Pulte Homes Reviews in Charleston, SC

Great sales and superintendent staff, but the lack of quality material is very apparent after living in the home for only 3 months. Almost as shocking is the lack of communication in regards to fixing the issues. Unacceptable for this price point, and a new home. We closed in November, and so far issues include.. AC unit, refrigerator, subfloor/flooring, concrete issue on the screened in porch, and numerous areas where its obviously lazy sub contractor work. We were quite liberal with our option selections, so very frustrating that these "upgraded" items are still sub par.

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

There needs to be better communication and better quality of trades. The quality was to the minimum of code rather than quality expected with the new higher prices Pulte charges. Our yard was not graded and has so many flooding issues as well as our septic was never turned on until after a month we moved in, it could have been a disaster. 1/5 of our backyard is un-usable due to mud and no grading being done. We can’t let our dogs out in our backyard because of it and it’s unacceptable being 3 months in without anyone fixing it properly.

Extremely disappointed in our experience here at Pulte. We purchased our home 2+ months ago and still have yet to get dates of when the punch list items will be finished. Very unacceptable as I as a customer have to follow up weekly when we have our first baby on the way due January. Electrical wasn’t hooked up in our overflow tank outside whatsoever - plumber actually caught it when he was snaking all of the construction debris that was carelessly pushed down our pipes in our master bath and we couldn’t our toilet and shower for days. He says he’s seen both things in numerous houses on the street. Light switches allllll over the home are completely backwards which again shows carelessness and lack of review. Electrical wasn’t hooked up or run through the wall whatsoever in our fireplace. Looks like we get a remote now so we can even use it. Multiple closet doors had water damage all along the bottom and are just finally getting painted two months later. Our yard and considerably caving in from erosion which is concerning with the driveway, especially the 5 foot drop once you step out of your vehicle and we have a baby coming in January. This is a hazard and our concerns done seem to be cared for. We have also yet to have recycling come more than twice which is extremely disappointing. I’ve called several times and they will not come. Can we also explain the lack of storage? We were told it was a “design flaw” in not taking advantage of the space under the stairs. Also why is there a random bump out in the office that eats into the front porch and doesn’t allow sidelights to be put in next to the doors? Are these things not considered for homeowners? I’m Very disappointed in this company’s craftsmanship as well as leadership as we heavily overpaid and if we had known the quality was at this level (could go in with other items but I will save you time), we would have thought twice on purchasing. We will not be recommending these builders or homes to friends and family. ... More

Poor quality of workmanship & materials. Still trying to get open items fixed, and trying to get an issue sorted where the wrong shower door was put it.

I have had nothing but issues, then with the virus nothing getting repaired, once I HAD to give a good review nothing got fixed.

We had one issue after another with our build. We would tell CM something was not correct, their response was on it but it never got changed until we demanded it. Towel bars are not hung straight, don't match on both sides of the sink. Take lots of pictures at your design appointment. Make sure you have correct samples of what you are picking for everything. Get exact names of products, ask the designer is this an accurate sample of what will be installed. If you build with Pulte, I would not do any upgrades with them. They do poor work. Have them build the house, save your money and higher professionals that take pride in their work and do it correctly the first time NOT the fourth. We were so unhappy with our home we put it on the market for the first 15 days after closing hoping someone would buy it. ... More

Buying a new home has many expectations based upon what one pays and the quality of that purchase. We were shocked with a new home with no finish out on the garage, no gutters in a heavy rain area, no fans or light fixtures, no finish out on the laundry room and a new home with wire racks in all closets (very cheesy at best.) All of this will cost us $12K or more, . While we fully understand what you may call a "spec home" yet you seem to take advantage of what you provide to a new home owner.

Construction manager takes copious notes when you first move I , then they never fix anything. Not one thing had been fixed from the pre-move in or post move-in 30-day period. Nothing. Period.

I am shocked at the lack of quality in the workmanship of my new home. I have a long list of items that I should not have to contact the builder to fix. It's a matter of thoroughness, which Pulte does not follow at all.

Be very careful when it comes to the Contract Details. Many Items are shown in the renderings you need to sign as part of your Contract and later in the Contract Paragraphs Details declared as optional not necessarily in your Home installed. Always per advantage PULTE.

I am not going to bore you with the minutia of my experience. We had over 35 items on our closeout punch list. I work in the construction field and the quality largely depends on the lottery of subcontractors you get for the house. At any point in time the Construction manager has up to 20 homes to keep track of. It felt like because we had committed to the house that you would not get the attention to get your home fixed. Alec is my CM and he means well. Having trouble with sub availability. I feel bad that pulte doesn’t offer him any help so these homes, which are very expensive, have the proper supervision to address the quality issues. ... More

We are very disappointed with our pulte purchase. During our pre-construction meeting we were showed by our project manager plygem fold out windows we were getting with the house. After we moved in, we discovered pulte switched out all of the windows without our knowledge. No email or phone call. The windows we received do not fold out. We asked pulte about replacing the windows and they refused. We also had no hot water when we moved in. We had to call an emergency plumber to get hot water. We had versions issues such as the house was not cleaned when we moved in. There was blood behind the master tub. A jumper duct was missing and we had a mismatch of cabinet doors. There was no attention to detail by our project manager what so ever. Till this day, our project manager has failed to reach out over the window issue. We spent 700k for this house and we are very disappointed how the process went. ... More

Many items were left incomplete, even though promised, the week of closing and remain that way a month later. We should have held out and made Pulte live up to their end of the contract.

