D.R. Horton Reviews

Pros

They are family oriented. You work with fantastic people. They have a work hard, have fun attitude. They're flexible with your schedule if you need time off.

Cons

Some of the HR policies seem a little antiquated. The benefits aren't the best either, but you pretty much take what you can get.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep doing what you're doing. You've been able to lead D.R. Horton through the worst part of the recession, and are a stronger company for it. Maybe consider updating some of the HR policies regarding new hires and paid time off and benefits.

Pros

Office supplies available without expense.

Cons

Hortons are puppet-masters. They ridicule personnel every chance they get. Each Monday morning is an exercise in slavery to the Kings. In monetary terms, please know:
1) They advertise the individual's cell number and offer NO payment for the use of YOUR phone
2) They did not pay me the "back-end" commissions of deals left by the previous Counselor
3) They did not develop building sites to keep up with my sales pace. I was dead in the water

Advice to Senior Management

Heartless group who would ignore advise, if given. They know it all.

Pros

1. Good pay. 2. you are your own boss for the most part. 3. Lots of vacation days to take after 5 years.

Cons

As the company navigates it's way through this down economy after laying off about 80% of the work force "we are asked to do the job of 5 plus employees without receiving any extra compensation. We have lost bonus money and no raises have been giving out for 4 years. Also as field construction employee you are left out of most company functions. The past for years has been very stagnant place to work with no light at the end of the tunnel as far as advancement or salary increases. All in all you get the feeling that the company could care less.

Advice to Senior Management

Take care of the employees that you have choosen to keep because they are great at what they do. offer the same opportunities to all employees. let your employees know how valuble they are especially when you cannot give out raises.

Pros

Compensation can be good if you're in a good community, especially if you exceed your quota. Health benefits are ok. Nice coworkers.

Cons

If you're stuck in a bad community, I hope you have a lot of savings, because you might just sit there forever. Management is slow to make changes while you starve to death. They do not share information with you either, so you are left to wonder if you'll ever get help or get moved. No weekends off and very little work/life balance, but that's new homes for you!

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to your employees. They know what they need to sell. Make sure there's a work/life balance and that they have the tools to be successful. Show that you care. It goes a long way with employees.

Pros

Money and advancement brutally fast pace and hires exceptional employees that have tremendous skills in all facets of the building industry

Cons

Burn through employees, unless politically connected

Advice to Senior Management

Think customer service internally and externally

Pros

Pay and benefits were pretty good.

Cons

You have to be responsible for having their office open during business hours but you do not make an hourly wage for this, you are 100% commission. This means it is difficult to go out within the community to connect with Realtors and buyers unless you do it on your own time or over the phone. Some of the management spoke down to sales staff and no matter how much you sold, they demanded more..more...more. There was NO training and sales staff at our communities fumbled through computer programs and pricing for upgrades. Could never get a straight answer on anything.

Advice to Senior Management

Have more training or at least manuals to help with your procedures. Be concerned for your sales staff and they're make more money for you in the long run.

Pros

Fair health benefits
Approachable management
Mr Horton himself visits the communities
Excellent product!!

Cons

Severely low pay compared to a regular real estate agent. For example we get paid 1.25% of a deal. The buyer agent gets 4% and a 2k bonus. Yet we do all the work.
Very low draw.
Management works you to death
No weekends
They work you even on your days off.
Long Hours....Example: You have to open at certain times, but clients can get their at the last minute and keep you well into the night and the time is not repaid to you.
Very high turnover. We have replaced 70% of our sales force in the last 12 months
Its not so much about the customers as it is the money/contracts

Advice to Senior Management

While the founders have done a good job at building homes, a better job needs to be done taking care of the people that actually work for you on the front lines.

Pros

Largest builder in the nation and publicly traded
good health benefits and 401 K

Cons

They suffer their new hires to be untrained
Unorganized upper management
If you are the sales representative, all failures will be on you no matter what. Upper management will not take accountability, their jobs are on the line first and they look out for themselves first.
No trust
Quota and expectations are beyond reality. They don't care about your market analysis or what is going on in the area you are selling in
No weekends off
No paid vacations, and you must be an employee for 2 years to get a vacation longer than 5 days (this also includes your days off)
Vice President of construction living for free with his family in a ready to move in home that a sales representative could have sold for income
CFO was corrupt, didn't correctly report losses
Nobody respected upper management, they were all a joke
High turnover
VP of Sales uses outside agent to sell standing inventory homes instead of using her in house team because she gets a kick back

Advice to Senior Management

Don Tomnitz has a very good company and he is a very smart man. Unfortunately my division was lead by unorganized and corrupt upper management. They were unfair to their employees and treated them like garbage. These employees are the ones who work past all hours, take days off to show a home for free because they too need to put food on the table.

Pros

While on my internship I was mentored by several different people in several positions. They did a great job at teaching me what they knew, helping me develop a professional character, and gave me freedom with certain assignments allowing me to say that a certain project was my very own.

Cons

The pay was definitely not what I could consider competitive but the experience that I had definitely made up for it.

Advice to Senior Management

I felt like my experience at D.R. Horton was a great one. I understand the compensation for my efforts was the best the company could do, but maybe when the market begins to turn, I'd offer a bit more to your interns to become more competitive. This would also make your company a more attractive one to graduates and that will only help your company in the long run.

Pros

Very entrepreneurial -- Fort Worth generally stayed out of the way and the results were outstanding. They also had no problem giving you the resources you needed.

Cons

When things started getting shaky, senior management were way to beholden to the street. One week we'd get told to dump dirt, and a couple weeks later we'd be told to buy dirt (oftentimes from the same people we just off-loaded it to).

Advice to Senior Management

Have better planning, and communicate down the food-chain.