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As a former Realtor, I found Pulte homes in my area to be of good construction and mostly satisfied home buyers. For the most-part, the only issues were out of the builder's control.
In the past, Pulte had a somewhat unfavorable reputation , but the homes I sold in the last 15 years or so were as good as any other tract builders' homes. Do a home inspection and make sure that everything is corrected prior to closing.
In the past, Pulte had a somewhat unfavorable reputation , but the homes I sold in the last 15 years or so were as good as any other tract builders' homes. Do a home inspection and make sure that everything is corrected prior to closing.
Make sure you get a home inspection as it's being built and especially before you close and if you can, visit the site as much as you can to take photos while they're building. You mostly want photos of where the plumbing and wires are in the walls.
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Originally Posted by 2bindenver
Dependent entirely on the construction crew.
You're not kidding... We looked at every builder in 3 counties of South NJ, including Pulte but I can't recall why we didn't go with them. We found craftsmanship was lacking; things like corners and seams were shoddy. The model homes seemed rushed; slapped together.
We ended up buying a Richmond American Home (RAH). We thought their (RAH) model homes looked pretty well put together. I really regret not getting a home inspection before we closed. I knew better... So the day we closed; we went thru the house with the punch list. Unfortunately there was a power outage, we couldn't see details like the spackling under the paint; nail pops; some of the paint was put on too thin, there was over spray on the floors, they messed up our wood steps, with our master fireplace, the wall board was not finished in one corner, one of the basement railings for the outside door wasn't acceptable. These are off the top of my head 11 years later.
One year goes by, my hub was diagnosed with stage 4 tonsil cancer. I had a hard time getting them to come back to work on everything and it is still not done. They came back to spackle but never painted it. During my hubs cancer, we were in the house 17 months, 5 months after the one year when the roof leaked in my garage and the basement sprang a leak which was slowly leaking for some time but it was being soaked up I guess by the insulation. Even though they had not finished my one year punch list, they refused to help me with either leak. The roof leak was due to cheap caulking they used on the small roof under the master windows. With the basement, it was due to dirty fill that crushed the outside drain piping. I've been able to control the basement leak using a small wood trellis and towels that hang into a plastic bin to catch the water before we had money to fix it. I then ended up digging the dirt out to find huge blocks of concrete, bricks, large rock and trash buried. It all acted like a bath tub, the water was not draining down. We eventually put a sump pump in the dirt hole until we hired someone to install a bladder with sump pump.
I run a FB group for my development since 2009 mostly to see what issues other home owners have had. One of the big gripes are the bottom tier appliances and windows. The oven instrument panel broke (the up and down arrows fell out) after one year for most of us, it turned out that GE put out a replacement that they sent free of charge to those of us that got there 1st. I don't recall what others paid. The freezer gives most of us issues with the ice maker. The AC units (can't recall the brand) break after a few years. They also didn't put enough AC air intake vents in the house so the 2nd floor has rooms that don't cool right. The upstairs thermostat is in the master which gets cold/hot fast so none of the rooms are up to temp. The windows do not open at the top in order to clean which is a huge hassle to clean the 2nd floor. The dryer vent is not in the right spot for most dryers. If you paid to have a basement bathroom rough out done, it may not be done correctly to add toilet, sink and bath tub as a few home owners have found out. We've all found the "snow fencing" (black with wood sticks) from when they built were not removed, they were buried. I'm not the only one with a leaking basement. These are just off the top of my head.
We also found trash in the master bathroom wall when we took the medicine cabinet out for some reason.
I had a Pulte house and I agree, depends on the crew building it. I lucked out that my house was pretty well made, but there were come corners cut in some areas.
My parents have a Pulte home and they were very happy with the crew that built it, so I will agree on that. My parents are savvy homeowners too and knew what to look for. But other stuff mentioned like that quality of the appliances, fixtures and so on - which you cannot upgrade - were major factors and almost all have been replaced by my parents in the 9 years they've owned the home. Would I buy a Pulte home? At the right price point maybe. Where I live they are going for $500K and up, so no - not at that price and not one built in the last 5 years.
Doing inspections on houses around the area, I find Pulte to be on par with the other tract builders. I completely agree it’s down to the specific people working on your home. The site manager and neighborhood manager make more difference than anything. I see a wide range of issues and some neighborhoods they will be getting certain siding and roofing things right and other neighborhoods with the same company they get them all wrong.
Definitely get a home inspection though. All the management for all these companies are doing too many houses at too many varying stages to truly manage the construction. Often times they will say don’t worry about it, we are here and the houses are inspected by the city. What a load of BS.
First of all people make mistakes and miss something, even me. The key is to have as many checks as possible. If everyone did everything perfectly, there would be no need for city inspections, or a site manager in the first place.
The other thing they say I’m hearing more and more is to tell you to just wait until the 11 month warranty period to do your inspection. That’s terrible advice. The warranty group is totally separate and they have rules about what they will fix. I see things all the time when someone calls me for the 11-month inspection that I can tell were there from day one (well honestly, even things I see in 10 year old and more houses, many problems were there day one). The builder is not going to fix them because you accepted that when you signed on the bottom line. If there are flashing and siding issues, you have zero chance of them even acknowledging them after a year but under pressure of closing, they will fix them more often. Any communication you have with the building team is lost when it is turned over, unless it is in the closing documents because your builder team is doing other houses often in other neighborhoods by then.
Location: Sarasota/ Bradenton - University Pkwy area
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Personally, I always recommend to my buyers that they should have a home inspection completed pre-drywall.
This is after the entire frame has been built, the roof is on and the windows are installed, but before the sheet rock is installed. This allows the home inspector access to make sure the beams, posts, studs, and other structural components are installed properly, to check things like the wiring, plumbing, window flashing, AC duct work and other elements that are generally hidden behind the wall.
If any problems are found at this inspection, your builder can fix them before going further with the construction process.
I have had inspectors find things such as cracked trusses, kinked duct work, incorrect wiring, foundation grading issues, cracked roof tiles, etc.
Builder representatives will tell you that the local municipality will complete various building code inspections throughout the construction process, which is true. However, the building codes cover the MINIMUM standards required. A code inspector will typically spend just a few minutes at the job site on each visit. That is not the same as having a private home inspector spend an hour or two going over your new home under construction, looking for workmanship issues.
Having a 2nd home inspection once construction is completed is also a good idea, inspectors will look for things that you as a home buyer may miss. It will give you a punch list of items for the builder to correct. But if you're only going with one inspection, do the pre-drywall inspection.
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