Pulte Homes

Three months later, we discovered that another SC changed the orientation of the house being built next door, putting the two Lanais facing each other without any privacy. This was done for his personal benefit, unjust enrichment and without written approval from the buyer. When we confronted our SC with the evidence, she and the other buyer's SC, in concert, assured us this was not the case. Several weeks later while visiting the property, we were astonished to find the slab for our neighbor's house had been poured incorrectly. Going back to the sales office, our SC was not available, only to find out the next day, she had been transferred to another Pulte community.

Next when meeting with the Sales Manager, it was agreed that Pulte would cancel the first house (House A) and rewrite the HPA for a second house (House B) on a different lot. Pulte also threw in $20,000 in additional upgrades on House B to sweeten the deal. (Pulte made an additional $53,000 profit on House A to a subsequent buyer, hitting a home run for themselves). The new HPA was signed in November 2021. Again, what could go wrong? What did go wrong was the process was again started from the beginning, extending out its completion and closing until late October 2022. And during the delay, the real estate market contracted leaving us unable to sell our current home.

Subsequently, we were able to find a buyer for House B, with an anticipated closing in May 2023, taking a $40,000 loss. The one positive taken from this mess is that our buyer is getting a Pulte Home with all the many build quality defects remedied. One could argue that we agreed to the replacement and it's on us. However, with compelling evidence of Pulte's employee changing our first neighbor's contract for his personal benefit, none of this would have occurred, and he is still employed by Pulte.

Two weeks ago Pulte's Northeast Division Director of Customer Care, met with me to discuss what and how this happened. In a follow up telephone call, two other managers explained that our complaint was rejected, "The decision is final, please don't bother us anymore." Not their best moment. So after two years and a $40,000 loss, if asked would I rather be bitten by a rattlesnake or buy a home from Pulte, I would take the snake bite. And so should you.

Our process started out VERY rocky as the first pieces of misinformation came with the incentives being offered for the community we were interested in, as well as the type of community (natural gas vs. electric). My parent was told by a sales consultant in writing that the community was offering $40k in incentives, however the sales consultant we were assigned told us $30k. When inquiring about the discrepancy, our SC blamed the entire situation on the other's incompetency. We should've taken the red flag right there, but we proceeded. We signed the initial agreement and then determined that it was a natural gas community. They proceeded to ensure us that this was a cheaper/safer option however upon further research it was not.

The next debacle came with the SC improperly selecting the structural options within their system. We had selected a 3-car garage w/ service door and to convert the tandem garage into a flex room ($4,800 total). After "submission", they came back and said the structural form was incorrect and there would be an additional $4,100, in addition to the service door not being an option with the 3-car garage. Immediately annoyed and refused to pay for THEIR INCOMPETENCE. After a few back and forth emails, they agreed to a credit and we had already paid the 1st portion of the deposit, so we proceeded.

The design studio appointment went great (best part of the entire experience), however it was a hassle getting in contact with their 3rd party security/audio provider (3rd phase) as our SC never providing the structural plans to them (Note - completing all design phases in the specified timeframe was required to stay in good standing eligibility for the $30k incentive). After 4 change orders, we finally had the design finalized. Then absolutely NOTHING...crickets. We were aware that when we signed the initial agreement, it would take about 2 months for permitting. We were 3 months from there and hadn't even so much heard a peep from the superintendent/SC to discuss pre-construction meeting. I decided to reach out only for them to say there's a backlog and it'll be a couple weeks. Then silence again...we would drive over to the community a couple times a week to do our due diligence.

We could not shake the eerie feelings and the constant incoming negative reviews, so we decided to terminate the agreement. The SC tried to convince us to utilize it as an investment property ($550k+ home) and when we refused and stated that's not even an option as stated within the contract (primary residence) nor the expected financing, the SC told us we would not be getting our deposit back. Their reasoning was that because we had a pre-approval with their preferred lender (even though we were not required to use them, nor did we plan to), that made it a hard-binding non-refundable deposit.

We reached out to our legal team, who reviewed the contract and stated it was the most predatory agreement they had seen to date, and that there was definitely contract language to ensure buyers never get their deposit back. Our only option was to eat the $10k loss or to take the house to the appraisal phase and hope it didn't appraise at the proper value.

We decided to just eat the loss...and I'm glad we did. If this is how the process was going before they even laid the slab, imagine the hassle of their building incompetence and needing independent inspectors (another bs addendum restriction for another time). I would stay FAR away from this company and their affiliated mortgage company.

