Seeking Opinions on Pulte Homes or Other Home Builders

It's been a few years since I had any experience with them but they were a definite quantity over quality company at the time. Many corners were cut with craftsmanship and the quality of the products used. It has been a few years so I can't say if anything has changed but I would be weary.

My home is by Capital Pacific/Durable Homes. I like my home, but it took a lot of work to get all the kinks worked out.

I was here during framing and made them remove all the hanging nails. I was told I would not see them because they would be covered by drywall. I insisted on them removing them so they didn't work their way through my drywall. The foreman did it in front of me...removed every one of them I pointed out.

Second level floor had a hole, I asked for a repair, so they did. They tacked a small piece of sheet metal over the hole. I made them cut it out and repair it to the studs.

This house was built when homes were wired for telephones (do they still do that?). There wasn't one down stairs. The foreman swore to me it was there, so I asked him to show me. He should be thankful I informed him before they hung the drywall.

My design had a ceiling fan wiring in the center of the living room, they gave me wiring in the middle of the great room. This also moved the wiring to the dining room off toward the breakfast counter and in front of the backdoor. So any normal homeowner would place the table underneath the light fixture, well to do this, you would block the back door and not allow the barstools to move out from under the counter. That was hard to figure out.

They hated me by the end.

I have never thought much of Pulte's work. Yes, they have had shoddy construction in the past. Today? I don't know.

Can't you buy a house that a homeowner is selling instead? Usually by then, all the kinks are worked out. The first homeowner has gone to the mat with the homebuilder to make them address the punch list and fix any problems, especially in the critical first year. If you are looking at a house in a neighborhood where a homebuilder is still building, the houses sold by homeowners are competing against the builder, so they have to price competitvely.

You can't go by just what you see at the builder's show home. When it gets down to it, EVERYTHING you see in those homes is an add-on. Big money add-on too. What you'll get is cheap, cheap, cheap.

I bought 3 new houses in my time. After the third, I decided that I would never buy new home construction again. Too many fights with the homebuilder to get promises honored, sick and tired of no trees in the yard, having to start over with turf that requires so much work (and the homebuilders scrape all of the topsoil off and SELL IT. You're stuck with the dirt underneath that grass hates, and weeds love.) And you have no idea what the neighborhood is going to be like as they fill it up. At least you have an idea with a neighborhood that's more established.

I don't know that his has helped you much. I know it's hard when they give you incentives, but I found after three of these houses (not Pulte - I was smart enough not to buy theirs) that the incentives didn't save me the money that I thought they would when it was all said and done.

Do lots and lots of looking and really educate yourself. Talk to people in the neighborhood who are willing to tell you about their problems, if you really want to buy new construction. At least you'll know what to expect.

I know a few people who've had homes built.
They say it's best to watch them do it as much as possible.
A friend of ours was in this situation awhile ago - an electrical engineer he did his own wiring once they were at the right stage.
He caught them on so many issues.
He came in once when a wall between the garage and house had been dry-walled up and there was suppose to be insulation under it and he knew the insulation hadn't arrived at the building site.
The builder made some story about it arriving unexpectedly and it was fine.
Our friend spoke with the builder and said "Look - I'm going to take a hammer and make a hole in the wall. If it's insulated and I'm wrong, then I'll patch it up no cost to you and I'll apologize. But if it's NOT insulated, then you are going to take all the drywall down and you are going to do it right - at NO EXTRA COST TO ME".
He made the hole, no insulation was there and the builder had to do the wall all over again.
But you see - if you are not watching them all the time - stuff like that happens a LOT.

Pulte is an average builder. I would certainly hire an inspector to go over every inch of the home, especially the functions you cannot see. I don't think it has anything to so with the labor they have. The labor is only as good as the attitude of the laborer and the way the builder treats the laborer. Is this a new development or existing?

How old is the townhome, are they well maintained? What are HOA fees and what does that cover?

We used a well known builder with each (2) homes we built from scratch. Building a home is he$$ and I hate the process. You have to stay on top of the builder so they know your expectations and will abide by them. Many builders are quick to say yes to help you with everything and then cut corners in areas you can't see such as heating, cooling, insulation, etc.

We also bought a condo this summer for our daughter for her to live in for college and beyond if she chooses. These condos are about 20 yrs old and very well maintained. You would never guess they were 20 yrs old. We did hire an inspector and we were surprised at how well some of the original equipment looked and was in order.

In a condo/townhome community, make sure you know all the details for the HOA. Daughter's HOA is tough and $225 a month BUT, that is one reason the property is so well maintained.

Good luck to you. Ask a ton of questions and don't feel bad about that... you need to find out everything you can before you sign a contract.

I can safely say that both of our builders for our homes hated us when the process was over because we stayed on top of them to get things right. They still managed to get some shoddy work done behind the scenes. We all hated each other when the process was over.

After talking around with a lot of friends after some negative experiences with our DR Horton home (and DR Horton used to build custom homes, so that doesn't guarantee much), I've learned pretty much all the builders out there have issues. I have yet to hear someone say, "Wow, our builder was great!"

We're the second owners, buying it at a year old, so we couldn't monitor the build. However, that seems to be a huge tip: Watch every single step of the process. If we had been here, we would have seen them run out of padding under the carpet and just leave it an inch short around all of the walls downstairs and then put together a patch job of padding pieces with big gaps where there's only tape stretched out over nothing near the base of our stairs. They dinged our air unit in the attic and the first year we were here the vent couldn't open to allow the air conditioning to work downstairs (and we live where it gets to be 100+ in the summer) ... we finally realized it wasn't just miserably hot where we had moved and that we were only getting air coming down from upstairs. DR Horton installed pipes under our upstairs tub at a 90 degree sharp angle, which sent water dripping into a downstairs bedroom.

The builders for the general public aren't hiring skilled people to do the work and I don't get the impression anyone with the builder verifies quality work was done. I think if YOU stay on top of things, you'll end up with something you're happy with in the end. Be a pest and make sure they get it right.

I had one for a short time. No complaints.

My parents had a new Pulte home for 12 years without one single problem, literally nothing wrong with the house. They just sold it last year.
Remember people always complain if given the chance, that's why only negatives show up on-line.
And know this, forums for specific products/services account for less than 1% of actual owners so take what you read with a grain of salt.
That being said all production homes, Pulte, DR Horton, KB, Toll Brothers, Ryland etc they all use the same people to build their homes. The materials used can be different but the guy swinging a hammer on the Pulte home will go to the next job when he's done which could be any number of builders.
We bought a new construction house almost a year ago and I asked the builder about what makes the houses different, and he shared with me that the guys putting in the labor are the same from builder to builder.
Good luck.