Pulte would rather come back out to fix problems 3,4, and 5 times than do the job write the first time. They employ subpar contract laborers that are not skilled in their trades. We were told that everything past inspection, city code and inspectors have a really low bar.

We were very excited to move into our Pulte Home. We paid a huge premium for our lot which has a lot of natural shrubbery and is a pretty big size. We were told that the lot would be cleaned up prior to move in. Fast forward 2 months after move in, there is still trash, leftover construction materials, a fallen tree trunk, etc on our lot. The lack of care and clean up is holding us back from being able to install a fence and enjoy the lot that we paid for. The house itself is nice, a few minor issues with one of the stovetops not working correctly and not getting the full amount of ship lap that we paid for. ... 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

Follow through and communication poor

Pulte failed to hook our septic system up to electric. Three weeks later when we tried to reach out to warranty it was an awful experience. No one would return our phone calls or answer any questions about the system. Also, they left multiple items on unfinished on our home after close, and Pulte has not been responsive in fixing 30 days after close. There is no way to follow up and no one responds to warranty. Not sure there is any warranty with the home. Don’t expect any items to be resolved after you close with them. They are so focused on pumping out more and more homes, faster and faster, they have no interest in quality. ... More

We closed on our house over a month ago and are still waiting on things that need to be fixed. We still haven’t hung mirrors in our master bath because they won’t come and fix the shiplap that was installed incorrectly. We are also still waiting for Pulte to replace the carpet upstairs from where their painters spilled paint. Not sure why they didn’t replace it prior to us closing??

These homes are basically a slam dunk. Pulte hires contractors to perform the associated task for all trades. The companies do not provide sufficient training and oversight to verify the particular trades have performed their crafts correctly. Pulte is also guilty of the same lack of quality control. Pre-closing punch list are not completed at closing and obtaining the attention toward completing punch list concerns is a struggle after closing. Important irregularities are missed by Pulte's home inspection in their efforts to close on homes. Missing components are craftsmanship, pride and quality. ... More

Horrible experience buying this house. Mortgage and Insurance were absolutely horrible. I think the mortgage part is a complete scam. They took my 20% down payment and sold my mortgage before my first payment. Insurance is still sending me cancellation letter after issuing and canceling my I insurance before I even closed on my home.

I had a terrible experience dealing with Pulte. I got the run around for months about a drainage issue in my backyard, it was so bad you couldn’t literally put a canoe in the water. Pulte representatives didn’t want to spend the 2,000 dollars to have French drains put in to fix the issue. Somehow they were able to look at us with a straight face and say there was no issue. The lack of integrity and honesty was nothing I have ever seen before in any buying experience. This is the third home I have built and it was by far the worst experience.It was exhausting to deal with, but after months of back and forth and having multiple professionals come to our lot, they finally gave us a credit to fix it on our own. ... More

Don’t believe the hype ! The houses are nice but way over priced especially what you get and the size of the lot . Our main issue is the fact that when we closed on our house it still was not finished ! It’s taking about a month to finally get things to about 90% . There is much better builders out there that will actually finish a build before you move into it . I would not recommend Pulte to anybody! No integrity or Quality control process .

Buying a home should be an exciting and rewarding experience—but building with Pulte was, without question, the worst of the four new homes we’ve purchased. From the very beginning, we were never treated as valued customers. Pulte made it clear that we were nothing more than a nuisance—something they had to deal with, not serve. Every request we made was met with indifference and a dismissive attitude. There was no accountability, no urgency, and certainly no genuine customer care. It was a constant battle to get basic answers and support—things that should be standard when you’re making one of the biggest purchases of your life. We were fully aware that Pulte consistently ranks at the bottom of the top 20 national builders. After going through this experience, we can say without hesitation that they’ve earned that reputation. The so-called “3% incentive” for using Pulte Mortgage is a flat-out lie. There is no incentive—Pulte simply charges you three points to give you the same interest rate you could get from any competitive lender. It’s deceptive, unethical, and exactly what you’d expect from a builder that puts profits over people. We toured five other builders in the Charleston area, and our only regret is that none of them were building in Sea Island Preserve. If there had been another option, we would have taken it without hesitation. To be very clear: we bought this home in spite of Pulte, not because of them. We would never recommend Pulte to anyone, and if asked, we would strongly warn others to stay away ... More