Pulte Homes Reviews

As a publicly traded company, I would expect better quality.

Many issues with home. Workmanship is less to be desired with work not completed properly.

We purchased a home and were very excited about the process and checking on the progress of a new constructionhome. However, we have been let down since moving in with the amount of issues we have encourted and with the lack of detail in the finishes. We have contacted the warrenty team and they have our two page list marked as 'in progress' and we have yet to see any outcome of getting our issues fixed. We have had issues from cracked caulking in the kitchen to a beam that is starting to buckle behind a wall. Some of the concerns we pointed out were overlooked as being 'normal' or we were told that ours looked better than most so we shouldn't really be that concerned. I could never with good faith recommend a family to purchase in this neighborhood and with this builder. ... More

Overall stay away from Pulte in Davis Ranch. The are slow to respond to warranty because of layoffs and the workmanship is awful so you will have a LOT of warranty requests. Two days before the house was fully purchased my inspector found the roof shingles were out of alignment. They waited until the day of purchase to fix the issue. We had blue taped items to touch up before purchase (paint, calking, cabinet/drawer alignment, etc.) and many of the items they just took the blue tape off and did nothing. Lived in the home for a month and am still finding things where the blue tape was removed without a fix. Very untrustworthy as well. During frame inspection Pulte decided to replace the standard seven inch bolt to attach the frame of the house to the foundation with three inch nails. When asked they produced an engineering letter with the specifications and we found 1) the engineering letter was expired and 2) they didn't even follow it's instructions. We had to have them fix it thrice with them claiming it's "good enough" before they did it correctly delaying us six weeks. Those six weeks cost us money because mortgage interest rates rose so quickly. This is just one instance of their untrustworthiness, had we not had our own third-party inspector we wouldn't have known. This house in a normal market should be ~20% cheaper than we paid for it. Considering the market, I was willing to pay a higher price as nothing else was much better but that was assuming the house was well built. It is not well built. The day we moved in we found that the drain for the upstairs bathroom was not sealed (they didn't even try to seal it) and running the water long enough it started leaking through the ceiling. We couldn't use that room for almost a month waiting for warranty to come repair the issue. At about a month the room can be used but the repair is still incomplete. ... More

Some items are half complete, Pulte to ensure all items are working fine before handing over, For eg, Irrigation systems are not working fine in almost all houses closed, Lot of heater/AC issues. Paid upgrades are not done in some cases.

I did not have the best experience with Pulte, after signing the contract in May of 2021, with them saying we should be in by March of 2022. We did not move in until December of 2022. Waiting over 19 months for a home build in a very volatile market was not how it was supposed to be. Interest rates soared since we signed, the market slowed. Did Pulte care? Not one bit, did we get honest answers about what the delays were? Rarely, it took months for them to tell us they had issues with the previous land owner only to say our lots weren't part of that (so why the delay?). This was never explained. So that was the start, finally our build starts and moves rather quickly but not a good quick, large gaps between 2x4's, bowed walls. I point this out and am told "Oh that's just to hold drywall, "should" be fine. Just poor build quality and unmanaged sub-contractors. Had we not been there to see a piece of moldy drywall being installed it would have been closed in the walls only for us to find once we were sick. Missing A/C returns, having to force them to fix the A/C, fresh air vents not where they said they would be. They build the same models over and over why is there so much variation? The list could go on and on. If you're really considering a Pulte home, don't. This house was not cheap and I don't feel it was really build to a high standard. It was built to make money and that's obvious. Note: I did have the home inspected by my own inspector and Pulte did fix what he found but not everything. ... More

Due to lack of communication between our construction manager and the closing department, our closing date was pushed back twice (both time super last minute). The quality of the house is super lacking in the workmanship and quality. Baseboards are crooked, door casings are noticeably crooked, experts who came to measure our windows for blinds mentioned that our windows were some of the least uniform and straight ones they’ve ever measure, and closet doors won’t close. This is just the start of it all. When I reached out to Pulte customer service, I was informed that these were “cosmetic issues” that didn’t warrant any fixing until the 12 month mark. This house buying and building experience has been an ABSOLUTE nightmare. ... More

This is the 4th new home we've had built and the 2nd home was a Pulte home and the experience could not have been any better but unfortunately this past experience was by far the worst home buying experience that we've encountered. From the initial contract signing right through to the final walk-through and even now with the post closing punch-list items there have been consistent issues, lack of communication and responsiveness. I would certainly not recommend Pulte as a result.

