Whatever the builders will tell you, the law in California has the builders on the hook for 10 years. 10 yrs from when the COO is issued is the statute of limitations on construction defects, on top of any warranty the builder offers. It’s not going to likely help you with niggling little things if the house is out of the builders “warranty period”, but will definitely help you in a situation where there are major issues with a house.

It reminds me of a case many years back where a builder had to buy back an entire phase because the concrete sub didn’t use enough steel in the foundations.

So basically… minor issues that would not fall into the defect category will not be covered, but things like leaky roofs, cracked slabs, compacting soil etc will usually be taken care of for a full 10 years because the builder knows that you can sue and will most likely win.