Pulte Homes Reviews in Chicago, IL

You buy a box, nothing is included! basic base selection is dull therefore you have to upgrade and pay more! by the time you add all the necessities to beautify your place, you add & pay $80,000 more. Paint job not very good!

I think my over all experience with home part is good but the main thing is the cost of optional items for even very small things. I think when some one is buying new home builder needs to spend default on few things like kitchen backsplash, side/back fences, bathroom soap holders, heated garage door, cabinet knobs, internet cable underground or fan plugin points. These are some basic default things for each home for which cost should be not charge to customer. This thing does not goes well with Pulte being so renowned builder you should consider these option by default in your basic unit. Last the title company, please change it or upgrade your staff. ... More

The house is basically a kit so, the fundamentals are good. But the finishing is poor. Exterior and interior painting is poor. Interior trim is poor. Front door does not fit. Basement window well is littered with construction materials. They cut corners everywhere they can. We have built 3 homes and this is the most expensive and the poorest quality. I have requested things to be fixed and so far nothing.

Be wary of what is or is not included in upgraded features. For example, we paid a ton of money for a walk-in shower with a spa package but we can now not fully use the jets without soaking the drywall outside of the shower because the upgrade didn't come with a shower door. The frustrating part is that the standard shower comes with a door so why wouldn't the upgraded one. No one will answer me.

Once you move in stay in home you will notice lot of things like finishing doors touch up holes on hardwood floor and walls nails... you will notice so many issue... when you invested half million with smart home option, pulte did not provided me second garage opener and never communicated. Pulte just change their polices but never communicate with home owners.

ceiling needs repairs bad and they have still not corrected it. Been 3 months now.

The Pulte salesperson separated from Pulte just after I signed the purchase agreement in January. I was not able to do a walk-through to view the construction progress. I did a walk through the morning of the closing in mid-March and everything looked okay except for a few missing upgrades that the sales rep had verbally promised. The governor issued a Covid 19 "stay-at-home" order so no repairs can be addressed at this time. The essentials are working fine... HVAC, electricity, plumbing, water... My repair list is long but does not include any major concerns. I've purchased and added weather stripping for the drafty doors that will just need some adjustment. I fixed the door bell by moving the wires so now it has just the one chime... it goes just "ding", but not "ding -dong". Thanks to YouTube I have fixed the balance shoes and pins on the windows. In some cases the pins are completely missing so the windows cannot stay open. I've taped down where the wood floor has raised splinters so it doesn't injure my stocking feet. Unfortunately the Pulte Warranty Manager, like the sales representative, was released from employment. He had kept a list of all my needed repairs and had planned to address them as soon as Covid would allow workers to resume employment. He always responded immediately when I contacted him with issues. He is terribly missed by me and all my Pulte neighbors. ... More

Our experience started out wonderfully but we ignored the fact this is not a custom builder. They are a first off quantity builder, meaning they build as many as possible as quickly as possible. They have a system that helps them achieve this. The home is delivered partially built to the site and put together like a puzzle. You cannot make changes, upgrades or choices outside of their guidelines. Quality is satisfactory but not outstanding, also craftsmanship varies according to quality of crews hired to work. We have lived in a custom built home where the builder took pride in his product, Pulte builds communities with houses that look nice. In order to get issues handled you have to submit them to a site, they forward to the apporioate person, you wait for that person to contact you to make an appointment to address your issue. If not an emergency you are asked to wait until your 11’th month walk through. Most of the people we worked with did their jobs well but they couldn’t do them extremely well because corporate rules/guidelines/regulations tie their hands. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, watch the process as closely as possible, and don’t expect your home to be perfect. We waited over 6 weeks for the foreman to bother to get around to taking care of our celebration walk through list and that’s only because we had to complain otherwise we’d still be waiting. ... More

I’m an unhappy with my house

We have issue with Subfloor 2nd floor we did mention that when we did walk trough, Also mention that to Warranty manager, Plus many other issues from kitchen cabinets to paints ects

Our salesperson was excellent to work with and a great communicator. The building side, not so much. Why? Because there is no follow up. What good is a warranty or punch list, if they are ignored after they are recorded? We still have missing items and quality problems. Over promised and under delivered.

Will never buy through Pulte ! I wish I could go back in time! Poor workmanship and Quality.

So people that works for pulte homes care and some people just going to that type of person.

Brandon, the sales rep was not the best to work with. Information was left out, which led to issues during the building process and the close. Other than that, experience was good. The design center was a cool experience, didn't have everything we wanted with their options, but it worked out well and happy with the home.

Not very happy at Pulte marketing side , many recommendations provided were not very helpful. Also after taking possession service requests were not very effective & pro active .

We were excited that we booked our custom home with Pulte but it was not a greatest experience. Below are few areas we had issues with: 1. Since beginning there were delays. Delays to get the permit, could be Govt issues or may be Pulte didn't submit the details correctly. 2. Due to Permit delay, construction wasn't started for approximately 2 months. 3. Once, the construction started, they dig the foundation way back on the lot(lot size more than 10K sq ft). For such a big lot, we didn't have much space in the backyard. We complained and after too many back and forth communication, Pulte finally agreed to move the foundation only 10 feet forward, even though it can go more, but they didn't. They also didn't give any reason why they can't move further. 4. Due to the foundation issue, again the construction was delayed by month or so. 5. Finally construction started, but I think they lack planning the construction phase. I think they need to focus more on the weather and phase of construction. For example, if the house is ready for the roof shingles and it is going to rain heavily next week, please don't wait for the rain to ruin the wooden floor, plan ahead and get the shingles done before the rain. 6. Finally, the home was completed and we moved in. Now, we are finding more issues in the house, for example - Floor is cracking, too loud water gushing sound(no or less sound insulation on pipes), annoying noises from the house, etc. Overall, I am not satisfied with the Pulte homes. They can do better for the amount they are charging. Thanks! ... More

Over all not very satisfied

Not all available options were mentioned at the beginning, and I only became aware of the limitations with the selection options later, when opting out was no longer possible. Furthermore, I had a very negative experience when I tried to work with a broker, as I was denied that option without any way to opt out. Overall, the sales process was not as transparent as I had expected.

Quality of materials and workmanship is just OK. Subpar if you look closely at the details. Once you close, it’s nearly impossible to get them to do anything for the warranty repairs.

This is one of the most basic home I have seen and bought. The only and biggest reason to buy is because of the school district. The workmanship and quality of the home is below-par. Coming from a Toll Bothers house, and the luxuries offered, quality, workmanship and flexibility with the floor plan, Pulte is on the opposite spectrum of this. I would say it's just a bare house even after adding a 100k of upgrades, nothing special about it. The list of shortcomings is pretty big and i wouldn't want to go into those details. One major challenge I am facing right now is the HOA and their bylaws. Pulte never provided the bylaws before purchasing the house, because they know if they would do that, quite a bit of people will either have second thoughts or might not buy because of the ridiculous bylaws. One shinning part in all of this process was the Pulte agent. She made herself available and guided and helped throughout the process. Lori is just amazing. Other than that getting mortgage from Pulte and working with them was a nightmare. The mortgage agent was more busy than the US President would be. It was a challenge to talk to her. The service managers are also very hard to get a hold of. You would think that, part of the process of buying from a national builder would be after sales service, which is barely there. I would say that I dont see myself living in this house after kids graduate from high school or if Toll Brothers start building houses in the same school district. ... More

The excitement of purchasing a new build was dulled by the high costs of any upgrades. The bundling of un-related items was also an issue. For example, we got to choose the color of our front door, but it was bundled with the color of the roof shingles. The house/lot was not completely ready on closing day. In fact, a month later the lot has still not been cleaned up from construction and the landscaping has not been started. The quality of the structure is yet to be determined, but we are disappointed with the quality of the paint that was used in the house. The appliances and fixtures throughout the house are of good quality. The Sales Associate was excellent in helping us through the process and communicating with us. The Customer Service Representative has been responsive to our inquiries. The Construction Manager was very helpful and open to suggestions prior to closing. However, since closing, he/she appears to be overwhelmed and is slow to respond. In conclusion, we know that the buying experience is different for everyone; ours has add its ups and downs. ... More

