PulteGroup


PulteGroup, Inc. is a home construction company based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The company is the 3rd largest home construction company in the United States based on the number of homes closed.
The company operates in 44 markets in 23 states. It is ranked 312th on the Fortune 500.

History

In 1950, when he was 18 years old, Bill Pulte began building and selling houses. In 1956, the company was formed. It was based in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. In 1972, the company became a public company via an initial public offering. In 1998, PulteGroup acquired Divosta for an estimated $150 million. The company also acquired Radnor Homes. In 2001, the company acquired Del E. Webb Construction Company, founded by Del Webb, for $1.8 billion. In 2003, the company acquired Sivage-Thomas Homes. In 2009, Pulte Group acquired Centex for $1.3 billion in stock. The company moved its headquarters to Atlanta, Georgia in 2014. In 2016, Ryan Marshall became president and CEO of the company. In April 2019, the company acquired the homebuilding operations of American West Homes for $150 million.

Criticism

Assault of union workers by another employee

In May 2007, during a protest at a Pulte Homes construction site, an employee used a water truck owned by the company to repeatedly assault a group of union workers picketing outside a home with a high pressure water hose.

Construction defects reported in customer survey

In 2008, Building Justice, a project of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades and the Sheet Metal Workers' International Association, with support from the AFL–CIO, published a survey titled "Poorly Built by Pulte, No Different at Del Webb: Homeowner Dissatisfaction in Arizona, Nevada and California", in which 63% of the 872 Pulte and Del Webb home owners in Arizona, Nevada, and California that responded to the survey reported construction defects in their homes.

Dismissed lawsuit regarding propping up sale prices

In October 2009, a class action lawsuit was filed by Steve Berman accusing the company of artificially propping up house sales prices and contributing to the United States housing bubble. The lawsuit was dismissed by the court.