How to upgrade Resident Services in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Resident Services in Animal Crossing: New Horizons is where players will typically find Tom Nook and Isabelle spending their time. However, when first getting started on your island, this fantastic building will be nothing more than a tent.

The journey to unlocking the Resident Services upgrade in New Horizons isn’t quick or easy. Players will need to complete several steps to access the physical building and everything it has to offer. 

The Escapist recaps

• Resident Services is where Tom Nook and Isabelle can be found in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. 
• Many of the best functions in New Horizons are locked behind the upgraded building.
• Getting the Resident Services building upgraded is a large task.
• You will need to unlock Nook’s Cranny before upgrading Resident Services.
• The longer you wait to unlock it, the harder things will be for island progression.

How to upgrade Resident Services

At first, Resident Services will be nothing more than a small tent in ACNH. Unfortunately, it’ll be stuck that way for several in-game days, as players will need to complete a slew of tasks to upgrade this green tent to the iconic town hall. 

Below are the steps that need to be completed to upgrade Resident Services in New Horizons:

• Pay back your 5,000 Miles of debt from the original Deserted Island Getaway Package that got you to the island
• Upgrade your tent to a house
• Unlock and build Nook’s Cranny
• Build the first bridge
• Set up housing for new villagers

Paying off your debt is straightforward. You will need to get enough NookMiles from completing tasks around your island.

Next, you’ll need to get your house. Speak to Tom Nook after paying off your initial debt to move out of your tent and into a proper little home. 

Once your home is placed, speak with Timmy in the Resident Services tent. He will ask you to help him build a shop of his own. Nook’s Cranny will require the following materials:

• 30 Wood
• 30 Hardwood
• 30 Softwood
• 30 Iron Nuggets

The worst part of this prep is gathering the Wood. You’ll need to make many axes to get all the chopping accomplished. Traveling to deserted islands is also a great way to grind these materials.

Once you have completed construction on Nook’s Cranny, speak with Tom Nook again to get instructions on building your first bridge. You’ll be given a bridge construction kit DIY recipe, which will help expand the map. The construction kit requires the following materials:

• 4 Log Stakes
• 4 Clay
• 4 Stone

Once crafted, the bridge can be placed over a river, letting you cross over and access a wider area of the map. 

Speak to Tom Nook again, and he will ask you to place three new housing plots somewhere on the other side of the river. Each plot will require a random selection of furniture to be added for it to be built.

Submit the needed items to complete the buildings. Once complete, new villagers will arrive, taking your villager count to six. 

Once the villagers arrive, Resident Services will be unavailable for a full day, and then the Town Hall version of Resident Services in New Horizons will be revealed.

How to get Resident Services in Animal Crossing

The Resident Services building in New Horizons is included from the start of the game. Unlike the museum or other additional services, you can access it from day one, first as the tent, and then as the town hall once all upgrades are completed.

The only time it is unavailable is during the upgrade from tent to building. Otherwise, Resident Services is a core part of gameplay in New Horizons.

Can you move Resident Services?

No, you cannot move Resident Services in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. The position it occupies is set at the start of the game, when you select your island’s base layout. Resident Services sits on the main town square, creating a waypoint for your island’s map. 

Almost every other building can be customized and shifted across the map, but Resident Services will always stay where it was originally placed.

This has been a point of frustration for Animal Crossing: New Horizons fans since the game’s release, but it doesn’t appear likely to change. The ability to move it has not been included in the most recent large-scale update, the 3.0 content expansion, either. 

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