Pulte Homes Reviews in Chicago, IL

Buying experience was ok good communication initially. Once the build process started only two opportunities to see the build process pre drywall and final walkthrough. On final walkthrough about a dozen minor issues. Home inspector said the AC wasn’t working, sump pump was the cheapest quality you can purchase. Most issues were fixed prior to closing found on the final walkthrough. Closing process with Pulte was horrible they delayed closing by 5 days everything is on their timeline.

Home construction completed within time frame. Not sure where it is a smart home as advertised. For the price we expected the interior doors to be solid rather than hollow core doors. Also response time for a continued problem has been slow and no return calls.

First time home builder, fell in love with a neighborhood where Pulte had the remaining lots. The build process itself was pretty painless - there was a decent rough schedule of when to expect things (and when not to, with some of the supply chain issues causing delays), and progress was pretty consistent. On the whole, I do like my house, and I think it looks nice - we've had a couple service issues (shrunken joist causing a dip in the floor), but Pulte Customer Service has been responsive thus far. The design center experience was actually pretty fun, though I remain a little bummed that Pulte stays (intentionally) limited on customization options - I love my standup shower, but to not even have the option of adding a wall niche for shampoo seems really behind normal trends (they offered a glass shelf instead). The frustrations started later in the process during the finish work - I didn't appreciate the letter "forbidding" me from visiting the house, and while I can understand that they don't want buyers distracting workers and that they're trying to actively avoid changes, it doesn't do much for your confidence in the process when you're told you can't see the work going on. There is a very short "celebration of craftsmanship" walkthrough ahead of the close where you can go through and point out issues with paint/finish, but I think it's unreasonable to assume everything will get caught in one hour. Additionally, more time would have allowed me the opportunity to actually think about some of the things I was seeing (the mantle I selected at the design center is a good match to the floor, but I don't love it against the rest of the room, so I would have at least liked the chance to do a change order even at extra cost). The other major frustration has been with the handling of the weather-affected items on the exterior. I built over the winter, so I knew that I would likely close with the driveway/landscaping still pending, but getting those final items completed was a genuine irritation. There was no communication of a schedule (the "official" response from the project manager was "the subcontractors don't follow the schedule I give them, so anything I give you would be wrong", which is an unacceptable non-answer that actually makes me more concerned that my house has quality issues if Pulte has such little authority/control over its subs), so crews would just appear with equipment at random. I work from home, so this was a massive inconvenience, as I'd be on important calls and unexpectedly would have a tractor 10' behind me in the backyard grading the lot, or I'd run an errand and come back to discover my driveway had been blocked off for asphalt while I was gone (was super lucky that I had my car out already, because the crew "was surprised" that it wasn't a vacant house, so they hadn't even rung the doorbell to warn me). I would HIGHLY advise anyone building over the winter to try to push the closing to after ALL work is completed, because Pulte is ineffective (or just not interested) at minimizing the inconvenience to you once you're in the house. ... More

Purchase of the property was made relatively easy by people involved. Lack of communication was a bit frustrating during the process. Construction and materials used is subpar in certain areas. Most materials appear to be builder’s grade. Once moved in noticing many issues. Most screens on windows are bent, large dried concrete spills on basement floor, exhaust fans that are defective and need replacing, windows that don’t remain open, tiles and sinks damaged during install, scratches in windows. Not satisfied with materials and construction for price paid.

A lot of open issues during closing, which the construction team did address afterwards.

Now that we’ve lived in our new house for close to two months we are settling in and are happy with the finished product. Pulte completed some of the punch list items and a few are outstanding, however we are optimistic they will be completed. After a two year search of new and existing homes we found Trillium Farm. The home designs and proximity to Blackwell Forest Preserve were the main selling features for us, Going into the purchase we had read other reviews so we had a sense of what to expect and this was helpful information. As others mentioned, Pulte rushes you through the various phases but is slow in other phases. Our contract signing day was close to the end of the day near the end of August 2021. On that day we had to select all the options and the exterior color scheme or our place in line would go to someone else. It felt incredibly rushed considering the size of the purchase we were about to commit to. Pulte has pre-set color packages. It would have been helpful if they had generic exterior color renderings to see what the combination of finishes look like if they expected us to make such a quick decision. The design studio experience could also be improved. Pulte emails out an electronic design book with small images of the available selections a month in advance of the appointment. Pulte could provide some aids to prospective buyers narrow down selections in advance. Links to manufacturer websites could help. Also, an opportunity to visit the design center on a weekend in advance just to look around and not be pressured by a salesperson would have made the selection day (time constrained) 3-hour design experience so much easier. Once we were in the construction phase, we did not receive the regular communication promised by Pulte. Since we lived in the area, we started making weekly visits to check on the progress directly, and this gave us some peace of mind that work was progressing. The completion deadline shifted several times. We were trying to time the sale of our existing house with the completion of the new one. This is where things became very expensive because we trusted their “firm date”. Instead, we had to rent back our house for a month, then move to a hotel for three weeks, put all of our belongings in storage and compensate a moving company for two moves. ... More

