Del Webb Reviews

CCR's are too restrictive regarding planting of back yards

Thought this would be a better product based on what we have heard. Just another penny pinching mass built home. Small details that would not cost much to include ignored. Pretty low grade materials. Walls aren't even square. Just moving in and already kind of disappointed.

The construction process and end product is sloppy. Messy chaulking, splattered paint, chipped/stained concrete, crooked knobs/tile, nicked counters/doors/trim, sod not rolled and left with large gaps, electric outlets not at same level/crooked, light switches poorly placed. Solid construction but all the nice detailed work is missing. Great community though.

Make sure you go through the home, during walk through, and mark anything that looks awry to you. Don’t forget to check the light fixtures. Make sure any flaws are given to the builder’s representative. I have found anything under warranty, which is not an emergency, they want you to fix yourself, before they respond. After response, you will have to wait for weeks before fixed. My walk through was 2 months ago and nothing has been corrected as yet.

I would think that being as large as Pulte is, that they would be more accommodative to disabled veterans in the buying process.

I'm very happy to be part of the Carolina Orchards community. People are friendly and welcoming and the amenities are top notch. The community is also beautifully maintained and landscaped. The sales rep I dealt with was consistently helpful and friendly. The building of my home, though, was an experience that could have been better.

There were several issues with the doors throughout the house. They were misaligned or wouldn't close properly. The balance of the house was as expected.

We recently moved from Texas where housing is fairly inexpensive compared to the rest of the country. This Del Webb home in New Mexico is our third house. I admit the home we just left, purchased 14 years ago (2004) for roughly 175,000 (1900 sq. ft.) was a custom home. It had many upgrades-quartz countertops, custom birch cabinetry, full drawer glides, etc. We knew our new home in NM would be more expensive, but had no experience with Pulte. They look good on paper, and the model homes were nice looking. When we did our walk through, we noticed a few things, and pointed them out. When we actually moved in, and changed the extremely poor lighting that was installed we saw lots of things that needed to be fixed. Most of my kitchen cabinetry was filthy, not stained properly, and one drawer did not work at all. I then noticed that the drawers are not even full glide. I have seen better cabinets and drawers in RV's. A shameful cost cutting measure. My granite counters were filthy and we pointed this out. It was never cleaned, so we had to. I am talking about globs of grout left to dry on the counters. When we custom painted our walls we noticed sagging drywall. We had one section of our living room wall removed to re-frame and reinstall the drywall. Then we had to wait 2 weeks for someone to come caulk it to the baseboard and then paint it white again. We had scratches all over our cultured marble countertops where painters had set their paint cans and scratched it up in both bathrooms. Our bathtub was scratched up when it was installed. Still waiting on a fix for that. We had flooring that was installed incorrectly. I even had the construction supervisor tell us that my dishwasher didn't come with a panel for the bottom. We eventually found it in an upper cabinet. All the baseboards in my house had grey streaks because they were not painted properly. I will probably redo these myself. And it also could have been because Pulte does not use any primer before they slap that $1.50 white paint on. Our 20amp outlet in the garage was done incorrectly and my husband noticed it because he happens to be a very good electrician and knew what to look for. Admittedly, most of these issues have been fixed, although I am still waiting on new cabinet doors and drawers. We have been here 6 weeks now. We have not talked to one single person in this community who hasn't had some horror story to tell about their new house. To us, this all boils down to quality control. At night, we see houses under construction with the doors left wide open, with all the lights on. Appliances are stolen regularly. Apparently nobody comes by after hours and checks the houses. We realize Pulte is not a custom home builder, but apparently it is too much to ask that at least the supervisors are better trained in quality control and site security. Apparently this is a sign of the times, but all I know is if my parents generation in world war II had done their jobs as poorly as people seem to do now, we would have lost the war. ... More

Many new owners have had many more issues with Pulte than we have had. People on the whole are not all that pleased with Pulte. It is not good when some get pushback on their repairs requests. We should at least trust their workmanship.

Was not able to attend pre-closing walk through but was able to be there for 3 days the week following closing. While there I found no power in half the kitchen receptacles{which has been fixed} and no power in both baths{which hasn't}. I spent 2 hours cleaning paint splatter off floor so grout could be sealed which had to be done after closing. This makes no sense whatsoever. There is a gouge in the drywall, front door weatherstripping problem, sprinkler head by front door problem, something was dropped on the kitchen sink leaving a mark and the concrete apron in front of the garage looks like a 10 year old did. Not even at the home yet so no telling what else needs attention but based on my first 3 days I'm sure it will be something. I will say if I had to do this all over I would have serious reservations. ... More

I have a long list of complaints, which I will send seperatly to delWebb

Much thought needs to be done UP FRONT before signing to build in an age restricted property. There are limited options. Little can be changed. There are no grab bars provided in showers/baths. Landscaping is atrocious with sod thrown down every which way leaving potholes that you can break your ankle in. Site foreman are so-so. All promise Arpege.....but deliver toilet water. Our front shutters are painted 2 different colors. If you want to buy properly, you need to be here all day long to witness what's going on during construction. . We found children doing internal painting. The Pulte community is great, the sales people terrific, but construction aspect is a real bummer and results in costly post purchase modifications. ... More

Actually too early to rate some of these characteristics. My Field Manager was extremely responsive and trustworthy and that is the main element during the building process. Will have to wait to see how issues are resolved during the warranty period.

