Pulte Homes Reviews

Unfortunately, after moving into our new home I notice more and more quality issues every single day. The dry wall is so cheap it feels like it could crumble just touching it, there are many walls where the corners are not at right angles and are crooked, the drywall has many imperfections, I am seeing the tape lines in the ceiling under the drywall, there are ridges under the carpet where the flooring doesn't meet, window frames are starting to rust (we have been moved in 2 weeks), front and back porches have huge cracks forming...I could go on and on. The quality sucks. Will never buy a new build again. Houses just aren't built like they used to be. I feel like I live in a house of glass that I have to be exceptionally careful with. ... More

Since the day of the house check list, where I detailed the defects in painting and finishing to the builder, many of the problems were not resolved until the day of closing and after closing they still did not resolve the problems. I had problems with irrigation that I had to resolve on my own. Many promises but nothing resolved. very disappointed with the company that built the house

Lot of quality issues and issues with workmanship. Even after the closing day there were lot of paints issues that were not fixed. I have talked with few others in community and their experience is similar. I driveway I understand it can’t be done because of winter time but they didn’t even remove the nails from driveway which caused 3 tire punctures and tire replacements for guests visiting the house. Cabinets not done properly and I am still waiting for them to fix after more than 45 days after closing. Overall not so great experience. They charge you a lot of money for simple upgrades which other builders have included in their price. ... More

We love the Cardinal Point Community and lifestyle associated with it. Our home plan is perfect for us however the quality is not what it should be for the price paid. We have been told we can't request service unless it is something major so we are living with sticking doors, uneven paint, poor drywall finish (garage is atrocious), cracking driveway among other issues.

Build quality of the home is not very great. Option selection process is not very informative, sales executives not always know the correct details and mis-guide in making selections. Design appointments are a disaster with no proper lighting and time to make selections. We have to make all the selections in one meeting and we are rushed into making decisions. Building process was decent overall but when it comes to fixing any open issues, the construction team does not respond and even when they do, they only fix the issues partially or improperly. Home is decent and the floor plans are good but the overall experiece is not very great and will make you a little unsatisfied at the end of the day. Home is a very big investment and we would like to be a little more satisifed at the end of this amazing experience. ... More

Warranty Department and Design teams are useless.

Though it is a good value for the price I paid, I had numerous challenges throughout the home buying process. The biggest issue is lack of communication and flexibility. I purchased the home which was backed out by another buyer and decided on few upgrades. Pulte is not at all flexible to make any changes to the structural upgrades though the construction has not even started. The second issue I faced is lack of communication and workmanship. I am ok to push the closing by pushing few weeks if Pulte needs extra time to deliver a quality product. But we need to be informed. In the end, we neither got the home on time nor the quality we were looking for. Now I need to be behind the warranty team to get the quality issues fixed which is very disappointing. ... More

Quality of materials is so cheap and workmanship is so poor.Lacking on so much on Quality construction.And contractor dosnt do anything until you tell them 3 to 4 times and still stuff to be done is left to do.

The quality we were expecting from Pulte and this price point for this home just was not there. We should not be having all these issues. Future home buyers definitely spend the money to get your own inspector. That was our big mistake. You want to be excited about purchasing a new home. It’s stressful enough just moving, but add on the back and forth process trying to get major things fixed on your new home is another level of stress. The sense of urgency is lacking and the builder should have caught these problems during the build process. At this time we are filled with regrets towards this purchase. Just too many major issues to deal with on a new home. We hope this changes if things are repaired properly. ... More

Pulte is just ok- not exceptional

Every builder tries to cut corners…stay on top of them. Overall we are happy with our house but the customer service in the last month was terrible especially the title agency.

Material used vs price of home was disappointing. But seems to be the Pulte way. I never got the opportunity to interact with the builder until I closed on the house. I submitted a "punch list" over two weeks ago and only one item has been addressed. My last Pulte home. Sell 1st, customer service 2nd.

The process of buying a home directly from Pulte and their subsidiaries is siloed process that creates headaches for buyers and finger pointing amongst the Pulte group. The only bright spot in their operation was our construction manager Adam. We started off our process with Steve the salesman. He showed us the model and multiple properties which was pleasant. As we walked thru the home that we eventually purchased there were some issues that Steve acknowledged and assured us would be corrected before our next visit. As time went on it was clear that Steve was not going to address the issues and we would have to work directly with Adam to solve the issues. Steve also failed to disclose the closing date to us and passed the buck to Pulte mortgage. Be prepared to jump through multiple hoops when you work with Pulte mortgage. After our financial information was uploaded into their database, it was not vetted prior to being passed over to under writing so the database did not have the correct information for underwriting to review. We explained numerous times to our point person that this should be corrected and instead of working with us they passed us over to a new person. After multiple uploads of information, it became clear that the Pulte mortgage process had numerous gaps that had to be closed by the customer instead of the mortgage group. Also, the closing documents had to be sent to us numerous times due to typos and incorrect information. We were passed to different point people throughout the process and struggled to get correct information. Often, we felt like they were not disclosing information to us, and we were not allowed to speak with the people making the decisions. A silo within the silo of Pulte group. After navigating our way through the most confusing process of our lives we finally found a bright spot inside the Pulte group when we met Adam our construction manager. He was the first person who told us are actual closing date, Pulte mortgage and Steve would not provide us that information and pointed fingers at each other. Also, he walked us though the process and we finally felt like we could trust someone within Pulte. This was a pleasant surprise because going into that meeting, we did not have any faith in Pulte and expected more of the same type of customer service we had with other members. If it weren't for Adam our rating would be 1 star for everything. ... More

