Pulte Homes Reviews in Chicago, IL

I think Pulte is like most large builders. You get a solid home that is built on the principles of mass production. A lot of your experience is going to be based on the local subcontractors and their quality of work and attention to detail. I have not had any major issues or problems with my home, but some custom build homes I have had in the past were far superior.

There are some lows, overall an average satisfaction experience

A lot of open issues during closing, which the construction team did address afterwards.

Design of heating, cooling and plumbing on a concrete slab needs improvement.

Now that we’ve lived in our new house for close to two months we are settling in and are happy with the finished product. Pulte completed some of the punch list items and a few are outstanding, however we are optimistic they will be completed. After a two year search of new and existing homes we found Trillium Farm. The home designs and proximity to Blackwell Forest Preserve were the main selling features for us, Going into the purchase we had read other reviews so we had a sense of what to expect and this was helpful information. As others mentioned, Pulte rushes you through the various phases but is slow in other phases. Our contract signing day was close to the end of the day near the end of August 2021. On that day we had to select all the options and the exterior color scheme or our place in line would go to someone else. It felt incredibly rushed considering the size of the purchase we were about to commit to. Pulte has pre-set color packages. It would have been helpful if they had generic exterior color renderings to see what the combination of finishes look like if they expected us to make such a quick decision. The design studio experience could also be improved. Pulte emails out an electronic design book with small images of the available selections a month in advance of the appointment. Pulte could provide some aids to prospective buyers narrow down selections in advance. Links to manufacturer websites could help. Also, an opportunity to visit the design center on a weekend in advance just to look around and not be pressured by a salesperson would have made the selection day (time constrained) 3-hour design experience so much easier. Once we were in the construction phase, we did not receive the regular communication promised by Pulte. Since we lived in the area, we started making weekly visits to check on the progress directly, and this gave us some peace of mind that work was progressing. The completion deadline shifted several times. We were trying to time the sale of our existing house with the completion of the new one. This is where things became very expensive because we trusted their “firm date”. Instead, we had to rent back our house for a month, then move to a hotel for three weeks, put all of our belongings in storage and compensate a moving company for two moves. ... More

The construction side for the most part went great however the contract/sales side was a total nightmare. We gave our sales rep our check for our earnest money for our lot in November 2021 and despite being told we would have our contract in a week we didn’t get it until March 2022. We asked weekly when we would get our contract and it wasn’t until my husband went to corporate directly we finally got one. They tried to play games and raise the overall price $20K during the process which thankfully didn’t happen. There was total lake of communication and sometimes no response at all to questions from our sales rep. The mortgage side was a total joke as well. We used our own mortgage company because no one at Pulte mortgage seemed to be able to communicate and share the same information. We got several conflicting answers to the same question if we got answers back at all. We are incredibly happy to be in our home but the process of getting there was incredibly frustrating. ... More

Saleswoman, Britta, is excellent. Helped us through the process. After that, dealing with the various subcontractors Pulte uses has been bad. Subcontractors next door leave garbage that blows onto our property. Mortgage company, cable tv company two examples. Numerous emails to staff not responded to. Pulte and cable company blamed each other for problems. Some strange design choices. One of our two outdoor water faucets is in the garage. No watering of seeded back yard or river birch trees since being installed. I am watering Pulte's property right now. The Pulte people onsite are working hard to help us, but I think they are shortstaffed. Nobody knows what is going to happen with landscaping on the south side of Josiah. Who is in charge here? ... More

Having a new home built can be exciting and stressful. Future home owners need to separate the supply chain and work force factors from the team who is on site building a new home. During construction we had changes in subcontractors, as well as, Pulte representatives. The ONE constant Pulte representative for us was Gina. She was there when we signed our papers and supported us when days were uncertain. She was always honest with us and painted a realistic picture of what to expect during the building process. Gina was also there after we closed to celebrate with us. Things go right and things go wrong during the construction of a new home. We had crews that were very professional and some crews that rushed their work. We had a site manager who promised more than he could deliver and then we had unbelievable Pulte representatives that cleaned up the mess that others created.. In the end we had a team that rallied behind us and got us in our home so we could start the next chapter of our lives. We are buying new things for our home and creating a new neighborhood with our new neighbors. I believe that Pulte wants to build a great home for every family that comes to them. When things went wrong eventually a top notch rep stepped in to get the standard of our Pulte home to where it is supposed to be. Those reps were always honest and hard working. And then there was one who was ALWAYS there, Gina. ... More

Pretty happy with our new Pulty home. Our superintendent resigned recently, but it appears thing will get better with our new guy. We were a little disturbed that all our neighbors have a punch list of minor thing as we do, even though they have been here for 10 months. Just little annoyances. Everyone is very nice and easy to work with once we make contact. They should finish up all the existing homes before they plunge ahead with the new ones. Glad we purchased when we did as the price keeps going up. I was aware of the quality going in, but keep reminding myself that this is not a custom home. ... More

Good experience overall. However, Pulte doesn't offer customization. It would be nice if 1% to 2% of the budget was for personal customizations especially for older people. In the noise of building there were too many lapses on their part of what we wanted. Their response usually was that "is was not in the contract", well yes, if Pulte didn't write it down and put it in the contract. But overall the workmanship is good, layout is good, and response from company is good.

