Cutting 800 jobs will help Michigan, Pulte says

Merger with Centex creates need for more headquarters workers

Louis Aguilar / The Detroit News

Bloomfield Hills-based Pulte Homes Inc. says its plan to cut 800 jobs will actually benefit Michigan.

The company, in a federal regulatory filing released Friday, said its August merger with Centex Corp. enabled the job reductions.

At least half of those layoffs already have taken place, with the rest expected by the end of 2010, said Pulte spokeswoman Caryn Klebba.

"The jobs lost to date include the redundant jobs at the Centex corporate headquarters in Dallas and, actually, resulted in Michigan benefiting from the addition of some of those positions at our headquarters," Klebba said. "We have not counted those, however."

Pulte became the nation's largest homebuilder with its purchase of Centex, a homebuilder focusing on the first-time homebuyer market, as opposed to Pulte's upscale buyers.

Pulte reported this week that it lost $361.4 million, or $1.15 a share, in the third quarter. But with the acquisition of Centex, the homebuilder increased sales by more than a third.

The company's most recent results "reflect a homebuilding industry that continues its transition toward more stable market conditions as lower prices and historically low mortgage rates are helping to support homebuyer demand," Pulte President, Chairman and CEO Richard Dugas said in a statement.

Pulte said in the regulatory filing that it has spent $31.8 million on severance costs and expects to spend a total of $42.5 million.

The layoffs, it said, eventually will help save the company $440 million a year, up from a previous estimate of $350 million.

In a September interview with The News, Pulte officials said they had no plans to bring the Centex brand to the struggling Michigan market, and had transferred some Michigan staff to Chicago. But the Bloomfield Hills office has also added about 25 people to its financial service department, the company said.

laguilar@detnews.com (313) 222-2760