So you finally select your perfect house; ready for them to build it. Nope. Sorry, doesn’t work that easy. Time for flooring to go in, and suddenly the manufacturer no longer makes that color or in that size a year later and you have to go back into the design center and select a new floor. Second floor chosen, and a month later when they are ready to install, Pulte can’t order enough tile, so we have to come in and select a third floor. And the fun keeps going. A move in date for spring turned into end of summer. The worst problem is lack of communication. When you do talk to someone, they refuse to take responsibility or give a straight answer.

But the building process pales in comparison. The absolute worst is PULTE MORTGAGE. The person that handled our mortgage had absolutely no problem with making promises that were never kept (my mother said that’s called lying), refusing to return our calls, or follow up on details in any semblance of a timely manner. Pulte Mortgage ended up costing us thousands of dollars in extra mortgage fees and monthly payments due to their laziness, and their employee incompetence. Do yourself a favor and find your own outside financing. Life will be easier.

So the house was finally finished and we moved in, and they give you a fifty page warranty on the house which basically boils down to: ‘Pulte will come back to your house one time (after you wait an appropriate length of time to fit their schedule of higher priorities since they have your money already) to maybe fix some things that went wrong in the first year.’ Warning! Don’t open your windows and leave them open for any length of time, according to one of Pulte’s supervisor this causes interior wall cracking of a severe nature because the house has to ‘breath’. But every moron should know that windows are to be looked through and never opened (same with any exterior doors), and since it’s “common knowledge” it’s not something that Pulte readily repairs without a fight and negotiation.

The last couple of days they have had to rip out drywall from the furnace room, pantry, toilet closet, linen closet and laundry room. All because when the worker put the baseboard on in the furnace room he drove the nails through the baseboard and into the condensation pipe that resulted in a significant hole that had been leaking under the ceramic tile since before the closing. Pulte has nothing but unskilled workers that don’t take any pride in their work. No one speaks English, so you can’t even communicate with them. If you are even considering building with Pulte don’t…It will be the biggest financial mistake of your life.

Original Review: My husband and I recently closed on our new house in Stone Creek, a 55+ Community in Ocala, Florida. I am horrified by the poor workmanship from the beginning of construction to the end. No one reads the plans. We paid $266 per square foot for this mess. The first thing that happened is the kitchen window opening was bricked for a much larger window, so they had to fix that. Then they had to dig up our foundation in the kitchen area because the piping under the cement collapsed and they couldn't run the wiring through. They promised a letter from an architect certifying the floor repair has been done properly with a guarantee, and that still hasn't happened. Lots of mistakes throughout the framing process, that if my husband had not pointed them out, they would not have been fixed.

The thermostat wiring was put in the wrong area of the house and noted long before the drywall was up, but they waited months, and then after the painting was done, to pull the wire up in the attic and fish it through another wall, which of course involved making another hole in the painted walls. The electrical box for the dining room light was not centered in the room, it was about a foot off. They were told long before the drywall went up, but of course, they waited until after the ceiling was drywalled and painted to move it only to put in the wrong light box, which then had to be changed out to be able to actually hold a light fixture on it, but they had to go through the attic to finally get it fixed.

While installing the air conditioning vents in the ceiling, there were several vents that the plaster just fell off around vents when they were screwing them in. They had to replaster and did a terrible job on several of the vents and had to replaster an entire seam of plaster that cracked between the dining room and kitchen. They ordered the wrong size kitchen cabinets over the refrigerator area and damaged another cabinet which was repaired and not replaced, because they put the granite countertop in too soon. Lots of dings in the cabinetry and they never painted an entire section of the walls above the kitchen cabinets.

After closing, we began to clean what they didn't, which was everything, and we were appalled that there is paint spray and caulking on every surface in the house including the carpet in the bedrooms. It amazed us that after the floors and carpets were in, that the flooring was not covered especially with all the work that still needed to be done. After my many complaints, they finally had the workers put on booties, but that was a complete waste of time. The workers put on the booties, but then they walked outside in the mud and then back in the house again never removing the booties in the meantime. Oh, and the painters painted along the top of the tub in guest bathroom...who does that? It took me hours to scrape the paint off only to find that they didn't bother to caulk it.

