Experience with Pulte houses - good or bad???

[garyl62]

Wow, you've got a lot of answers and I think all the issues have been covered so I'll keep it short. My sister had a Pulte house and once upon a time we looked at them as we had other friends in a subdivision we thought it would be fun to live by early in our married life. Then all kinds of things changed and a few years later I ended up as a contractor myself and also worked for a custom home builder as a project manager so I've been on both sides of this in a way. From what I know, they are a typical large (both size of home and company) home builder that has been successful enough to weather the current storm. They do cut corners on things like lumber, windows and other things but overall their homes are ok. Not sure what you would say 20 years down the road when the lower quality starts to really show, but by then you hopefully you're in a position to fix those things. You get a lot for the money and they normally sell to people who are at stages in their lives were getting into a "family friendly" house means more than some of the quality items a custom home provides.

If it's what you want, the deal is good, and you don't over finance the house or your budget (meaning your wife will still let you go on a snowmobile trip!) don't be too concerned about Pulte as a builder.

 

[freezinbevr]

freezinbevr (has to be one of my favorite member names), funny you should mention HVAC. When we were finishing my son's basement, we got conflicting direction from two different inspectors regarding the number and location of cold air returns but in both cases, the number of cold air returns exceeded those on the other floors, regardless of floor layout. It was surprising that the original construction did not appear to be built to what the inspectors were telling us. This seems to be an area where builders can (or could) skimp a little. I've seen single central returns in a lot of houses, more than one would expect. I guess it all works, just not optimally.

Skiroule,
Code is a D-. What the inspectors want to see and what they Pass are two different scenarios. It is what it is at the price point. Return air is as important to the homes health as anything. It IS THE EASIEST thing to skimp on in a new home because everyone is looking at the layout, flooring, cabinets, trim, etc.. After a year in the place I know a lot of people who wish they never bought!
Just a warning. A lot of room if uncomfortable, is a lot of un useable room! Choose your options wisely! Ya can always put new counter tops in with little mess, a zoned duct system can be priceless!!

BTW Skiroule, love what you guys did on the makeawish sled!! Can't wait to see it and hopefully get it!!
Brad

 

[Hoosier]

More good info. I will in particular look into the HVAC system. We live in a cookie cutter now that was built in the mid-90's, and our biggest complaint about the construction of our existing house is the variation in temperature between the 1st and 2nd floors. If we build a house, we will be adding a zone system (or whatever you call it where you have thermostats on each floor). Also, I will be paying attention to the quality of the windows, as the windows in our current house are poor (I'm not complaining about our current house, as it is a low-cost entry level house that has held its value fairly well, even if today's market).

We're also getting some pricing information from a couple custom home builders in the area for comparison, just to see how much the difference in price really is. And we are continuing to watch the listings of existing homes, to try to find a good deal that way also.

 

[mjkaliszak]

Here are some specs from my house.
2x6 wall studs, blown insulation ,working floor drains in the garage, hot/cold water in the garage/ heat in garage, insulated garage doors,extra recepts on walls of garage, on cieling of garage,outside of garage for xmas lights...... can you tell where my man kave is ? Generator back up system , power roof vents, almost have entire overhang of roof filled with peforated soffit, good 30 yr shingles, dual power vented 65 gallon hot water tanks, real hardwood flooring, tile and carpet, Kemper cabinets, granite counter tops, Anderson windows, storm doors on all entry doors ( Larson 1" thick )... I just babbling.

 

[anonomoose]

What surprises me with the comments here is how few people understand or acknowledge how Pulte type builders DO survive over time.

They build very very cheap housing by buying in bulk, contracting well off into the future and paying labor rates often below scale.

They gussy up the place and use lots of cute but that's where it ends.

Quality costs money....period.

You want cheap....just like buying a cheap car...they break and you pay more in maint. costs than had you layed out the bread on the front side.

In otherwords....yes you get big and cheap, but you have to ask yourself if the floor squawks when you walk across it in 5 years, or the ultra thin roof sheathing needs to be replaced with the first roofing, or if the cabinet doors have hinges sooo...cheap that they break off the first time one of the kids does something they shouldn't...will you be happy? Do you even care about off loading that "gem" in the future when all these things start to surface and need "TLC"...?

A quality home costs more to build but it saves you lots of money over the long haul....because you don't have windows that leak air so badly you need to wrap them in plastic each winter, and cement that will actually hold up over a few years without cracking into tiny pieces.

The list is long....and I can tell you that most who do buy one of the cookie cutters and lives in the place long enough to compare notes with others who were not very discriminating...and bought cute or size only...well, they never go there again...they have learned that lesson.

As EZ says, you can easily spend some time finding a great buy on a pre existing with everything you desire in a home and get a great buy because the folks are up to their eyeballs in mortgage payments.

There is NO such thing as a free lunch..no matter who sells them or how they sugar coat it....you get what you pay for and deserve what you get for not doing the homework ahead of time.

I have seen Pulte Homes, and the floors rumble when a kid runs thru and the walls sway, and plaster cracks...and frankly you could NOT sell me one .....because I understand that long term might be more than 7 years....when we are talking housing....it should be good for 50 or more.

If all you want is Big Space....go buy a big tent....and move it when it rains too much....you will be far better off than to buy one of those homes that are for the most part build with substandard materials and who build for the masses who wouldn't kniow particle board from shoe leather.

And dat's all I got to say about it!

 

[polarisrider1]

I do not work in Pulte or Eastbrook houses since it is cookie cutter and throw in the el cheapo to get you moved in, They approached me and wanted a "Tile Mechanic" I felt insulted by this and moved along. YOU get what you pay for in construction. If it is less, you are getting less. some are fine with this. All the pros know what each other charges. cheap=cheap.

 

[Hoosier]

As an update to all this, we decided to sell our existing house first before attempting to move forward with the next house, whether it's a new or existing house. We think our existing house will sell fairly quickly but there is just too much uncertainty these days to risk having two mortgages...

 

[polarisrider1]

As an update to all this, we decided to sell our existing house first before attempting to move forward with the next house, whether it's a new or existing house. We think our existing house will sell fairly quickly but there is just too much uncertainty these days to risk having two mortgages...

So what you saying? I have tiled (huge upgrade) 2 Pulte houses since this post started. both being big boxes with lots of space. I got to thank Pulte for putting in basic stuff and I get to add the pretty, so those can sell these boxes to other up starts.

 

[Hoosier]

So what you saying? I have tiled (huge upgrade) 2 Pulte houses since this post started. both being big boxes with lots of space. I got to thank Pulte for putting in basic stuff and I get to add the pretty, so those can sell these boxes to other up starts.

I guess I mean we're not sure yet how we feel about the benefits vs costs of the Pulte-type home vs what else is out there. A lot of the older, more established neighborhoods in our area were built by tract builders also, so there isn't a clear advantage of buying into one of those, unless of course the pricing is better. Obviously you get a lot of space for the money with these types of homes but as many have pointed out, nothing is free and there are trade-offs. While our house is on the market, we are talking with some custom builders and also looking hard at other houses on the market...

Lots of good advice and opinions as usual on this site.

 

[98panther]

It's easy when Building and deciding what to spend $$ on, cut corners on things your confortable changing out later.

To me - Flooring and tile work is a no brainer, you can change that out easily anytime.
Windows and kitchen cabinets - I would spend as much as I could there.