If we could go back and choose another builder, we would in a heartbeat. We were so excited to build our first new home, and were even willing to overpay because we wanted the school district and liked the area. The process with Pulte started out OK, but as we got closer to closing it quickly deteriorated. We did a "celebration walk" (ironically, that is what they call it) a week before close which turned out to be us just having to do quality control on our own home! They literally had us walk around and point mistakes/deficiencies out, and they stuck pieces of tape everywhere to flag them for contractors. There is NO WAY a quality control team went through before us, and if they did, they are completely incompetent. Pulte (as we confirmed later) expects YOU to pick out areas where they screwed up or there is otherwise evidence of crappy workmanship, and even then, they don't come back and fix everything. We weren't given a copy of the sheet that the construction manager was taking notes on about the things we pointed out either, even though we asked for it multiple times. We were then pressured to check a box on an official Pulte form saying everything was complete after this walk through; they implied that we had to or it would cause issues (as in, it might impact close), and mentioned that they would not get paid as much if we didn't check it. They reassured us they would send people in to fix things even if we checked the box. Well, we learned the hard way that it was a total lie. After close, we were told by the construction team (after we mentioned the issues that weren't resolved) that "we were with Pulte for 30 days, and that we should wait a few weeks for everything to settle" before they would come back and do anything. This resulted in them literally sending in multiple teams to our house to "fix" things (without notice...they ALWAYS send people without notice, so you don't even know what is being repaired when) in one day right at the 30 day deadline. When we called back and said that everyone did not show up and that there were still issues, we were told we had to wait for OUR YEAR INSPECTION! They consistently blamed "differing teams of contractors" on the crap quality (and the garbage strewn everywhere, including cigarette butts, that we constantly found when we would go to the house during the building process), but these are the people YOU are hiring and are supposed to be supervising! It is on YOU as the manager to ensure that they are doing good work!
The whole experience has caused us to believe that Pulte is a shady brand that doesn't care at all about their quality or customer service...they just want your money, and once they have it, you get radio silence.
We have been in the home for 3 months, and here are just some of the issues we have experienced:
* Strange "bubbling" along the ceiling in our living room ("must have been a bad tape job," according to one of the head construction team members)
*Multiple issues with shoddy interior painting (streaks, areas where they missed a coat, etc.)
*A dented garage door from where contractors backed their machines into it (it was already replaced once for this issue). The ground was not properly leveled outside before they poured the driveway either, so part of the garage looks like it "lifts" in the corner. It wobbles and makes a terrible noise when raising.
*Multiple dents in the wood floor we paid extra to have extended throughout the house
*Scratches/damage on our shower floor
*A basement floor that was SO uneven we couldn't even put down carpet and tile without issue when we hired someone to come finish it after close
*Major cracks in the basement floor that were noticed before close ("This happens with concrete. You may have just gotten a bad team of contractors." How is that OUR fault???)
*Cabinets that had yellow, tacky glue stuck all over them and areas where the paint had rubbed off
UPDATE: We did contact Pulte Warranty after receiving zero response from the team we worked with throughout the home construction process, and they were quick to call us back. They came out to repaint above our garage where the paint had been peeling off (they tried to paint in winter with water-based paint). You can tell they didn't scrape off the old paint that was peeling (just painted over), but it does look MUCH better. The window company also called me back after I reported it to warranty (our windows don't stay open and instead slam shut right away or after a delay, which is a hazard for our young children and pets). We will see if they actually fix them when they come out... read more