The front door is not lined up properly and you can hear the wind whistling through it. They have been there twice to fix it, still not fixed. And they neglected to put fur stripping on the sliding glass doors, so the bugs are free to just walk in. The keys didn't work, it took them twice before they worked. Oh, and the "day of closing" they spilled a bucket of water in the master bathroom that ran into the master closet. We closed on Friday, February 24th and after an entire weekend of cleaning up water, I demanded the carpet be ripped up and replaced. Good thing it wasn't replaced yet because after we thought it was all dry, last night after 7 days of drying out the closet area, water is now seeping out from under the ceramic tile at the threshold of the master closet. I guess there is still water under the ceramic tile...

They say they have a customer care department, but for the life of me, I can't figure out what they look at or care about. My husband and I have decided as far as the painting that needs to be touched up throughout the entire house and all the flat surfaces such as baseboards and trim that they just painted over debris, caulking and plaster, we will make the repairs. We can only hope they have the decency to give us the paint to do so. The thought of having any of the finish workers in my home again gives me nightmares.

Josh is the boss. Never been to the site for toilets, faucets, doorways shower ramps, and windows. They refused to do it, I gave them the first check in November. House was not started. Then the second check in Dec 3, 2022, and the house was just started two weeks ago. He gave them the option to move to a new county where there will be lots available and they can do it. Then he said after the home is done. I can have it done by hiring my own. They refuse to discount the home. Before you buy from them, josh called headquarters of Atlanta which Atlanta Georgia has different rules.

Around closing time after inspection upon bringing it to the managers attention was simply told that just because the inspector points out something during the inspection does not mean they are legally bound to fix it. Communication was also not great during the construction phase. Have not lived in house yet since we are out of state residents so cannot yet comment on the build quality.

On 1/14/2023 I called Ruben **, Jr. (sales) and he said they haven’t had an inspection of the house yet, but they do use 3rd party inspectors. I asked for the county inspector contact information who came out and approved the foundation, frame, electrical, and plumbing and he said they haven’t had the frame inspected yet. He refused to give me any details of who has inspected the house this far in the building process nor would he answer questions regarding any country inspections done thus far. He instead talked with his manager (no name given) and they said they would pay for me to have my own 3rd party inspector come out and review the property and they will fix any issues found.

I told them I don’t want anything fixed/patched/treated, it’s uninhabitable and they need to start new or refund my earnest money. I told him I’m not buying a home with a severely cracked foundation, rotting frame, and black mold which is likely in the pipes by now. He said neither I nor my friends are allowed to contact him going forward, his manager will advise me of next steps if we decide to seek legal advice. These people are shady to the core and do NOT recommend.

One day I met with Pulte's warranty manager just outside of our home on the way to my work on 22nd December and I described to him the situation verbally. He replied that you have to email for a service request. On that same day I opened another Emergency service request along with an email. But very unfortunately nobody came to fix that issue. I called several times to their Emergency Contact person and even left several voicemails. They called back 2 days after I sent the email and replied that they are unable to do any work because of upcoming holidays.

From 22nd to 25th December when temperature was under minus (-16) and frigid we spent horrible time without hot water!! I was supposed to call 911 in that situation but my wife said no as it was Holiday time. On 30th December one mechanic came to fix that Boiler and he said it is totally out of order and defective. I am wondering how they installed that dummy and defective machine. We are still out of Hot water. The mechanic was supposed to install another new Boiler today but yet not!!! That's how the renowned builder works.

Two weeks later, the contractor showed up with more than 300 sq ft of flooring to redo our kitchen. I asked, why would you show up with this much flooring if there is one spot buckling? he replied, “They didn’t tell you? This unit had severe water damage before it closed.” We were not told. In fact Pulte and our builder lied directly to our face about this. Just before closing, while installing pantry shelving Pulte builders nicked the water line to our fridge. This led to an over-weekend flood of our finished first floor and standing water that soaked into the drywall, doors, and finishes.

Pulte, lifted a couple planks turned a fan on, replaced the molding to hide the soaked drywall and proceeded to close with us about 2 weeks later. The floor technician told me they had product in a warehouse for our unit because they were “waiting to hear from us”. When I discovered the wet concrete under our floor boards in July I asked them to remove all of the flooring- we found soaked concrete. We pulled the molding off, found crumbling drywall.

We lived on concrete, dusted floors with a dehumidifier until September 2021, when they finally had the material in to replace the water damaged floor. During that time, I requested compensation for the cost of our mortgage payments while living in construction. Pulte refused and said the best they could do was a $100 gift card.

