Yes — and with most builders your agent has to physically walk in with you the first time. A name on a registration card is not enough.
This is the part that costs people their representation, and it is stricter than most buyers assume.
Most Calgary builders require your REALTOR® to physically accompany you on your first visit and introduce you in person. Writing their name on the registration card is commonly not enough. Telling the sales representative afterwards that you have an agent is almost never enough. Emailing later to add one is generally refused.
If you walk into a show home unaccompanied and register, many builders will treat you as their own unrepresented customer from that point — for that community, and frequently across every community that builder operates. It is very difficult to reverse, because from the builder's perspective the introduction never happened.
The practical rule: do not visit a single show home without your REALTOR® beside you. Not the first one, not "just to look on a Sunday". One unaccompanied visit can remove your representation on the home you eventually want to buy.
If you have already visited show homes on your own, say so before you go any further — occasionally it can be resolved if it was recent and nothing was signed, but it depends entirely on the builder and it is worth finding out immediately rather than after you have chosen a lot.
On a new build, the builder ordinarily pays the buyer's agent commission out of the sale, in the same way a seller does on a resale purchase. The price of the home is generally not reduced if you turn up without representation — the builder simply keeps the difference.
So the practical choice is not "pay for an agent or save money". It is "have representation, or not have it, at the same price".
The site sales representative works for the builder. They are usually pleasant and knowledgeable, and they are not your advocate. An agent on your side is there to: