Pulte Homes Reviews

The process seemed great, many promises were made... On the walk through day, nothing was on and we were assured all the touchups would be finished... Yet move in day, nothing was on and no touchups done. Keys didn't work, heater was reversed, garage tracks off, fridge water hookup never turned on (huge deal, still waiting on fridge repair to come move out the built in fridge just to turn it on and see if that's actually the problem... Takes two people apparently) basically they'll sell you the house and then good luck with any issues you find after.

Upon moving in I'm not thrilled about the quality of materials and finishes of my townhome.

Seems they are using lowest bidder on the block for their electrical and Sheetrock. Our ceiling is wavy and will need to be replaced (all of it). This is beyond inconvenient as I’ll have to pack everything up again and clean endlessly. I have electrical issues and Buick’s County Electric is staying my dimming lights whenever I turn something on is “normal”. As I work in the business of construction I know better. The warranty department is doing nothing but take the electricians side because they don’t know any better. I’m going to get it fixed and submit the bill to them before I have further issues. ... More

Our initial experience was fantastic. Anna was punctual, answered all our questions, and set reasonable expectations. Once the field managers became involved we began to have one issue after another. It was a series of over promise and under deliver, missed follow expectations, and empty promises. We still have a short list of repairs that were supposed to be completed prior to our closing. We have now been in our home 6 weeks and having to follow up repeatedly to get anything done. If we were to ever go through the process again we would not close until every item was complete as it has been like pulling teeth to get a response after closing. ... More

overall OK, but a real walk through close out would be nice, not just a dog and pony show

They are eager to sell you a house, construction times vary a lot and when things need to be fixed it turns into the speed of molasses running down hill. The lots usually end up looking a great deal different than the plot map they give the owners!

First the positive: the home is pretty, laid out well, and the neighborhood is great. We love the flow of the home and the overall feel is quite nice. Our project manager has been nothing but superb and has gone out of his way to make things right and we are grateful for him and his work. Having said that, Pulte seems to cut corners and puts up low quality materials wherever they can, and this includes all the upgrades that we were charged for. The painting is the absolute worst. In many areas you can see the dry wall or it is two tone because they put one layer of paint on in places and two layers in other places...on the same wall. They use a flat paint in the entire home which is not recommended for high traffic areas. It has no durability or protection from day to day living and will ding with the slightest touch. Flat paint is cheaper than an eggshell finish but not as durable. In addition, they skimped so much on the paint that the seams of the two by fours and nail heads can easily be seen through the paint. The edges of the walls have not been finished off properly in many places, which results in the edges pushing through the paint. There are numerous paint bubbles and excess paint thickness making for an unfinished looking product. The wire shelving in all closets is of low quality and full of burrs that will snag anything you put on it. The wood quality in several places (door frames, molding, baseboard) is low grade and not properly sanded in places. Towel racks were just randomly put up in places where they make absolutely no sense (i.e. in areas where there is no sink, tub, or shower). This is our third semi custom build and it is the worst quality of workmanship to date. Each of our homes were in the same relative price point. You can certainly get a Pulte home that looks great but beware of quality issues throughout the home. Our project manager, Justin Miller is excellent and the company is fortunate to have him. He appears, however, to be hamstrung by company policies. A few tweaks to these homes would put them at another level, yield better customer satisfaction, and reduce the number of visits to fix things that weren’t done correctly in the first place. Benchmarking to the lowest price and lowest common denominator is not the best strategy. ... More

Our sales person was outstanding, she was always available with great follow-up and continuous communication. This is in sharp contrast to our Customer Service Manager/Superintendent; It was a constant struggle to have him address builder defects and schedule remediation with subcontractors. He failed to follow up, did not return calls or emails and unlike our sales person, was not an advocate for us. Pulte builds a good home and there are bound to be issues, what makes a difference is how you address the problems after sale and they failed to perform.

I would not recommend Pulte to others who are interesting in using this builder. After being in the house for a month, I have noticed numerous items that were completely poorly. The lack of response from the PM is disheartening. I have friend who is ready to sign in a different Pulte community that I will be discouraging from doing so.

Good floor plan in the home we purchased.