I have been in conversations between our lawyers for over a year at this point. Pulte still owes us thousands from when we lived in a hotel for 10 days while they remediated the unit. They finally released the restoration images to us and turns out for the first 3 months in our brand new home, we were living with growing mold.

Pulte had NO intention of informing us of the damage THEY caused while building our home. I discovered (luckily) early on what they had done. The evidence of them trying to hide this (from ordering addition supplies to “hold just in case” specific to our unit) proves they knew there would be a claim. They were going to just pull the floor up and replace it had I not called inspection in to find the level of damage to our walls and doors. This would have left the mold growing in our walls. Almost everything on our first floor was torn out and replaced. (You can see the map of damage in the drawing)

Now, Pulte refuses to share completion of work documents and has been pressuring us into an NDA without it. We have asked for compensation for the time we lived in concrete and mold, our pay for relocation and legal fees. Pulte barely answers our lawyer and refuses to help with the future damage in equity this has on our unit (stigma damage).

I want to protect other local residents from this horrible company. If they built your house, get it checked. If you’re looking to build, do NOT go with them. They have not compensated us for the damage and TIME spent remediating this mistake, and we will continue to pursue legal action so they are held accountable.

My second advice is to be there at the construction site daily, and DO NOT believe your construction supervisor when you point out an issue and he says he will take care of it. You have to keep on them, and continually verify that it is done, or they will just try to cover up the issue -- literally! While it is hard to say to them, "Do not go on to the next phase until this is fixed," because you want your house to be done on time, but that is what you have to do. TAKE HUNDREDS OF PICTURES of every pipe, wire, wall, floor and ceiling from every angle, and at each stage of the process, so you have proof in case something breaks later.

Thirdly, do not assume that Pulte is looking out for your best interests by protecting any of the materials during construction. I could go on and on about this, but they will leave doors, molding, wall board and other materials out in the rain or in the humidity, with no protection. It will get damaged, warped, and moldy (here in the South), but they will install it anyway. You have to protect those materials yourself. Have rolls of plastic to cover up things, and take dated pictures of anything left out in the elements, even in the garage, to show proof that the item's storage was mishandled. Since workers pull off the protection, it often has to be put back on daily.

Finally, get a professional inspector. Don't let Pulte say "It isn't necessary." It absolutely is necessary! Pulte listens to inspectors (your own and from the county, who just checks safety basics). NEVER believe that Pulte's "inspectors" are looking out for your interests. They aren't. Make sure your own inspector is there to check each major stage of construction. This is critical, since the inspector knows what problems to look for, and can document the problem. Our inspector found things like missing outlets, improperly wired switches, an unfinished open vent in the attic (which would have caused us to forever cool the attic space), missing insulation, poorly aligned lights and ceiling vents, warped walls, broken tiles, etc.

So, take care. I have built four homes, and it seems like the subcontractors are getting worse as time goes on, so keep an eye on things, because Pulte won't. It will be extremely frustrating, because most of the Pulte subcontractors don't speak English (or act like they don't), so you cannot communicate with them. They come in for a couple days to do everything on their list at once, and by the time your Pulte supervisor shows up to look at the problem you have found, that crew will be off to another community, so everything will come to a standstill (sometimes for weeks) until someone on that crew can come back to fix the problem. Surely, the Pulte people themselves will do nothing to fix it. So very frustrating!

One of my final pet peeves with Pulte is that they do not keep a clean construction site. They say they do, but don't believe it. Visit some homes under construction. You will see that it is a junkyard throughout the process, and I believe that leads to mistakes and construction being done poorly. But that's just me.

Rats find their way to the house through point of entry. Hauls in the frame of the house. Pulte warranty unit is made of people use terms like "made to specifications" "not under warranty" "you left the door open" "my VP will not agree to this" or simply do not respond. I emailed the CEO of Pulte and their top 20 executives. None of them has the decency to understand how it is like to see your own kids frightened of dead rats. Kids and their mother vomit constantly. Kids cry and sleep hungry day in and day out because they are afraid the food got touched by rats.

I paid $650000.00 for a Pulte house that ended up being a nightmare investment. Warranty and customer service is part of the contract but in reality the staff in the warranty department do only what their VP ask them to do. That is to say: to screw new home owners". The AC show reading 73F in some parts of the house and 85F in other areas. Technicians visited the house tell me they know exactly how to fix the AC air flow- their management along with Pulte customer service don't want fix anything.