We had a terrible buying experience. Starting from the sales consultant Jodee, it was always chaotic and the team slacked in responding quickly and accurately to our questions. It was almost that we were managing the project. They moved our deadlines quite a few times and delayed our appliances by over three weeks. And, the punch out items were incomplete but they still forced us to close on the house to meet their monthly sales quotas.

Constantly failed inspections. Estimated closing date blown.Exorbitant cost. ASHAMED TO SAY WE PAID 40% MORE THAN OUR PRE-COVID NEIGHBORS. I wish I never saw this community in the first place... even after I had my doubts, my husband was still intrigued. I wish we walked away before we had committed with $$. These builders need to have restrictions with their greed/opportunity-based price hikes. It does not make for a good community in the end, when some people paid $700k and others paid $1,400,000 for the same house. The end product was not worth it. Sales persons will tell you the house will be perfect. In the end, you are told you cannot be expecting a perfect house. You will be told your home is not a custom home. At the same time, they will tell you they have a hard time keeping on top of the trades and that the trades DO try to get away with more and more shoddy work, yet you will be berated for trying to get them to address the shoddy work - you will again be told it is not a custom home. As for lot placement or house elevation / colors. You aren't allowed to have the color of someone across from you or next to you. They should care more about if houses next to each other have windows looking at each other. Design center person was very accommodating, pleasant, and giving us a heads up on anything important (such as deadlines to avoid cost increase). We had a couple of constructions managers due to promotions... in the end, they don't have any control over the trades. They actually easily admit fault, but nothing improves. The trades are disgusting, despite trash cans and portapotties, they leave unwanted food actually directly on the floor/counters.. which is messy but also attracts pests. They also will pee and poop in your toilets even when water is not hooked up to the home yet. We even found poop on the tile floor of our bathroom, they say it must have been an animal (and they admit their fault for not closing doors). We spent $30-$38k on engineered hardwood floor upgrade, but it looks to be the wrong color. Big issues getting that addressed, actually it hasn't been addressed yet bc they say "variation" yet our floor looks exactly like our neighbor's color. The sliding door tracks are treated so poorly during construction, there's muck (grout? concrete debris?) all over the tracks, plus large dents. They need to do better at protecting things. Broken windows, wrong tiles installed, plus tiles wrongly installed! SO MUCH work had to be redone. I'm quite angry at figuring the high prices are to pay for double work + double product! It's very angering how they disrespect the customer's money. I'm mad because a lot of the reason my house cost so much is apparently for me to pay them to do work once, twice, three times and have enough product for all those botched times. Terrible business practice. NO ONE is held accountable. In this market and economy they won't fire anyone bc they need all the warm bodies they can get, so there's no repercussions for the work crews... no motivation to do a job well done in the first place. Pulte would be better off to pay higher wages to people who would regret losing their job if they don't do it correctly. Their Pulte Mortgage department cost us a lot of money also, they did not tell us we could do a program with an earlier lock, when the rates were less. When I asked them, they said they do like to tell people but they had "so many clients" and couldn't. I informed them these days, a broadcast email announcement would have worked. We dumped them and got a better rate with a major lender, and Pulte Mortgage attempted to claim that we would lose a lot, and wouldn't be protected in the event of delays. Ha! The major lender provided extension at no cost (only for new-construction, which they've been doing since covid issues started). Very happy we did not give business to Pulte Mortgage. One time they even had their math grossly incorrect and they had the audacity to tell us that even if we put $1 million down, they wouldn't be able to approve us. That was Brendan, I have no problem calling out his name. Then he would try to ask us why we were leaving Pulte Mortgage process, while also telling me that he didnt want to further debate what happened. Um, maybe bc he made a very disrespectful mistake and doesn't know how to apologize? Unreal. Pulte Mortgage is a joke. In the end, we wish we bought something smaller in a lower priced community, even a spec home and do our own upgrades - and re-evaluate a new build in a few years after observing various builders. We wish we took our time. Never thought we'd be in a $1.4 mil home that doesn't actually feel like it's over a million at all. And the community amenities are lackluster. For a not-even-completed community, the pool cabana is falling apart. There is rust on hinges in the bathrooms, the water fountain spout is broken apart, stonework is falling off the walls despite not even being exposed to precipitation stress. There used to be hammocks which got nasty due to being exposed to nature, those were removed and it's a huge sandpit for fire ants. The Phillips Grove community advertised an "outdoor kitchen" and when asked, they removed that verbiage AND said it was referring to the charcoal grills. I told them charcoal grills are a picnic feature. An outdoor kitchen would have a sink and counter. There is zero clubhouse, there is no interior public room in this community other than a bathroom. Somehow the HOA is now over $330/month! And why? For what? There is no gym. Now that we are with the Warranty guy, he is also largely a "no" guy. When I pointed out some things, he says "it's to Pulte's standard." I say, "well it's a new house yet some things don't appear to be new material" and he actually recommended for us to sue!? I never even "went there" with my comment nor my tone, but wow! This is an embarrassing experience. I think we should get some money back for all the issues and crap work ... More