Pretty happy with our new Pulty home. Our superintendent resigned recently, but it appears thing will get better with our new guy. We were a little disturbed that all our neighbors have a punch list of minor thing as we do, even though they have been here for 10 months. Just little annoyances. Everyone is very nice and easy to work with once we make contact. They should finish up all the existing homes before they plunge ahead with the new ones. Glad we purchased when we did as the price keeps going up. I was aware of the quality going in, but keep reminding myself that this is not a custom home. ... More

Good experience overall. However, Pulte doesn't offer customization. It would be nice if 1% to 2% of the budget was for personal customizations especially for older people. In the noise of building there were too many lapses on their part of what we wanted. Their response usually was that "is was not in the contract", well yes, if Pulte didn't write it down and put it in the contract. But overall the workmanship is good, layout is good, and response from company is good.

Service getting delayed for seat installation

Overall, we do love our home. It's a beautifully designed home and the perfect space for our lives. Generally speaking, the workmanship is okay. You can tell there some things that were quickly done with little attention to detail. But compared to what I have heard/seen elsewhere, I don't think it's truly that awful. The nature of the pandemic has affected our home coming together and getting our appliances worked out has been messy, but I feel our construction manager has done the best he could given the circumstances.

There is a room for workmanship. We haven't raised any question or issues, so can not comment on Responsiveness yet.

Some of the service are over priced and no service for even small customization.

I did not like the bidding process to buying a home.

The construction side for the most part went great however the contract/sales side was a total nightmare. We gave our sales rep our check for our earnest money for our lot in November 2021 and despite being told we would have our contract in a week we didn’t get it until March 2022. We asked weekly when we would get our contract and it wasn’t until my husband went to corporate directly we finally got one. They tried to play games and raise the overall price $20K during the process which thankfully didn’t happen. There was total lake of communication and sometimes no response at all to questions from our sales rep. The mortgage side was a total joke as well. We used our own mortgage company because no one at Pulte mortgage seemed to be able to communicate and share the same information. We got several conflicting answers to the same question if we got answers back at all. We are incredibly happy to be in our home but the process of getting there was incredibly frustrating. ... More

Saleswoman, Britta, is excellent. Helped us through the process. After that, dealing with the various subcontractors Pulte uses has been bad. Subcontractors next door leave garbage that blows onto our property. Mortgage company, cable tv company two examples. Numerous emails to staff not responded to. Pulte and cable company blamed each other for problems. Some strange design choices. One of our two outdoor water faucets is in the garage. No watering of seeded back yard or river birch trees since being installed. I am watering Pulte's property right now. The Pulte people onsite are working hard to help us, but I think they are shortstaffed. Nobody knows what is going to happen with landscaping on the south side of Josiah. Who is in charge here? ... More

My experience with Pulte was okay, the house meet our expectations. However, they need to work on their communication and update on the building progress.

I purchased a Home from Pulte at the Cuneo Mansion in December 2019. The whole process took 7 months ,pandemic period included. There were issues from the beginning, the sales department team lacked the skills, they changed the sales contact person right after we signed, the blame passing started after that stage ,sales manager would get in touch only when I was ready to contact headquarters which I felt it was very unprofessional , he’s there to help I had a minor issue caused by the previous sales person that I needed addressed, acting like an unreachable CEO didn’t help the image of Pulte (I hear this from other residents as well, so it’s a regular business practice of his apparently) .The design department shows no interest in helping you choose anything or in selling you quality materials without triple the price , i can honestly say it wasn’t an amazing home buying experience , absolutely not , not for the price, but they build decent homes,the home plans are very modern and beautiful, the location is amazing , close to everything you could possibly need , they use lower price and quality materials , but you can tell that right away. Location beats any disadvantages, price-wise be ready to pay more for what is worth , quality speaking. The workmanship is good, they are not very responsive to issues once you do the closing survey I heard from the community . Construction engineer, Ryan was cooperant and professional , he saved the company image for us. So far after one month living in the new home I am pretty satisfied with the house. Minor issues that I hope they will address, nothing major so far! I recommend this subdivision for any age group, there’s a great mix of all ages , very beautiful surroundings. Advice for Pulte , you can improve the sales experience definitely starting from management , im absolutely sure they could use more training! ... More