There is absolutely no excuse for doing things right the first time, but Pulte's philosophy is we don’t give a ** about quality we care about quantity, put them up as fast as possible and worry about issues later. It truly is disgusting what Pulte is claiming and then what they are actually delivering, a substandard home, lousy building, cheap materials, lack of empathy and truly horrendous customer service. Pulte you should ashamed of yourself as an organization and the product you put out.

We are 14 months into the process. The company built the wrong bathroom floor plan including the wrong size window frame; dented a duct and had a shoddy repair job; took two windows from the garage door months ago so that another property could close on time and then surprise, surprise, seem incapable of getting replacements; told us that a missing window had been installed and then we discovered that the wrong size window had been installed and we had to point this out, so someone somewhere was either lying or incompetent; the wrong exterior trim was installed and is taking forever to get replaced and repainted; someone just left footprints and wheel tracks in the wet concrete in the driveway; a ceiling joist was installed in the wrong spot leading to a months-long, inexplicable inability to correct the issue and install a shower drain line; and I'm sure there are things I've either forgotten, or they've successfully hidden from me.

The builder has agreed to cover my rate lock extension penalties, and I believe I'm getting a good deal considering the overall challenges of the 2021-2022 market. This was not meant to be a dream home, but a necessity that I purchased because of a growing family and the need for two home offices. The final product will be adequate, but I have low confidence in the competence and honesty of the construction manager and the contractors that were hired. The construction manager(s), especially the first two, missed opportunities to build trust by failing to meet literally any estimated time frames. At this point, trust cannot be restored, even if we successfully close on the estimated date. I'm not holding my breath, and I'll believe it when I see it.

Do not expect Pulte to repair horrible flat paint marring, cracked tile, dried caulking, or any cosmetic blemishes on walls & ceilings! Paint on the walls is horrible, cheap sprayed on flat paint. The slightest bumps will mar the walls. Be prepared to pay a paint professional to paint your entire house. Best to have it done BEFORE moving in. Also Pulte installs a fan/hood above the gas stove with no exterior ventilation. Cooks beware! All the smoke & fumes just circulate in the kitchen. The fan filter traps some of it but not good ventilation as an exterior vent!

I had to call in a professional plumbing service to start to repair. They have chiseled down over a foot into the concrete pier and the pipes are so badly damaged from the builders trying to make the shower pan fit, that was given an estimate of almost $6000.00 to correct the concealed defect. I hold you, the builder, Pulte Homes, responsible for the repair. and they told me it was past the 10 yr warranty period so they would not do anything. How could I possibly know what was concealed. They hide the poor construction and I have to pay for it.

Let's start with the cabinets. They are cardboard with thin, and I mean thin, maple inserts on the door front which wobble. That's the upgrade to maple cabinets! They did not install soft close hinges, nor did they discuss features that would cost extra. Did I say I upgraded the kitchen and the cabinets! These are cabinets Home Depot would not even sell.

The painting is embarrassing. The painters sealed dirt and sawdust, which I have to fix now. The crawl space door in the garage is sealed shut with paint. The tile they used must have been a 10-cent builder special. It scratches easily and is difficult to clean. Pulte ignored the landscape installation. There is clay in this area. Consequently, landscapers did not prepare the ground adequately for sod or other plants. Installing sod on top of a clay base does not allow for drainage. With water shortages worldwide, it's ridiculous to tell new homeowners to keep watering until they see signs of life.

The one-year inspection is a joke. I have missing screens on my windows and a door. Plus a laundry list of other items which need attention. I haven't heard a word from them. I understand not everything is going to be perfect in a new home. But at the price point of these homes, at the very least, they could have used higher quality cabinets, especially after upgrading them two times. The quality of the painting looks as though they hired teenagers with no experience. The concept of the home is lovely. Once I pay to make right everything they did wrong, it will be a beautiful home.

I purchased new construction because I didn't want to go through another rehab. It ends up I have to do that anyway. You might as well buy a fix-it upper and put what you like into your home. What Pulte has to offer in the way of upgrades is expensive garbage. If you could go out and purchase your materials and tell them to install what you bought, you would have a perfect home. That will never happen. Don't expect much from this builder. Expect to spend over $750K on poor-quality products and craftsmanship.