Build is good. But long time to complete.

Schedule adherence was great. In general, the house is built good and looks good. However there are aspects that left 1)quality of materials for cabinets etc 2) lack of quarter rounds on hardwood floors is an eye sore 3) No transition where carpet and tiles meet and it looks a bit dangerous 4) heat is mostly going into one side of the house(hopefully can be fixed) 5) feels like we can hear every sound from outside

Great selection of materials, options, and upgrades.

Service getting delayed for seat installation

My experience with Pulte was okay, the house meet our expectations. However, they need to work on their communication and update on the building progress.

Overall, we do love our home. It's a beautifully designed home and the perfect space for our lives. Generally speaking, the workmanship is okay. You can tell there some things that were quickly done with little attention to detail. But compared to what I have heard/seen elsewhere, I don't think it's truly that awful. The nature of the pandemic has affected our home coming together and getting our appliances worked out has been messy, but I feel our construction manager has done the best he could given the circumstances.

Both Sales Agent and Field Manager were very responsive to questions and concerns. Calls were returned promptly and property was available when I needed access to meet with decorators. The field manager was amazing to work with; he kept his word and delivered on his promise. He seemed to care about the Pulte name and brand; ensured that constructions and inspections issues were addressed satisfactorily; and permits and certificate of occupancy documents were in order prior to closing. Workmanship, on the other hand, was lacking. As an example, owners are admonished to have a whole house humidifier. Yet none of the prep work was done for the installation. So, it will be more costly, time consuming and inconvenient to install one. Manufacturer's grade products are likely not the best. My furnace is so loud, I feel like I'm sleeping under the motor of a running train in Grand Central Station. I could go on ad nauseum with complaints. The long and the short, however, is that, from all appearances quality and functionality were sacrificed for glam and expediency. ... More

Wendy was by far the most responsive and customer friendly of your team.

I was just excited about the entire build process with Pulte. Right from the start of the home selection process, through the interior design session and the actual build the Pulte team were always very helpful and constantly providing me with all the information I needed. The quality of the home is very good and I feel I got real value for my money invested. I can only offer great recommendation for Pulte as a valued home builder based on my experience.

Inability to negotiate anything in the contract T&Cs, a bit upsetting. Other than that, builder did a good job all around.

Don't be afraid to pick out your own items in the house, even if they don't offer it.

I purchased a Home from Pulte at the Cuneo Mansion in December 2019. The whole process took 7 months ,pandemic period included. There were issues from the beginning, the sales department team lacked the skills, they changed the sales contact person right after we signed, the blame passing started after that stage ,sales manager would get in touch only when I was ready to contact headquarters which I felt it was very unprofessional , he’s there to help I had a minor issue caused by the previous sales person that I needed addressed, acting like an unreachable CEO didn’t help the image of Pulte (I hear this from other residents as well, so it’s a regular business practice of his apparently) .The design department shows no interest in helping you choose anything or in selling you quality materials without triple the price , i can honestly say it wasn’t an amazing home buying experience , absolutely not , not for the price, but they build decent homes,the home plans are very modern and beautiful, the location is amazing , close to everything you could possibly need , they use lower price and quality materials , but you can tell that right away. Location beats any disadvantages, price-wise be ready to pay more for what is worth , quality speaking. The workmanship is good, they are not very responsive to issues once you do the closing survey I heard from the community . Construction engineer, Ryan was cooperant and professional , he saved the company image for us. So far after one month living in the new home I am pretty satisfied with the house. Minor issues that I hope they will address, nothing major so far! I recommend this subdivision for any age group, there’s a great mix of all ages , very beautiful surroundings. Advice for Pulte , you can improve the sales experience definitely starting from management , im absolutely sure they could use more training! ... More

Everything up front has bee great After closing response is slow! Don’t blame it on virus!

Field staff and sales staff were great. Closing was a disaster

So far we have been mostly disappointed in the craftsmanship rather than materials. Attention to detail in workmanship and quality control needs improvement. To date, post-closing warranty issues have been addressed.