Pros

Benefits, Bonuses(when we had them), job freedom, people that I worked with. Centex was fun prior to about 2006. The managers cared, we were paid well and it was fun.

Cons

Management, culture, turnover, they did not care about us as people, only the shareholders and the bottom line. Once management realized they could take away our bonuses and there was nothing we could do about it people stopped quitting and the job went from fun to cempletely frustrating. People want to be paid for their hard work.

Advice to Senior Management

I hope Pulte is a better company to work for, obviously Centex did something wrong.

Pros

Pay range and knowledge of construction gained

Cons

Lack of company communication and direction.
Centex laid off my entire division and kept 3 managers to run the home warranty while tripling all of their salaries and incentives.
The company also spent tens of millions on the Denver division in rebranding and new management programs that were unnecessary as they were planning on division closure as a ultimate end. With the aforementioned money being spent and already spent they could have kept the division open and saved hundreds of loyal employees positions, but then Pulte Homes wouldn't have had such a juicy acquisition.

Good old boys are alive and well.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't train promise futures and then sell out your employees.

Pros

Before the housing market went down the drain, Centex was a great place to work.

Cons

The management team in Atlanta needs a new make over. The Construction Manager didn't treat people on merit, but how much he liked you. If this was not true, I would still be working for Centex. To be a builder for Centex, you don't need to know much about building, but you need to on the good side of management.

Advice to Senior Management

The only advice I would give to Senior Management is remember the guy's building the houses are the one's that keep you with a job! I think a little more respect and an open eye would help. The Management team in Atlanta needs a second look at. If you don't believe what I am written, check with your field managers.

Pros

Centex does a good job of giving its employees a good amount of freedom, you hit your numbers and you are not bothered by management. Benefits are okay but have deteroriated over the last couple years. I would say one of the better builders to work for considered the tough housing market. They have been doing a good job of generating cash and positioning themselves for the future recovering. In a descent housing market making over 100k is very realistic.

Cons

Layoffs have been occurring every quarter for two years, nobody feels safe. This creates some morale issues and management often seems overwhelmed with all the changes.

Advice to Senior Management

Be more transparent on future goals and communicate that with the employees.

Pros

Great benefits, decent pay, good peers to work with.

Cons

No opportunity for advancement. Not many rewards for jobs well done, except for the at-a-boy system. It's like a fraternity, cant move up unless you are one of the brothers.

Advice to Senior Management

To act more professional when conducting meetings and working with subcontractors. Always using profanity and talking badly to others during meetings and presentations.

Pros

Leadership training and zero micro management; in the past divisions ran autonomously but in the recent economic climate they have begun to reduce costs by standardizing certain aspects of the business. I particularly respected the pay scale which did not provide the highest base salary but did provide highest total income after a performance bonus. Which by design weeded out non performers because they would rather work a company that did not reward on performance and paid a higher base.

Cons

None that I can think of Ienjoyed my time working at Centex unless you call working with high performers caused a highly competitive enviroment increasing stress at times.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep the Tim Eller course

Pros

Numerous communities, they have 23 dvisions across the country.

Cons

The pay is lacking. Constantly changing the way they do business. They do not value their employees and are only concerned about their bottom line. They are not currently building inventory homes and it is tough to sell a home that can be ready in 7-8 months in this market.

Advice to Senior Management

lacking, always looking for the short term and not the long term

Pros

There were opportunities to receive discounts on a home or items purchased through the design center. It is a large publicly traded company that is recognized. Also having a large builder like Centex on the resume is very helpful if someone wants to continue working in real estate/building. There was never a shortage of work so as not to get bored during the day. If someone stays long enough there really is a chance to see levels of detail related to such a large builder. Although the company is sorted by divisions, there really is an opportunity to get involved/exposed to what it really takes to build a home which can be interesting by itself.

Cons

Too many hours of overtime worked. Lack of knowledgeable staffing. Poor hiring choices. Lack of communication between employees and management. No respect for family time or responsibilities. No respect for people who strived for more efficient ways of completing tasks. Management were always in meetings and didn't spend enough time actually working which slows down employees who report to them. Management was motivated by their potential 'performance bonuses'. There was some questionable behavior at year end time that was definitely motivated by money. Being a publicly traded company with stockholders, there were additional deadlines and reporting requirements imposed on divisions that were not reasonable to complete.

Advice to Senior Management

Spend less time meeting and allow more time for actual working.

Pros

The people. Centex Homes has great people in IT. They have been through voluntary and involuntary layoffs of late, but the core still remains. It is the people that make Centex Homes worth risking the uncertainty to stay.

Cons

The current downturn in the home building industry. After many years with the same CIO, Centex Homes replaced him with another that only lasted around a year. The new CIO is from YUM and is still untested. He has had to do some difficult things (layoffs), but I think he saved some jobs during that process.

Advice to Senior Management

Don' t cut too deep.

Pros

Most people were great to worl with.

Cons

Due to market downturn, a lot of uncertainty. Not much job security, no chance for advancement for a least a few more years.

Advice to Senior Management

Continue what they are doing to bring company out of market downturn