Del Webb Reviews

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.

Little flexibility on choices such as towel racks, no options on moldings and little to no effort to satisfy customer needs.

Good customer service but poor quality interior and exterior wood trim. Interior doors cheap and very poor finishing of sheet rock - particularly seams on ceilings. I’ve been In home for one month and many, many sheet rock nail pops. Paid for upgraded kitchen and appliances, but cabinets of poor quality and garbage disposer is under powered. Sod is full of weeds as well. While I like the lifestyle in neighborhood, Pulte should use a better grade of wood for trim and do a much better job of ensuring their trade people properly finish the interior

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

Getting changes made to anything was not easy, and more times than not not accomplished. Things that are easy to do prior to drywall (i.e. replacing duplex outlets with quads, or adding attic stairs) would not be accommodated. Support prior to closing on getting simple issues fixed was superb. Following closing issues discovered have been difficult to get resolved. We were warned to get everything sorted out prior to closing but there are things you just don't discover until you've moved in. By that point you've fallen off the priority repair list and are now just one of the masses needing repairs. ... More

As with other mass produced development corners are cut to meet deadlines. Del web was not forthright with some of their information. Too much emphasis on meeting closing dates. My sales rep was top notch!

The initial drive into Stone Creek as well as the models and the staff all A+. The finished product comes in at a C for the following reasons. Attention to detail is lacking both inside and out. For example, on the interior we needed to sand and re-paint some window sills and caulk base board joints and crown molding shortly after moving in. Had issues with shutters because the windows are not even. On the exterior. By far the outside is our biggest disappointment for the following reasons. Ground is so uneven our new $600.00 lawn mower is taking a beating after just 2 uses. A very nice representative from Del Webb told us that they would have the lawn rolled in an effort to help with the unevenness. Because there are no trees, shrubs or foliage to somewhat block the the 8 homes in our direct view from our gathering room, dining room and lanai it is truly our biggest disappointment. The property is a nice size but it feels like a baron land when I open the shutters. ... More

Pulte offers a very pretty picture with the models. The sales person we had was pretty bad. While she answered questions, her standard reply was “check the website and you will find out what you need to know.” She also misinformed us about what was HOA property and what was our yard.Colleeen at the Design center was very nice and good to work with, The options are extremely expensive and cost prohibitive. The quality of the construction seems to be very good. Chad our construction manager was great to work with! The cabinets installed are disappointing. They are poor quality even though we paid $7,000.00 for an upgrade. The garage door is extremely noisy and isn’t sealed to keep the sand out. I was told that just the way it is, even though our neighbors door doesn’t make loud noises. Deidre ,in the warranty dept. makes me think Pulte really cares about doing the right thing. However, I can’t say the same about her colleague. ... More

Disappointed in the fit and finish

The sales people drummed into our heads that Pulte is not a custom builder. All homes are built to a standard. Silly me, I expected the models to reflect that standard. When we got into the home, we found several "standard" items that did not match the model. I have had to make modifications to the home to make it useable, With respect to the wiring in the home for TV, phone and internet, I expected the wiring contractor to understand how the cable companies would install their equipment. Once again, my expectation was not met and I am now going through added expense to make these services work as was expected. To new buyers: verify critical expectations before buying. ... More

I have filled this out 3 times - can't go "back" after checking out your terms. Just forget it. Probably will hold it all against us anyway. Would love to show our 40 day punch list to you. Rated below par since there was so much that needs to be addressed.

Finished wood work done sloppy, cabinets finished poorly, even with one color paint the job wasn’t done well For the money paid nothing outstanding about the house

Always check the property thoroughly when taking the keys, there was quite a few cosmetic issues when we were given the keys.

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

The quality of materials is good but the workmanship is poor, especially the finish work. Getting punch list items fixed is not easy. I had to hire my own crew to come in after closing.

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

Workmanship is my biggest disappointment. Sloppy painting and caulking. Oversized cutouts that had to be repaired (at least the one's I saw before closing). Cabinet finish work, clean-up lacking, yard is not leveled... I will say the tile work in the master bath specifically is great work. Pulte has responded to 3 out of 4 warranty requested repairs.

Our satisfaction with Pulte kind of ran out after closing when we could not get much response from them regarding our paint and tile issues. Our construction manager moved on just as our house was finished, and though he promised us at our walk through that our concerns would be taken care of to date (over a month after closing) we have had no follow through from anyone.

Overall the quality of the Pulte home is OK. My impression is that in some areas, especially finish work the personnel got a bit sloppy. On one pantry rack one bracket was missing and some of the caulk was sloppy. My main complaint deals with TAC who is the design center used in this community. I would never recommend TAC. The service we received at the initial appointment was terrible and the quality of the floor they put in was terrible. We had to replace it at our cost.

Things were not completed and when we contacted the Forman he stated we needed to contact the warranty department. Called about Windows not cleaned inside and out. They also left a razor blade on the outside sill to leave a rust mark on the outside window sill. Front door seal not put on properly and the fix was to add a piece of foam at the top of the door. We are away right now and will have to call when we get back home. Called many times to have front eve painted to no avail. Still needs to be done

If you want a custom built home, find someone else, Pulte is not the builder for you!

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.