We were really disappointed in Pulte Homes. There were so many instances of poor craftsmanship and so many instances of work not being completed, such as both front and back doors not painted right, sloppy caulking, sloppy finish work on driveway, etc. It goes on and on. And absolutely no clean up. Obviously, there was a big rush to close on the house with disregard to the finishing touches. We WOULD NOT recommend Pulte homes

Overall, my experience with my recent house purchase from Pulte Constructions was mixed. While the price was budget-friendly and the community seemed promising, there were several design flaws in the house. Specifically, the backyard was not properly graded, resulting in water buildup during rain. Additionally, there was a linen closet space included in the design without plans to actually build one. Additionally, we had an issue with our house's main drain line being clogged, that was identified in the first week of moving. However, the warranty team and construction manager were able to take care of it after closing. The third party who did the pressure test also left the test ball line in the drain. During this year freeze, we also noticed air infiltration in various parts of the house, and we have raised a ticket but have not yet received a resolution from Pulte. On the positive side, our Sales Consultant, Construction Manager, and Warranty Manager were all helpful and responsive. They truly seemed to care about their customers and resolved issues as best as they could. The neighborhood is quiet and family-friendly, with good schools nearby. It's also conveniently located near shopping centers and major highways. The neighborhood is quiet and family-friendly, with good schools nearby. It's also conveniently located near shopping centers and major highways. ... More

Where should I begin? At the final walk through of the home, just 3 days before closing, we walked the property for the “final” review. The house was not even close to ready and extremely dusty. The stove’s hood was visibly unaligned with a 1 foot open hole. In the outside of the house they left a big noticeable patch where they have tried to fix the hood (the hole by the hood in the inside of the home, going to the outside of the home). Electrical wires just left out in the open with light switches missing, it almost seems Pulte has no idea of what its doing. Even the light for the main door is missing, not sure who signed in the “inspection” of the home while being built. Even after months in the house and with all the items missed or messed up during the construction, pulte is hard to get a hold off. No one returns my calls and to say the least, this is been a very frustrating experience. I have purchased other new homes and never quite an experience as with pulte. Would NOT recommend. ... More

Love my home and thankful to have it but the experience with pulte has been poor. The house took way longer to build than initially expected and communication on realistic timelines were poor. Now that we are moved in, I can not get anyone from pulte to get back to me on work orders. I moved into my house on November 7th and 2 months later I have a window that still needs to be replaced, a cabinet shelf that is still missing and nobody seems to know when it will arrive, and a cabinet door that needs replaced - once again no idea when it will arrive. There's nails all over my roof and every time it rains I have to make sure I sweep the driveway before pulling in or out of the garage. The workmanship on my cabinets is TERRIBLE. Tons of flaws and scratches and issues with the cabinets that I paid a premium price for to get white - HUGE disappointment. When I submitted work orders on the pulte website I got an email back saying I should hear from someone in 24-48 hours. I had to call after 3 weeks without a response and then wait on hold for 1 hour to be told the repair portal was down and I was supposed to email my issues to this specific email. Well I did that over a week ago and pulte still hasn't even been in contact with me. Overall my house is very nice, but it appears that once pulte gets your money they don't care about anything else from that point on. I personally wouldn't buy another pulte home or recommend to friends or family. ... More