Not sure where to begin so I will start from the time we decided to purchase the house. The front office seemed to be playing games with buyers. When we first started to look at this neighborhood they had the bidding process going on and we went on to bid so many times for specific lots even though there were plenty of open lots. Without a solid reason, we couldn't figure out why they wouldn't just open up lots. Seems they were a bit greedy and wanted people to pay more for the land than they actually were worth. Hence we gave up after multiple bids and losses due to outrageous amounts being bid for lots. We also requested to buy a lot at a price to what they might have quoted but never got a number so we gave up overall. We also gave up bidding because we wanted a 3 car garage but kept getting responses that there are none, yet we see few lots which have them now. A year later we circled back to this place because the house prices within the Mundelein area were coming up close to new construction costs. So we decided to pull the trigger and sign on the dotted line. The contract was obviously one-sided and couldn’t make any changes. Earnest money had doubled from the first time we had originally come to the time we signed the contract. Not a big deal but a huge amount considering what other builders were asking in comparison. 2 months after signing the contract, no word from the front office or anyone about the progress of the house. After calling a few times to get a progress update, we found out there was a hold on construction due to incorrect paperwork. Luckily the GM and front office sorted it out without changing our home delivery timeline. We were very appreciative of this but if we hadn’t called to find out the progress then this issue might not have been caught/resolved and construction of the house would not have begun and ended on the time they had given us. A few weeks into the process we had to visit the Pulte center to make our interior selection. This was not a bad experience except the items we wanted to see were not even on displace. The demo center didn’t really have much to see visually hence we had to make decisions from pictures and basically imagination of what it would look like. The generic handout they give you doesn’t really quantify the items we wanted to see. We had to google and visit many places to see them physically to better understand them. Also, the 3-hour time to select all the items for your entire house is not enough especially since this was our first home and we had no idea what would match with what. 5.5 months into construction we meet with the GM for the pre-drywall meeting. He was very informative and helpful in answering questions. One change I would recommend is to have a meeting with the client at some point before the pre-drywall so the client has options to change small items like adding in outlets or fixtures. New buyers will not know what should go where until they see them physically. 7 months or so after we were ready to close on the house and had to go through another ordeal. Since we had opted not to use Pulse Mortgage the closing/title department basically didn’t communicate any items with my lender or my lawyer of the documents until days before my closing. The day before our closing I was babysitting and coordinating touchpoints about paperwork progress between my lender and the title company. On the day of our closing, which is supposed to be a joyous occasion for us, I was dealing with last-minute changes and add-ons from the title company. Basically sucked the joy out of the who process. FINALLY, we moved into the house which is going great except for dealing with somewhat of a shotty craftsmanship. We have made roughly 7-9 service tickets and are still counting, nothing uncommon from what I have been told from other new construction owners outside of this community. The worst part is that these tickets are to be responded to within 24-48 and it has been 2 weeks now and not been a single call from the construction office as to when they might come to fix the issues. I understand they are short-staffed due to people leaving or let-go but all we are asking for is acknowledgement of the ticket and when they might be able to fix it. I am not asking for it to be done right now but give me some time frame at least. Overall the experience had its ups and downs and we are torn on how we would perceive this and if we would consider going through this in the future or recommend it to others. The people whom we engaged with were considerate and somewhat willing to work with us, more than what I say from other owners who have had worse experiences than us. ... More

We have had a number of issues including water pooling in our side yard and this is still going on after multiple attempts to get it resolved. The landscaping service is not keeping up with mowing grass and removing dead grass except for the model. Look around this neighborhood and you will see.

closing was done prematurely, drive way and Sod was not ready. Buyer should be advised what to expect after closing. Causing inconvenience. Our closing was on April 5th and as of today JUNE 3rd., we do have Sod on the Ground.

Had a good customer experience overall. Very disappointed with the quality of my home. You can tell things were done rushed with no care how it would turn out. Painting throughout the house was horrible. Hard to believe that was done professionally. There were a lot of scratches on everything (appliances, countertops, floors, tubs, walls, baseboards, cabinets).