Mostly a good experience, however no one has contacted me about the issues we did have, which is greatly disappointing.

During the home buying process, as an attorney who handles real estate transactions, the process was a bit unconventional as there were no attorneys handling the deal, but the process went smoothly overall. However, our window is cracked and we are missing a screen and there has been no response from Pulte. We have a baby on the way and we have not received any communication on when this window will be fixed or even acknowledgement of our window issue.

There are some lows, overall an average satisfaction experience

Having a new home built can be exciting and stressful. Future home owners need to separate the supply chain and work force factors from the team who is on site building a new home. During construction we had changes in subcontractors, as well as, Pulte representatives. The ONE constant Pulte representative for us was Gina. She was there when we signed our papers and supported us when days were uncertain. She was always honest with us and painted a realistic picture of what to expect during the building process. Gina was also there after we closed to celebrate with us. Things go right and things go wrong during the construction of a new home. We had crews that were very professional and some crews that rushed their work. We had a site manager who promised more than he could deliver and then we had unbelievable Pulte representatives that cleaned up the mess that others created.. In the end we had a team that rallied behind us and got us in our home so we could start the next chapter of our lives. We are buying new things for our home and creating a new neighborhood with our new neighbors. I believe that Pulte wants to build a great home for every family that comes to them. When things went wrong eventually a top notch rep stepped in to get the standard of our Pulte home to where it is supposed to be. Those reps were always honest and hard working. And then there was one who was ALWAYS there, Gina. ... More

Both Sales Agent and Field Manager were very responsive to questions and concerns. Calls were returned promptly and property was available when I needed access to meet with decorators. The field manager was amazing to work with; he kept his word and delivered on his promise. He seemed to care about the Pulte name and brand; ensured that constructions and inspections issues were addressed satisfactorily; and permits and certificate of occupancy documents were in order prior to closing. Workmanship, on the other hand, was lacking. As an example, owners are admonished to have a whole house humidifier. Yet none of the prep work was done for the installation. So, it will be more costly, time consuming and inconvenient to install one. Manufacturer's grade products are likely not the best. My furnace is so loud, I feel like I'm sleeping under the motor of a running train in Grand Central Station. I could go on ad nauseum with complaints. The long and the short, however, is that, from all appearances quality and functionality were sacrificed for glam and expediency. ... More

So far we have been mostly disappointed in the craftsmanship rather than materials. Attention to detail in workmanship and quality control needs improvement. To date, post-closing warranty issues have been addressed.

Love my place, especially location. Was told while originally looking how they use high quality products and make sure everything is installed to perfection. I have paint splatters on my counter tops and floor that was never cleaned up before closing. My floor is starting to lift in places and I only moved in a couple weeks ago. The title company was unprofessional and not good at replying to questions or informing me of steps. The constructions managers, especially Paul and Bryan were amazing!

We moved into a Pulte home a few of months ago. The buying process was straightforward, although the information requested when asked simple questions was less than ideal. There were many cosmetic finish issues, stairs that creak so loud (not some of them) but most of them, floor creaks that are apparent, touch ups to paint that are noticeable, overspray of mud/paint in places like the tile in the shower areas, and more. Just did not expect so much "imperfect" work in a new construction. I filed the work orders for the cosmetic issues about 3 weeks ago and I believe they are advising that those issues would be resolved in 1 year - I have not heard from anyone but that is my understanding when we closed the home. Not a huge deal just expected more when paying so much for their homes. The market rate for the same home is approximately 100k-150k less. My expectations buying a home from a national home builder was not high, but I assumed that the basics (cleaning, paint, drywall mudding, creaks, ect) would be satisfactory. Overall, if you have the time allotted to search for a new home, I would advise to go with a local home builder, there is more quality, craftsmanship, and pride in their work. ... More