Pulte Homes (San Antonio, Austin, Liberty: home builders, neighborhoods, buyers)

[IamInShape]

Are Pulte homes any good?? How are they compared to Newmark and Weekly Homes??

[pbnj07]

Link to "J.D. POWER'S 2007 New-Home Builder Customer Satisfaction Study (Austin)":

Home Builder Customer Satisfaction Ratings | J.D. Power

[banker]

Originally Posted by pbnj07

Link to "J.D. POWER'S 2007 New-Home Builder Customer Satisfaction Study (Austin)":

Home Builder Customer Satisfaction Ratings | J.D. Power

They ranked higher here in San Antonio as did KB Home. One thing I value in a new home is the exterior design. I think many Pulte Homes (at least in San Antonio at the $250K price point) is that they have nearly 100% massonry exteriors. Pulte is notorious for putting "three sides" brick/stone but really they stop short of full three side veneer as on most of their homes they do not brick the second floor on two story homes. This adds to the cheap feeling down the road. Also - Pulte (again at least here in SA) hasn't changed the look of their homes - they all have that "90's" look of high two story foyers/porches and lack much architectural interest.

As far as quality of construction they seem to be about on par with the other big players. Personally my wife and I are looking at a KB Home in KB's Saddle Mountain community here in the Stone Oak area of San Antonio. Homes have similar floor plans and pricing to what Pulte offers in the Stone Oak area - but offers 100% massonry, better architectural variation in their elevations and better interior features/upgrades. Check them out their premium line here:

Saddle Mountain in Stone Oak San Antonio:
KB Home Community - Saddle Mountain - San Antonio, TX

The Quarry at Stone Mountain in Stone Oak San Antonio:
KB Home Community - Quarry at Iron Mountain - San Antonio, TX

The Trails at Herff Ranch in Boerne:
KB Home Community - Trails at Herff Ranch Texan Collection - Boerne, TX
KB Home Community - Trails at Herff Ranch Liberty Collection - Boerne, TX

If KB offers anything like these communities in Austin I would check them out. Like I said - better in quality and design than anything Pulte offers in San Antonio. I know some will love to hate KB - but as you can see this product is very different than their typical "box" neighborhoods they build at lower price points.

[Zzyzx]

When I bought my Pulte home in 2006 the survey had Pulte being #1. So that survey to me is just a marketing tool for Pulte that does not have any validity based upon my and others experience.

The home building process was very frustrating since I had to supervise the whole way. I had to hire my own inspectors to assure a good product was being delivered. Pulte will fix things, but they will not be proactive to make sure it's right the in the first place, that's up to the buyer. For example, I have a balcony on the front of my home. I had to make them replace it 3 times. The first time they used nails instead of screws to fasten the boards. About half boards they did nail down were bent in half and splitting the joists. The second time they butted to boards next to each other with no expansion. They missed ever single stub out on the plumbing. They had to jackhammer my whole slab in order to re-route my plumbing. The crazy thing about that is, I came out the day before and asked the superintendent if it was all good, he said yes. These are just 2 examples of many that I had to go through.

To be fair though, I have found poor workmanship to be common in the Austin area with most production home builders.

[TomCTX]

Before you buy a KB Home, you should really take a look at these websites.
Home Owners for Better Building:
HomeOwners for Better Building - KB Homes

Homeowners Against Deficient Dwellings:
Homeowners Web Sites - Homeowners Against Deficient Dwellings

Personally, I would stick with the J.D. POWER'S 2007 New-Home Builder Customer Satisfaction Study Award Winners(Not that I'm prejudice or anything). :-)

[Zzyzx]

Originally Posted by TomCTX

Personally, I would stick with the J.D. POWER'S 2007 New-Home Builder Customer Satisfaction Study Award Winners(Not that I'm prejudice or anything). :-)

The JD Powers New Home builder survey is pure nonsense and certainly does not determine the outcome of how your home is going to be built.

[TomCTX]

Originally Posted by Zzyzx

The JD Powers New Home builder survey is pure nonsense and certainly does not determine the outcome of how your home is going to be built.

If you had a bad experience, you should respond to the follow up survey that most builders supply you with at closing and reflect your negative sentiments. J.D. Power is a respected consumer research firm owned by McGraw Hill. The 2007 New Home Builder Survey was compiled from 50,000 responses from new home buyers in 34 markets. To say that it's "pure nonsense" seems a bit opinionated.. Is it a gaurantee? No. Is it a good barometer? Yes. That's all it is intended to be.

Hey, if you did respond to the survey along with a bunch of other people who had bad experiences with Pulte that year, maybe that's why they got knocked out of the top slot... Coincidense?? I think not...

[banker]

Originally Posted by TomCTX

If you had a bad experience, you should respond to the follow up survey that most builders supply you with at closing and reflect your negative sentiments. J.D. Power is a respected consumer research firm owned by McGraw Hill. The 2007 New Home Builder Survey was compiled from 50,000 responses from new home buyers in 34 markets. To say that it's "pure nonsense" seems a bit opinionated.. Is it a gaurantee? No. Is it a good barometer? Yes. That's all it is intended to be.

Hey, if you did respond to the survey along with a bunch of other people who had bad experiences with Pulte that year, maybe that's why they got knocked out of the top slot... Coincidense?? I think not...

Agreed. No survey is perfect - but you would be foolish to discount it completely. Sometimes the results don't match what we expect - both positively and negatively - but they shouldn't be tossed out because we don't agree.

[banker]

Originally Posted by TomCTX

Before you buy a KB Home, you should really take a look at these websites.
Home Owners for Better Building:
HomeOwners for Better Building - KB Homes

Homeowners Against Deficient Dwellings:
Homeowners Web Sites - Homeowners Against Deficient Dwellings

Personally, I would stick with the J.D. POWER'S 2007 New-Home Builder Customer Satisfaction Study Award Winners(Not that I'm prejudice or anything). :-)

These websites and others like it have complaints about all major national builders. Also - they are ranked differently in different markets. For example - KB is rated higher in San Antonio than in Austin.

[banker]

Originally Posted by IamInShape

Are Pulte homes any good?? How are they compared to Newmark and Weekly Homes??

In San Antonio - Pulte is ranked about evenly with Centex and KB Home. I think a lot depends on the price point you are at. Here in San Antonio KB Home has nicer homes with better overall construction with their higher priced homes than equivalent priced Pulte homes. That said - Pulte's cheaper homes are nicer than KB's cheaper homes.

I think you need to make sure you consider all options. Also - no matter what builder you go with one common thing I have heard is that you need to have your own inspector.