Pacific Palace

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give a very good product for a fair price, the rest
will take care of itself.” During the recession, for
example, he noticed a trend towards more restrained
luxury and an emphasis on trust.
“Our buyers are very wealthy, obviously,” Putte
says. “They can afford whatever they want. But
they want to make sure that they’re paying fair
market value. Maybe four years ago a guy might
walk in and say, ‘How much are those kitchen
cabinets?’ Regardless, the answer would probably
have been, ‘No problem.’ Now they want to
make sure they’re spending it fairly.” As an extension
of that customer relationship, Pulte himself
routinely calls homeowners long after construction
is completed to assure they’re happy—even
when the original homeowners have sold. “We
knew immediately this was it. The workmanship
is really astonishing, down to the very smallest
detail,” recalls one such second owner, Mel Weitz,
who, with his wife, purchased a Mark Timothy
home in Palm Beach County. He says Pulte still
visits the house occasionally to this day.
Unlike many homebuilders who retain an inhouse
design staff, Mark Timothy Luxury Homes
does work solely with outside firms, which Pulte
believes gives the company more flexibility to
accommodate buyers’ wishes. That said, the company
has formed a long partnership with Marc-
Michaels Interior Design (p.120) out of Winter
Park, Florida.
“The firm has a lot of young people, who really
have a good sense of trends, of what the buyer
is looking for,” he explains. “Years ago, it was
Mediterranean. Now it’s this more casual look
with brighter colors. But most important, they
design products that are timeless. So many of our
south Florida architects are not timeless. They’re
designing things that are in today and out tomorrow.
You can never go wrong with timeless archi-
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the master bedroom comes
to life with varying shades
of yellow amidst traditionalstyle
furnishings.
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White marble floors in the
master bath from tile and
Marble by valentine (tileandmarblebyvalentin.com).
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in the foyer, a suspended wood
tread staircase by rock Woodworks
(rockwoodworks.com).
SPrING 2012 luxury home quarterly
BUilDeRs
tecture.” Pulte’s homes also come furnished, no
matter if they are built on spec or for a particular
client. For the 521 South Ocean project in Delray
Beach, Florida, for example, a grand staircase
gives way to a grand piano atop marble floors, a
master bedroom with elegant chandeliers and
an adjacent sitting room, always with ocean and
palm trees in the distance.
Pulte says it’s the variety that ultimately gets
him excited to be in business. “Every house
pushes your design ability,” he says. “Even
though it may be traditional, you still push the
envelope, particularly on the interior finishes.
Each buyer is different, too. Every location is
different. The oceanfront in Ft. Lauderdale is
different from the oceanfront in Palm Beach.”
But the connecting thread amongst these projects,
as his father taught Pulte, is a willingness
to build quality and to be there to serve buyers
long after they move in.
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