, it was pitched differently: priced at $1,499,900, described as turnkey, with no additional options pricing expected. The home closed on March 18, 2026, at $1,490,000.
That single word, turnkey, is doing real work in that listing. Buyers on the first units at Irving + Ninth were choosing finishes off a builder's selections list, the kind of process where allowances and upgrade deposits can move a final price meaningfully. The buyer on the fourth unit was choosing a finished product. No selections menu, no negotiation over cabinet grade or countertop tier, just a fixed price on a finished house. If you assume every unit in a small builder community carries the same negotiating room, you are working from the wrong contract.
The Square-Footage Question Nobody Asks
Here is a smaller detail that matters more than it should. BCN's own marketing for Irving + Ninth describes each residence at approximately 2,000 square feet. Arlington County's assessment record for 911 N. Irving Street lists finished space at 1,735 square feet.
Run the same closing price against both numbers and the picture changes:
| Square Footage Source | Figure Cited | Price per Sq Ft on $1,490,000 |
|---|---|---|
| Builder marketing | ~2,000 sq ft | ~$745 |
| Arlington County assessment | 1,735 sq ft | ~$859 |
That is a swing of more than $100 per square foot depending on whose number you use to compare this home against the next new-construction listing you tour. Builder-marketed square footage sometimes includes rooftop terraces, garages, or other space that a county assessor does not count as finished living area. Before you compare price per square foot across two builders in Lyon Park, ask each one directly which figure they are quoting and whether it matches what will show up on the county record after closing.
The Ten-Year Warranty That Isn't Ten Years
This is the part of a new-construction contract most buyers skim past, and it is the one with the most room for a bad surprise three years after closing.
Virginia does impose an implied warranty on every new dwelling sold by a builder in the business of building or selling homes. Under Virginia Code § 55.1-357, the home must be sufficiently "free from structural defects" and "constructed in a workmanlike manner." That warranty runs for one year from the date of transfer of title or the buyer taking possession, whichever happens first. The one exception: the foundation itself carries a five-year warranty under state law.
One year. Five years for the foundation. That is the legal floor.
The familiar 1-2-10 language many buyers associate with new construction, a workmanship warranty for year one, a systems warranty for year two, structural coverage out to year ten, is not something Virginia requires. It is a private, insurance-backed product a builder chooses to purchase from an administrator like 2-10 Home Buyers Warranty. A reputable builder typically does buy one. But it is a business decision, not a legal mandate, which means the ten-year protection referenced in a listing sheet only exists if the builder actually enrolled the home. Before you ratify a contract on any new-construction home in Lyon Park or elsewhere in Arlington, ask for the warranty administrator's name and the certificate or enrollment number in writing. If the builder cannot produce one, you are relying on the one-year statutory minimum and nothing more.
Fee Simple or Condominium? Ask Before You Sign
There is a second wrinkle buried in that same statute. Virginia's implied warranty on new dwellings explicitly does not apply to condominium units. If a small townhome cluster is legally recorded as a condominium regime rather than fee simple lots, even the one-year statutory floor may not attach the way a buyer expects.
This matters specifically for the kind of product Irving + Ninth represents: a tight cluster of attached homes sharing walls and sometimes a rooftop structure. Some builders record these as fee-simple lots with a property owners association covering shared elements. Others record the same physical layout as a condominium for the shared structural components. The finished home can look identical from the sidewalk while carrying a completely different legal warranty status underneath. Before signing on any small in-fill townhome community in North Arlington, ask the builder's attorney or the settlement company directly which structure applies to that specific property. It is a one-sentence question that determines whether Virginia's automatic protections apply to you at all.
Where the Deposit Actually Goes
Resale buyers in Northern Virginia are used to earnest money running one to three percent of the purchase price, held by a title company or settlement attorney in a neutral escrow account until closing. New-construction builder deposits do not work the same way.
Builder deposits on custom and semi-custom homes are typically set by the sales contract itself rather than the standard resale purchase agreement, and on homes priced above $2 million in Northern Virginia, deposits of 10 to 20 percent of the contract price are common. Rather than sitting in a neutral escrow account, that money often goes directly into the builder's operating account and funds the actual construction of your home. It is usually non-refundable once you are outside a short rescission window, and it gets credited back to you at closing if the sale completes. That is a meaningfully different risk profile than the resale contract most Arlington buyers have signed before, and it is worth reading the default and refund language line by line rather than assuming it mirrors a standard NVAR resale contract.
What This Means for the Next Small Builder Community
The lesson from Irving + Ninth is not that BCN Homes did anything unusual. It is that a four-unit community sold four different contracts over its life, moving from a selections-heavy to-be-built agreement to a fixed-price turnkey sale, and the protections attached to each of those contracts were not identical. The square footage quoted in the marketing did not match the county record. The warranty language on the listing sheet was not the same as the one-year floor Virginia law actually guarantees. And the deposit structure looked nothing like a resale contract.
None of that makes new construction in Lyon Park a bad decision. It makes it a different transaction than the one most buyers have signed before, and the terms shift depending on where in the build cycle you are buying. If you are watching for BCN's next release in North Arlington, or comparing a to-be-built lot against a finished spec home anywhere in the neighborhood, the contract deserves the same scrutiny as the floor plan.
A Few Direct Questions
Does a new-construction home in Arlington still need a home inspection? Yes. Virginia's implied warranty covers defects the builder should have caught, but it does not substitute for an independent walkthrough before closing, particularly for wiring, plumbing connections, and flashing that gets sealed behind finished walls before you ever see it.
Is a builder deposit refundable if I change my mind? Generally not once you are past the rescission period specified in the contract. Builder deposits function differently from resale earnest money and are usually forfeited if you walk away, though credited toward your purchase price if the sale closes.
How do I confirm a warranty is real and not just marketing language? Ask for the administrator's name and certificate or enrollment number in writing before you ratify. If the builder cannot produce documentation, assume you have Virginia's one-year statutory minimum and nothing beyond it.
Buying new construction in Lyon Park rewards the buyer who reads the contract as closely as the floor plan. Caitlin Platt works directly with BCN Homes on new-construction opportunities across North Arlington and can walk you through exactly what a specific builder's contract does and does not guarantee before you sign. Schedule a consultation to talk through your next move.