The overall quality of the craftsmanship in the home is poor. While I understand the house needs to settle and some of that will result in cosmetic changes, these things shouldn’t be happening after less that two weeks after settlement. The molding is separating from the wall in almost every area of my home. Additionally countertops are separating from the wall, my dishwasher racks were not property aligned, and I had to do multiple walkthroughs in order to ensure that basic expectations for painting and finishing touches were completed before I moved in. The response was very relaxed as if poor craftsmanship is a normal and standard practice. It looks like things were rushed and although I did get an outside contractor to inspect my home on more than one occasion, I still worry about the craftsmanship of my home. For the price point it was not worth it. My advice: Ask a LOT of questions, inspect your home, and make sure you shop around and compare the details to make sure you get the most bang for your buck. The process of working with Pulte Mortgage was very stressful and I only did it for the incentives but in hindsight, I should have worked with a more responsive and professional lending company. ... More

I'm unsure how Pulte even got the approval to open another subdivision in Zionsville. Issues with organization/communication--and more importantly not owning up to basic responsibilities and failures. If Pulte continues on this trajectory, they will either be bankrupt or if still around under another name.

Our Home was initially promised to be delivered Q2 of 2022 but finally got closed in Nov 2022. While we understand there could be delays in construction, there was hardly any communication from Pulte on the delay. We had to ask them a status every month and only then we would get a status from the construction manager. They were unapologetic for the delay as though it’s not their problem at all. For every small issue, we were told to look at the 100+ page contract. There were many issues even at closing which Pulte agreed to fix and few of them are still pending after 2 months. Quality of work is below professional standards. There are walls that are warped and not in straight lines in many places within the house. Had a good experience with the sales person but the construction part of it is bad ... More

This is the third new construction home we have purchased. The first two were private builders. They were seamless, simple and the builder was responsive. Our Pulte experience was poor relative to our previous home builds. Pulte is a sales company that happens to build homes, NOT a home builder who cares for your desires in a home. Our home is acceptable and we will enjoy it. To get to that point one must fight for what you'd like in your home and read all the small print. Know that all they want to do is sell you a home, NOT work with your on your needs. Once your home is "complete" it could be months upon months before all the issues are addressed and repared. You must hound them with many messages to get anything done. Construction quality is decent, but not great. There are some sloppy mistakes that you will only notice after living in the home for a while. The people are nice and seem like they do care. It could be an issue with the company and their profit goals at a higher level then the local team. Be your own advocate when working with Pulte as they do what's best for the company, not for you. Trust but verify. ... More

The poor quality of product is directly related to the level of inexperienced sub trades used on Ave Maria Pulte sites. From framing, plumbing, HVAC, to trim finish work, crews with minimal or no experience were used… In fairness, partially due to labor shortages, and contract crews unwilling to travel out as far as Ave Maria, but also due to poor and neglectful site supervisors who’s job it is to manage and oversee sub trade workmanship.

1) Overall communication was bad to get status updates from the builder representative frequently and ended up into escalations. 2) Closing was delayed multiple times despite of multiple follow ups. 3) Quality of the work seemed to be okay before closing but after 2-3 months discovered bunch of issues which were not addressed despite of multiple follow ups over email/phone/text with Customer Care Manager III, CFT, Area Lead :: Georgia Division. Some of the issues were related to gutter, front door air leaks and Pulte doesn't care despite of sleepless nights.

This is the third home we have built and Pulte by far has been the worst experience of all three. What makes this so surprising is that Pulte has been the most expensive home we have ever built as well. It started off great with our original sales rep. We picked our design and colors and materials. Multiple items were unavailable but we understand that the timing of this was also during Covid. In the process, we had 4 different construction managers and so much information was lost in communication. There were several instances where they did not respond to our emails or calls. Only to later find out something was done wrong or put in the wrong place. We were rushed to have a final walkthrough inspection where the house was 80% finished at best. We told them multiple times that we were in no rush whatsoever. After we closed on our house, we found multiple paint and drywall imperfections that were supposed to have been fixed on the final day of closing. The amount of frustration caused for such a “supposedly” higher end home has been utterly disappointing. ... More

