Pulte Homes was founded in 1950. During the 1960s, the company expanded its operations throughout the US with developments in Michigan, Washington DC, Chicago and Atlanta. In 1969, the company purchased American Builders, a Colorado Springs based home-builder. In the same year, the homebuilding company made an initial offering of 200,000 shares of common stock.

In 1972, the company's stock began trading on the American Stock Exchange. To assist buyers in financing their homes, ICM Mortgage, Pulte Homes' wholly owned mortgage banking subsidiary, was founded in the same year. During the 1980s, Pulte established its own wholesale building products company, Builders' Supply & Lumber. In 1983, the company began trading on the New York Stock Exchange and changed its name to PHM.

The builder operates in the homebuilding and financial services businesses.The company's direct subsidiaries that are engaged in the homebuilding business include Pulte Diversified Companies, Del Webb Corporation (Del Webb) and others. It also has a mortgage banking company, Pulte Mortgage (a subsidiary of Pulte Home Corporation). Pulte Homes operates in the US. America's largest builder operates in two businesses: homebuilding and financial services. The company's revenues are categorized into seven reportable segments: Northeast, Southeast, Gulf Coast, Midwest, Southwest, West and financial services.

Homebuilding, the company's core business, is engaged in the acquisition and development of land primarily for residential purposes within continental US and the construction of housing on such land targeted for first-time, first and second move-up, and active adult home buyers. The reportable homebuilding segments are as follows: Northeast which includes Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia; Southeast includes Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee; Gulf Coast includes Florida and Texas; Midwest includes Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio; Southwest includes Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico; and West area includes California, Oregon, Washington.

In February 2009, Pulte Homes received recognition from the US Department of Energy (DOE) and BASF for building the highest number of homes to qualify under the Builders Challenge in 2008. In August 2009, Pulte Homes finalized its merger agreement with Centex Corporation.