We didn't build. We purchased an inventory home being used as a model home for 1 year and closed in less than 4 weeks (around Christmas). During the celebration meeting, I pointed out issues such as dirty/stained grout, repainting needs, whole/gap in cabinet, broken sliding door handle, sloppy work in the master bath and other areas, as well as overall wear and tear issues given that the home was used as a model. While the issues were minor and fixable, I felt that I shouldn't have had to point them out - Pulte should've caught them and fixed them prior to the celebration meeting because poor workmanship erodes trust, which is the biggest challenge builders have now. While most issues that we identified were resolved by closing, we are now dealing with other poor quality of workmanship issues that we've noticed now that we are in the home (leaky faucets due to misplacement; electrical issues, etc..), which somehow weren't noticed (or addressed?) during the time the home was used as a model. One particular area of concern is that we/our neighbors have faulty drainage issues that creates water saturation in our properties, which the neighbors indicated they have been trying to resolve with Pulte for 6+ months, so I'm concerned about the timeline in getting issues resolved. What I noticed and what several neighbors have mentioned, is that homeowners have to keep following up to get their issues resolved - I'm sure supply chain backlogs due to the pandemic may have impacted this, but don't know how much. I'm scheduled to have the first round of issues resolved within the next couple of weeks, 3 weeks after I first brought them up and followed up, so I would be lying if I said I wasn't concerned. Time will tell. My overall experience was good, but I guess I expected more. ... More

I would like to see a much greater sense of communication between builder& buyer during construction, it would make for a better experience for new owners. Also after moving in I feel there should be a better response to the owners concerns regarding issues needing repair or attention. A timely response to either an owners phone message or an email message to address issues should be a priority.

I enjoyed the design meeting and appreciate that the studio was able to fit me in despite the surprise scheduling deficiency with the sales office. (Maybe I should have called to confirm the appointment.) I was also impressed by the construction manager’s turnaround time and attention to detail on items needing attention.

My townhome is beautiful! However, there are many issues with the construction and carpentry. I have had an issue with my front walkway flooding, which has not been resolved. After over 6 weeks, there has not been mail delivered. Townhouse is not as sound proof as I was informed.

The buying process was easy, the finance piece was easy and the people were great. However, once I moved in, I found multiple things broken or just poor (cheap) quality. I was so disappointed to move into a brand new home and find so many things that needed (and still need) to be fixed (inside and out). I've built with 4 other builders and lived in several other homes and this is the worst built home I've ever lived in (floor plan is great but everything feels so cheap). I could go on and on but I'll simply finish by saying I'm so very disappointed!!!

Quality awasn’t up to par with what you expect from a new home. Appliance broke within a week of moving in, finding minor issues every day. House didn’t appraise at selling cost, builder didn’t budge on price, etc.

The sales, closing and mortgage aspect were great. Getting the items on the punch list from the closing on November 2 and walk thru which happened about a month prior to closing as the date changed are still not completed after several emails and calls. The closet doors are just now getting painted and the wall is not square so I have a gap on the top. several tiles not repaired only a band aid patch placed that will wear off quickly. Dust everywhere from the shower floor being redone due to poor quality. Our kitchen eating area was tore up and retiled along with a space in the office, luckily that was done prior to move in, not the same for the shower. I have a sink that is disconnecting from the master bath vanity and a kitchen drawer that is not correct both of which no reply on repairs. I have also had the vacuum hose disconnect from the wall and a breaker replaced due to outlet failures. ... More

After paying so much, this is not what we expect to get, quality of everything lkke dry wall, boards, shelves, bathroom not up to the mark. After a month only I am seeing all the ptch work coming out, drywall getting scuffed just with the touch of anything. Nails are coming out from the doors and shelves.Got defective gas init, at the time of closing, field manager said he gonna replace it but after that we are just doing follow ups. Not happy at all

A multitude of problems during the building process due to faulty, below standard construction. Pulte failed to hold their sub contractors responsible to fix major issues in our home and two months after closing we are facing major renovation work in our home to fix the problems. We have little faith that everything will ever be fixed properly. We were lied to multiple times about issues we brought up before closing with promises that these issues would work themselves out or they would be fixed. We thought the stress of this build would be over after closing, but I believe the worst is still to come. ... More

While Pulte planned on nice homes and materials, the inferior workmanship of several trades standing out in the homes and the following up service is also poor and unsatisfactory!