Very unprofessional workmanship. Not Pulte Standards. Useless in Paying premium price. Below points justifies my rating: 1) Very bad finish on the Kitchen backsplash. How will CM says that sometimes construction will end up with gaps and that is out of their hands. Then what is the use of having CM for a house. Any one from office can give directions to contractors and accept what they deliver. 2) Waste water pipe lines are blocked and no one care to check them before close. My house after closing flooded with water twice and made wood flooring wet in master bed room. First time it is just water but next round poop (biological waste) returned back from the pipes and flushed back in 2 bathrooms toilets and again made wood floor wet in master bathroom. I have to clean some one poop in brand new home. I cannot say it is a brand new home after poop everywhere in bathroom and bedroom. The plumbing team came to unblock and flooded with poop in my front yard and care not to clean. We can call this home a Poop home then Pulte home. 3) Did a patch work on the nook celling and it clearly visible as patch. 4) Power in one of the bed room trips off if under kitchen sink disposal is turned on, as well as some one use power plugs in the opposite house. They blame it is city that some have connected two house power line and they can do nothing about it. This is still not addressed, I atleast reset the breaker twice daily. 5) Backyard grass is dead and fence is broken and water get stagnant at the end of the backyard near fence. 6) They made mistake with brick on my neighbor house and removed the brick, they did not even inform me to cover my AC unit in the backyard or did they not cover it. Now my AC unit is filled with little brick pieces. Who is responsible for that bad workmanship? 7) I made about 10-15 warranty tickets and only 5 are addressed and god know when others will be addressed. This is my first home in my life and I regret buying from Pulte. ... More

We have experienced many issues that are concerning to say the least. We are 45 days post close and we still have many items that have not been addressed on our punch list prior to closing. When we closed on our house, the home had a lot of areas still to fix which they assured us would be addressed. We pointed out items many weeks prior to close which were not done until weeks after close. A lot of cosmetic issues including trim work, paint. Issues with chips in cabinets, flooring. Our project manager missed the meetings Pulte promises to have including pre-drywall. Communication was us constantly asking for an update. The day we closed, our home was dirty and they knew there were issues on the closing day, looking back it is kind of numerous that we didn’t get the welcome home sign and pictures that others did, We love the neighborhood but the quality of the house is definitely not up to the price we paid for it. Maybe once all the items get fixed it will feel like the home is up to the value we paid, but I should not be 45 days post close still waiting. ... More

Our brand new Pulte home is one of the most cheaply built, poorly constructed homes I have ever owned. I would NEVER buy a Pulte home again. Cookie-cutter, unimaginative design, poor use of space. Home Depot light fixtures, hardware, cabinetry, carpeting and flooring. Paint is so thin I can see drywall underneath it. Numerous unfinished rough-cut wood that was simply painted over. This home is easily $250K over-priced. Horrible!

This is my 4th experience with a new build and I would have to say that it was the worst of the bunch. Much of this may the project manager’s blame but a lot of it isn't. Let’s start with the home’s backyard. About 3 months into the build process we were informed that 2ft of our (already small) 10ft yard would be taken up with a retaining wall. This ended up being 5ft of our yard. Plus, around the time that the retaining wall was completed, maybe 5-6 months into the build, they informed me that they would also be putting a railing around the Patio because they didn’t dig deep enough and the patio sat too high. Code necessitated the railing. These changes basically make our small backyard pretty much unusable and completely changed the makeup of our home. It’s like we have a giant condo. On the day of closing our home was barely cleaned. In fact, the cleaners were still in the home when I arrived and were rushing to do a cursory cleaning. They didn’t do a great job and it felt much like moving into a worksite when we did move in a day later. That’s when the real fun started. I think the workmanship suffered because they are building too many homes at once instead of taking the time to build each one correctly. Each home, even other homes with the same model and elevation is done differently. A big issue I had was that an outlet was installed in the middle of a mirror. I checked the other home across the street which is the same home and it was not installed this way. It was installed on the side of the mirror. I realize this sounds small but it isn’t. The way it was installed on my house reminds me of something from the 80’s. No modern home of decent quality does it this way. The warranty team has refused to change it. Another major issue was our gas line outside that moved in and out. The project manager recognized this when we walked through early on but never addressed it. The warranty team did their best to secure it but it still feels pretty lose compared to what it should be. The gas line. Our microwave was hastily installed a day or two before closing. It has never worked. We have been in the home over 2 months now and we still don’t have a working microwave. Instead of Pulte replacing the microwave for us, they have opted for us to work with Kitchenaid directly through the warranty to acquire a part that may or may not exist. Tbh, I don’t know if we’re ever going to have a working microwave unless we shell out the 2k to install it ourself. This isn’t nearly all of the issues we’ve encountered. The list goes on and on but these are some of the more major issues. I would just be very wary when dealing with Pulte. Besides their amazing sales rep, Romina (who has since moved on), and the friendly warranty rep, Jay, I have little good to say about the company. ... More