When purchasing a home, we are often caught up in the joy of the moment. Time and time again, we view the models, bring friends and loved ones to get their reactions, hoping to make a purchase. Where we go wrong as potential buyers is that we forget to look at the overall construction and time spent in building our home. It is no surprise that when we do our walk through, we are caught up in the moment, just wanting to get in. The nightmare starts when we realize that there are so many problems, from leaks, poor installs, grout errors, poor paint matches, out of alignment windows, and just sloppy workmanship that we will spend the better part of 8 weeks stuck at home waiting for repairs that should have been done correctly in the first place. Listen and talk to others in Del Webb communities before you go with a builder who produces inferior builds. It's your home, make sure it is built with integrity. ... More

What is the status of my solar?

Love the community…. But housebuying experience, not so smooth… told first Real Estate agent the street, and Sun exposure I wanted. She tried to push me on a different street. I said I guess I’ll wait or look at resale, since the street I wanted was not available. Two weeks later, I find out the lot I wanted was sold! And the street I wanted is available and she didn’t call me!? Changed agents. Got “ next best” lot. Then came building process… very rushed to pick choices, and you are locked in! No changing! This part of the process has so many areas it could be improved if they would just talk to people and use some “reason/ common sense”. Then you wait for a date….very grateful we paid for an inspector who caught 30 missing truss plates (really? How was that signed off? Good thing my guy caught it before they continued). Then came to closing.. went smoothly on paper/money.. what does an awful lot of blue tape around that was promised to be taken care of. I assume they meant in a reasonable timeframe. I guess that could’ve been my fault.!? We are now in the 3rdmonth and I still have blue tape all over…. not quite the home buying experience I would’ve preferred. ;(( It seems they are overwhelmed and don’t have enough workers to take care of issues in a timely manner. Thank goodness it’s nothing big and I’m hoping these new gals in the “Warranty department” will impress me with their speed of taking care of what should’ve been done already.;). Love the community. ... More

Overpriced homes with basic quality of features and lack of attention to detail. Overpriced design features with limited design choices. No flexibility in design features as per model. Final move in quality lacks completion of all tasks. Still have blue tape on inside and outside home of work not completed. Cleaning team is worthless with windows, appliances and floors filthy. Second sanding and painting dust on everything to included light switches and appliances. Washer water connection not checked, flooded laundry floor the first week in the house. Outside flood lights not adjusted properly and many of irrigation sprinklers were spraying where they just wasted water. Overall experience is poor and shows that building as many homes as possible is the only concern. Worst building experience I have ever experienced. ... More

Bought one of last homes for sale in development. Builder reps are already working on a new development so responsiveness is awful.

Average experience is mostly due to insensitivity to customers throughout the process. It is somewhat expected of a mass manufacturing and building process, however more emphasis and resources must be provided to legitimate customer issues. Final inspection related issues must be promptly addressed although closing date is passed.

Once moved in noticed issues and while some were resolved others became my problem. The one plus was I had a great project manager who kept me up to date on the progress.

issues. disposal...dishwasher...breakers..btah fan...doors sticking in first 30 days!!!

Do not move in until you check everything. I feel like they rushed so they didn't provide quality.

We found it a ploy that during the initial sales portion the agent seemed to display purposeful ignorance. Did the typical lawyer RE Agent routine. You'll need to talk / do with someone else. Making the job of getting information more difficult. Our construction manager, Josh, was 5 start. Easy to work with knowledgeable. Fond issues I missed. After closing, service requests have been handled timely and in an acceptable manner. Only true issue is, how poorly the sod was maintained before closing, granted it was winter and it was dormant. But once the sod 'woke up' it was mostly weeds and Pulte's attitude was to bad too sad. ... More

Our final inspection revealed a defect in the ($8000) waterfall island countertop. Replacing it would have delayed our closing, and with our rental deadline and movers, that was not an option, so we settled on a $500 food voucher. Pulte could have worked with us on that. Disappointing. While gutters were being installed after closing, 12 cracked roof tiles were discovered. One of the bathroom sinks has come loose from the countertop. Hopefully it won't completely tear away and fall, causing further damage before it gets repaired. We replaced the powder room mirror which had been glued to the wall. Fortunately, we were able to remove it without breaking it, but the wall behind it was a mess. ... More

Have a detailed meeting and expectations from building supervisor. Have low expectations if want high quality work. Standardization gives speed to execute, but removes personalized experience.