The house closing was scheduled even though I was out of the country and unable to do a walk-through with the builders. Pulte was not flexible on the closing schedule. Once I returned and had the walk-through, closing, financial portion had already been completed and now finishing the punchlist on problems With the home remain on resolved after several weeks. Unable to have the Furnace people address issues that should’ve been addressed before closing. Difficulty just having a lightbulb put in the garage door opener, it is unfortunate at these smaller items remain unresolved. I’m hoping that we can resolve these issues to a mutual satisfaction ... More

Build quality is poor. Team just looks to deliver the house as per the schedule and were not concentrating on the quality at all. Very poor in reviewing the work done and correcting the issues intime.

Kitchen cabinets (dark blue) show lines and are not contructed properly. The contractor agreed to replace a door and to date (six weeks) this has not happened. A dent was noted on the microwave door and this was agreed to be replaced at time of closing and this has not been completed. Electrical outlets installed improperly and crocked and these have just been corrected after six weeks. Upgrades for appliances like washer and dryer, two drawer dishwasher and refrigerator were not offered. The siding was installed crocked and this was noticed by us, and not the builder - this was corrected. When we were told that there may be a leak in the water pipes between our home and neighbors and reported it to the customer service who sent a plumber out and plumber determined no leak, we were sent a bill - how do we know that there is NOT a leak until we ask for a plumber. The problem noted was poor drainage between homes which we had already reported before closing. Overall, we were disappointed in the homebuying experience and the quality of workmanship and choice of appliances. In a few years, we will probably need to replace with better quality appliances even though we got upgrades. ... More

We have been disappointed with the workmanship - we have had a list of as many as 15 items that needed repaired after we first moved in. Two months later, we are still waiting on most of them.

I chose Pulte because I knew I was going to use some upgrade materials. Bottom line the contractors are fair to mid. I would not recommend a Pulte home over any other reliable builder.

Not worh for money. the quality of materials was very bad and the design was not great. There is no room to take fridge in the kitchen , we strgulled a lot. we need to remove the stove to put the fridge inside , poor design. The front door doesnt make sense both the powderroom door and front door hit each other. the door will damage in few months itself . All the door quality is poor. The door stoppers are not planned where to place also. The staircase rails are just placed it can fall off any time its not glued also. Stove and granite is not connected in the side and the back of the stove is also left open with a big gap poor design . ... More

As is typical with new home builders, particularly production builders, they will be more responsive when they don't have all your money yet (i.e., you haven't closed). Once you close you've got about 30 days to figure out what's not right (regardless of warranty), after that you might as well be invisible. We have bought new homes from a couple of different builders over the past few years. I would rate Pulte as slightly below average. Their after close responsiveness is about average (and average being not that good anyway), but their build quality, at least for our home, was below average. This is compared to other homes we've purchased/viewed by other builders, even those that have worse reputations than Pulte. For such a large production builder, their build process seemed disorganized and in some cases it appears the materials were literally used or 2nd hand materials and supplies. The construction manager we had was decent, but he had to work with what he was given, which is probably minimal. I have a feeling a lot of the issues come from the white collar part of the business, where squeezing out every penny of profit is the most important thing, regardless of quality and customer satisfaction. Of course this may vary by market. Being in Florida where demand is still relatively high, the builder has an edge. Whenever you point out quality issues along the way, they will just say "it passed inspection", as if that is the barometer for good quality, when it is really just the minimal baseline for safety. It's like if you purchase a brand new car, and before you drive it off the lot you notice it has dents and scratches, and the dealer says to you "well it has passed all the required safety tests, so you are good". Hmm. I really only give them 3 stars because I rounded up, but in reality they are closer to 2 stars. ... More

Check all the options available and every details available before you sign up, you are just a number after that…

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

Financed through Pulte. Lived on property approximately 2 months. Construction still going on in the rest of the development. Dealing with attitude and disrespect from construction workers who seem to forget that I paid A LOT of money to live in the home they built. Home quality- walls are paper thin. You can hear family members in the next room. You know EXACTLY where other members of the household are based on sound traveling through walls and floors. Property grading could have been better in regards to drainage, appearance, and livability. THE BIGGEST ISSUE. Based on home inspectors report and other HVAC professionals - the heat pumps are improperly sized for the square footage. It has come to my attention that the town does not have building codes that pertain to HVAC sizing, which allows this process to continue. Pulte service and warranty just shrugs their shoulders when presented with this issue. ... More

Overall we are not happy with Pulte. They delayed the delivery of the property for 6 months, they changed the delivery date twice. They made us spend a lot of money waiting. We do not receive any incentive for delays and additional expenses. Low quality materials and finishes. I recommend Lennar without a doubt.

The quality of workmanship is low and it takes forever for them to come and fix the issues. The materials are very good but it is the opposite when it comes to workmanship and after sale support.