Terms and Conditions
Anyone who reads the New Home Builder Portland website or sends an estimate request through it does so under the rules on this page. The construction of an actual house is a separate matter, settled by the contract signed for that house.
Cost figures on the site are planning averages rather than quotes, and asking for an estimate costs nothing and obliges no one. For home construction above $3,000, Maine requires a written contract with both signatures and caps any down payment at one third.
Effective October 28, 2026. Last updated October 28, 2026.
The rules on this page apply to everyone who visits this website. The construction of a house, if you hire us, is governed by the contract signed for it, and nothing here overrides that contract.
Who Runs This Site
New Home Builder Portland is a Legacy Construction company whose office in Gorham, Maine, serves owners building new custom homes in Portland and the towns around it. Wherever these terms say "we", "us" or "our", they refer to New Home Builder Portland; "you" is the person visiting the site.
Who May Use the Site
Visitors must be adults, 18 or older, and visiting the site is your confirmation of that.
Fair Use of the Site
The site exists so you can learn what building a new house here involves and tell us about your land and plans. Send us true details and contact information of your own, and leave the site's code and servers alone.
The Prices on This Site
Our per-square-foot tiers and site-work ranges are averages across many builds, printed so you can test a budget before you meet anyone. Treat them as planning numbers: not one of them is a bid, an offer or your house's price.
Your own price turns on the lot, the plan and the finishes, with ledge, well depth, septic design, foundation type and finish tier weighing most. We fix a price only after full plans exist, and design work carries no published figure at all, because we price it from the scope at a first meeting.
Estimate Requests
Requesting an estimate costs nothing and leaves you free to walk away. Agreement starts only when both of us sign a contract.
We can turn a request down, such as land beyond our towns or a job we do not do. The jobs we do not do include small repairs, roofing, siding, deck and window work on their own, and modular or manufactured homes.
Contracts and Deposits Under Maine Law
Maine's home construction statute, 10 MRSA ยง1487, covers any job above $3,000 in materials or labor and calls for the agreement to be written out and signed on both sides. Each side keeps a copy from before the first day of work, and the down payment is limited to a third of the contract total.
Plans, scope, materials, price and the schedule of payments for your house all live in that contract rather than on this site. The statute adds that any change to the contract price needs a written change order, and Maine's Attorney General notes that both parties sign one.
No Warranty From This Website
This website warrants nothing and guarantees nothing. Warranty terms for a house we build appear in that house's contract.
There you will find our workmanship warranty, written to run five years, along with the warranty statement Maine's statute places in every such contract. Products built into the house come with their makers' own published warranties as well.
Licensing in Maine
General contractors and home builders hold no state license in Maine, because the state does not issue one, so there is none for us to show. What protects you on a job above $3,000 is the written, two-signature contract the statute requires.
Permits, Codes and Local Approval
A building permit for a new house is each town's own decision, made after its Code Enforcement Officer reviews the plans. Towns with 4,000 or more residents must enforce Maine's building and energy code, while smaller towns choose for themselves, as the State Fire Marshal's code FAQ sets out.
Building near a great pond, a river, salt water or some wetlands can bring a lot under shoreland zoning, which towns carry out within the state's shoreland program. We apply for whatever permits the house needs, while the decision rests with the town, and where it applies the state, so approval is never something we promise.
Dates and Schedules
The statute has every such contract name two estimates: when the work should start and when it should be substantially complete. It also lets both dates shift when the cause lies beyond the contractor's control, a site not yet ready or materials that are unavailable among them.
The 10 to 14 months our houses usually take, foundation through final walkthrough, describes past builds and not your schedule. This website sets no start date and no finish date for your house.
Information Only, Not Advice
Our pages about land and cost are general information, and so are our notes on septic design, flood zones and building codes. None of it is engineering, legal, real estate or financial advice, and no web page replaces a walk of your actual lot.
For a code question about one particular property, the town's Code Enforcement Officer gives the answer that counts.
Text Message Terms
This section covers the texts you agree to receive when you tick the box on one of our forms.
- Topics: the estimate you asked about, and after you hire us, how your build is going.
- Cost: message and data rates may apply, and the number of texts depends on the project.
- Ending them: text STOP and they end, with one reply confirming it, or text HELP when you need help.
Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages. You can buy from us without ever agreeing to texts.
How we treat your number and your consent is described in our Privacy Policy.
Our Plans, Text and Photos
Copyright may cover what we publish here, the photographs and drawings included. Get our permission first if you would like to reuse any of them.
Links to Other Sites
Throughout the site we cite town code offices, Maine statutes, state agencies and FEMA's flood maps. Those sites belong to others, who answer for what they publish.
Limits on Our Liability
So far as Maine law permits, New Home Builder Portland is not responsible for indirect, incidental or consequential loss tied to a visit to this site or to reliance on its general information. Construction done under a signed contract is judged by that contract instead.
Changes to These Terms
We can update these terms whenever needed, and the text on this page is always the current version. Using the site after an update counts as accepting it.
Governing Law
Maine law governs these terms. Disputes over this website go to the state courts of Maine or to a federal court located in Maine.
Questions
Send any question about these terms to [email protected], or call or write to us through our contact page.