Hired a home inspector is worth it, although my issues are inside the house. I had a home inspector and he save me by pointing out bad work such as the problem with the roof (sloppy work), he saw the standard water and the bad landscape just to name a few. When the homeowner walks through, look at everything, ensure that your upgrade is quality and what you paid for (mine was not), ensure that the floors are free from having paint drip on them (I am still removing paint drip), ensure caulk is where it should be and no hole, ensure the landscape is done right and when using the sprinkler there is no standing water and the water is draining. Ensure the floor baseboard is the length it should be and not short and fill in with caulk that looks like crap and to Pulte, it ok and will not correct the problem. The individuals that work on the house take a shortcut instead of doing the job right the first time. There is no Quality Check over these individuals and it all up to the buyer to look in places he/she might not think of looking or think it might be alright, trust me it is not. Yes, Pulte wants their customer to be happy before closing, what I learn through this process that the homeowner can only sign off on what he/she see when during the walkthrough and when you signed off places you would not think to look because the work thinking the same and when cleaning the homeowner will find all the short cut instead of correcting them Pulte fill in with caulk and probably thing the warranty will expire before the homeowner noticed the damage. Pulte has been responsive to the service requests that I have requested, the problem with their procedures is when a service is a request someone come out to inspect and might agree that the service should be done or not. Pulte had been good in following up to see have the service requests been completed. The quality of the materials is very bad, I paid to upgrade the tub it looking like Pulte got it from a junkyard, it appears to be use and someone had to come and restored it. I paid to upgrade the cabins and some of the doors had to be replaced due to crack, some of the top/bottoms of the cabin doors did not paint to match the other doors and they are not of good quality. Items that are standard in the house such as countertops, carpets are of poor quality as well however Pulte charge an arm and a leg to upgrade and after seeing the tub, cabinets, and tile floor that cost me plenty I am happy that I did not upgrade the carpet it would be money not well spend and probably get much better quality at Home Depot/Walmart. This is the third house I brought under Pulte and the worst! Beware of spending your money to upgrade, the homeowner probably comes out better going with the standard and hire a professional to do the upgrade. The standard and upgrade items are not top quality some look like it had been used, had been sitting outside and is not new. This is the third house I have brought from Pulte; it is the WORST of the three and since moving in and finding all the short cut the workers took to do something instead of doing it right the first time. Pulte's claim to build based on quality - that might have been true in the first two houses I brought in 1996, 2001, it is not true in 2020. Pulte Quality is more like use, very cheap looking and it looks like items are used, came from a junkyard, and Pulte forgot to restore it before installing it in the homeowner's home. Pulte upgrade is not cheap, however; the quality is cheap/used. My overall experience went from happy to disappointed to cannot wait to sell the house! ... More

Frustrating trying to get outstanding problems taken care of. Interesting that we were told by Pulte that to keep tradesmen safe they were stopping warranty problems until January 1. Today a tradesman showed up to take care of a problem that was identified before our move in October 15. He had not been notified not to keep the appt for his safety and ours.

Pay attention to detail during your walk through though and take pictures and good notes!

Where do I begin? Pulte and specifically, its staff is stretched thin on local construction coordinators/managers. That, along with just very little oversight caused lack of quality control during our build process. I was basically their QC person each time I visited my home during the construction process. The homes in this neighborhood range from $600K+, but the quality of workmanship and materials is that of a house less than half that price. Pulte communicates one message prior to closing, but once you've closed, they don't communicate the same way. Furthermore, their Warranty folks appear to be inundated so its rare to get a response or any action on any items you've submitted. All in all, a below average experience for the price paid. This sentiment is shared by multiple people who live in the neighborhood. I don't plan on moving anytime soon, but when I do, I will 110% avoid buying a Pulte home or recommending a Pulte home to anyone else. ... More

Builder should hire subcontractors that will put more attention to details and final completion before handing over the property.