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I dont live in one but I know the company intimately. I dont care who your builder is. Whether it be Pulte, Toll Brothers, or Lennar etc... William Pulte, Robert Toll and Stu Miller did not build your house. In fact they never seen your house. They only see your address as an addition to their bottom line.
You have to remember, Most builders use the same large contractors. Nearly all the builders use ABC Electric, AAA Framers, BBB Roofers, CCC Plumbing and on and on. Most homes by the tract builders are all the same. The difference lies in who makes the floo plan you like and in the neighborhood you like and in the price you like. The other big difference is in the customer service. For that you can check the JD Powers ratings. They rate builders in many catagories. In that, Pulte usually wins hands down and has for at least a dozen years in a row that I know of.
Your DR Horton only received an average rating. I dont know your California market so I can not comment on any of your local builders. Go to jdpower.com and find your builder. On new homes the winner of awards will get to plant that brass plaque on the front porch embedded into the concrete.
Around here they are a mass production builder that is slightly above average for mass production builders. If I had to choose between Pulte, DR Horton, Rottland, Orin Thompson I would pick DR Horton. If I built a home though, I would use a local, custom builder.
We recently purchased a Pulte home after looking at many builders around here, including DRH. To us the fit and finish of the DRH homes were subpar compared to Pulte. Items that stood out such as cabinet quality, lights, and faucets (DRh used clear plastic knobs for faucets while Pulte used chrome or stainless). May seem like minor items but put together as a whole it made the difference for us. My suggestion is to visit as many model villages as you can.
I dont live in one but I know the company intimately. I dont care who your builder is. Whether it be Pulte, Toll Brothers, or Lennar etc... William Pulte, Robert Toll and Stu Miller did not build your house. In fact they never seen your house. They only see your address as an addition to their bottom line.
You have to remember, Most builders use the same large contractors. Nearly all the builders use ABC Electric, AAA Framers, BBB Roofers, CCC Plumbing and on and on. Most homes by the tract builders are all the same. The difference lies in who makes the floo plan you like and in the neighborhood you like and in the price you like. The other big difference is in the customer service. For that you can check the JD Powers ratings. They rate builders in many catagories. In that, Pulte usually wins hands down and has for at least a dozen years in a row that I know of.
This is true for the most part, but I think the biggest difference is the level of quality control implemented by the construction manager. It seems that the lower-quality builders place an emphasis on getting it done rather than getting it done right.
We recently purchased a Pulte home after looking at many builders around here, including DRH. To us the fit and finish of the DRH homes were subpar compared to Pulte. Items that stood out such as cabinet quality, lights, and faucets (DRh used clear plastic knobs for faucets while Pulte used chrome or stainless). May seem like minor items but put together as a whole it made the difference for us. My suggestion is to visit as many model villages as you can.
Interesting, Pulte around here is bottom of the barrel for builders. I supposed it depends on the local franchise.
Interesting, Pulte around here is bottom of the barrel for builders. I supposed it depends on the local franchise.
I find that hard to swallow. There is no franchising of Pulte homes. A Pulte home retains it's value better then any other tract builder product. Maybe one tract near you went sour? I know there are some bad complaints about them but many more complaints about others, especially KB Homes. Now there is a Walmart quality home. Golfgal I think you are in California. I seem to recall a Youtube video showing residents marching against some poor quality issues. It's bound to happen with any builder. If you all only knew half the things I seen and heard in all my years on these new home tracts you may not ever buy a new home. I would not.
I find that hard to swallow. There is no franchising of Pulte homes. A Pulte home retains it's value better then any other tract builder product. Maybe one tract near you went sour? I know there are some bad complaints about them but many more complaints about others, especially KB Homes. Now there is a Walmart quality home. Golfgal I think you are in California. I seem to recall a Youtube video showing residents marching against some poor quality issues. It's bound to happen with any builder. If you all only knew half the things I seen and heard in all my years on these new home tracts you may not ever buy a new home. I would not.
Actually I am in Minnesota and Pulte is not very highly regarded here. They build sub-par homes with cheep materials and no style.
In San Antonio they're kind of middle of the road mass-builders - not bad, but not great either. Of course a lot depends on how the managers supervise the subs that float around out there so your mileage will vary.
Actually I am in Minnesota and Pulte is not very highly regarded here. They build sub-par homes with cheep materials and no style.
It's interesting how a company is perceived in different parts of the country. In Nevada, more specifically Las Vegas, Pulte rules. They set the pace, they set the style and they set fads. Owning one gives piece of mind that value will go up more then any other builders product and hold their value better. Of course in this economic depression the part on holding value is a laugh.
The only builder who's bad reputation is universal everywhere you go is KB I suppose.
No matter....the old wives tale of a builder using sub par materials is hogwash. Builders use materials that is mandated by code. There is no code however that says a builder has to put in an expensive chandelier rather then a $3.00 fake gold plastic lght cover. Usng cheap cosmetic items does not dictate a quality or poor built home.
In the end, builders build what the consumer wants. If no one would buy their product then they would build something else. Maybe you and I dont like what they build but the majority does. I dont and we agree on that for sure.
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