In-house design capabilities give Jimmy Jacobs Custom Homes a competitive edge over other homebuilders.

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The mark of any good homebuilder can be seen in the quality of the homes it builds and not simply the quantity. At least that’s one of the mottos that Georgetown, Texas-based Jimmy Jacobs Custom Homes is based upon.

Perhaps that’s because founder Jimmy Jacobs built the company one home at a time, paying particular attention to craftsmanship and quality. The company designs and constructs custom and semicustom homes throughout central and south Texas. Headquartered in Georgetown, Texas, the company focuses on the entire central Texas market with particular emphasis on New Braunfels, Highland Lakes, San Antonio and the surrounding areas.

“In the mid- to late-80s, we were in a real estate slump in Texas, and I was handling real estate liquidation and marketing for Residential Trust Corp.,” Jacobs explains. “Through that alliance, I made several crucial real estate connections. As a result, I ventured into retail projects and residential development.”

With little money floating around in the market at the time, Jacobs says he was fortunate to have the connections and assets to launch his building company in 1988. “I was able to start a couple of homes and then the market changed – it took off and continued to grow throughout the years,” he recalls.  In his first year of business, Jacobs completed 10 homes. Today, it completes roughly 100 homes per year. The company says “quality craftsmanship and construction, added value and features, and attention to details are what makes a [client’s] house [a] home. Exceeding our client’s expectations and maximizing service is what makes them customers for life.”

Doubling Up
Jacobs also expanded the business to create J. Jacobs Commercial and JHJ Development Co., which oversee the commercial construction and land development aspects of the business, respectively. J. Jacobs Commercial serves as general contractor for a variety of commercial buildings including banks, restaurants, office condominiums, community event centers. In addition, both business segments develop, own and manage commercial buildings, retail centers, commercial office complexes and residential subdivisions.

Both commercial and residential building are strong in the region and, surprisingly, “from a residential standpoint, we had the best month (October) that the company has every experienced,” Jacobs says. “We signed $6.6 million worth of custom design/build contracts for the residential division and we are going into next year with $25 million in backlog.”

Terry Montgomery, president of the residential division, anticipates that the company’s business model will keep it competitive. Montgomery says he joined the company based on his desire to be part of a customer-centric business. “Jimmy has a great business model that works well with the current demographic trends,” he says.

About half of the company’s customer base consists of active senior adults, and Jacobs Custom Homes has developed several master-planned active-adult communities. Heritage Oaks in Georgetown is the largest of these communities with 398 lots, located on 118 acres of land. Heritage Oaks is an age-restricted community, so the development offers a shift to a more-relaxed community environment with featured amenities such as a clubhouse with a grand ballroom, banquet room, 24-hour workout facility, hobby room, game room and library.

Other communities, such as the Legends at Highland Lakes in Kingsland, Texas provide residents access to an exclusive golf course/lakeside community. This resort community is situated on Lake LBJ, providing its residents with year-round recreation opportunities. As a part of the company’s mission, Jimmy Jacobs says its intention is to “develop and build communities with the qualities of life that make them neighborhoods where people want to live, raise their families and retire.    

Through the company’s build-on-your-own-lot program, clients can choose to built on their existing homesite or on one of the company-owned sites.
    
Built-In Services
In-house design capabilities give Jacobs Custom Homes a competitive edge over other homebuilders. The company provides all design and decorating services for its clients. It also operates a custom 2,000-square-foot design center where designers and decorators collaborate with the client to better control the project from start to finish. At the design center, clients can select flooring, paint, fixtures, cabinetry, doors, appliances, and other fine details.

“Most custom homebuilders have a guy in a pickup truck,” Montgomery states. “We have a design team on staff where we have 10 hours of interior design built into each contract. We can design and construct and, with the collective experience of the team and key leadership, we can help our customers anticipate and make informed decisions.”

Montgomery says homebuilding trends in central Texas mirror other states, but they haven’t affected the business because it targets a different consumer. “Those stats are primarily in the first homeowner and in the move-up segment and not at our level – our sales are growing,” he notes. “I think we have improved our operating abilities and become stronger, in order to provide a full-range of services varying from designing a custom plan to providing professional decorating services. More importantly, we work closely with the client to deliver a quality product within their budget.”

Part of its strength, Montgomery says, derives from a solid team of local subcontractors. Because the contractor relies heavily on the team approach to getting a project done, Jacobs works with skilled tradesman and suppliers, most of which have worked with the company for
several years.

“We are very competitive in how we evaluate our trade partners; we look for quality first and then their ability to meet schedules and the pricing is third,” Montgomery maintains. “We think that the overall declining [residential] market has helped us to find the highest-quality trades because they are now more open to looking at other businesses for their work. When the market was hot, they may not have had time to look at the other business opportunities.”

Jacobs says demand has gone up for larger, more elaborate homes on larger lots. Close to half of its clientele is comprised of the active adult community with a large portion being derived from local business markets. In addition, the company has several clients who become repeat customers, with some clients building up to three homes with the company.

“Price points have gone up significantly,” Jacobs says. On average, the price for a custom-built home starts at $300,000. Since the company also competes with high-production, non-custom homebuilders, when development slows for the building companies, Jacobs says opportunities open up for him to purchase key parcels of land.

Although Jacobs intends to continue developing in the sectors he currently develops and builds in, he says he has added a team of architects, engineers and construction professionals, which coordinate projects from design to construction. Our team can deliver a quality product on time and on budget.”

“It’s really very similar to what we do in residential,” he notes. “We have a whole team that puts these projects together and we can get the deal from start to finish and do it in a very timely manner and deal with engineers and land planners to bring a project together and better control costs.”

The company notes that “for over twenty years, our philosophy has been how we build homes, not how many. We excel at giving our customers the service they expect, the value they deserve, and the quality they demand. Our team has grown to include administration, designers, decorating coordinators, community sales consultants, builders, and customer service personnel all of whom are committed to maximizing your custom home building experience.”

Building the Extreme
As Jimmy Jacobs has grown, Jacobs has taken the opportunity to give back to the community by being actively involved in charitable activities. The company has offered its services to build three different homes for Habitat for Humanity –  the largest builder of homes for poor families worldwide. On average local Habitat affiliates raise funds and coordinate legions of volunteer workers to construct the houses. Jimmy Jacobs also participates in local charities such as the Palace Theater, the Williamson County Children’s Advocacy Center and the Austin Assistance League.

In November 2006, Jacobs was selected by ABC to participate in the television show, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. The company served as the general contractor to build a new home for a family in Austin, Texas. The family’s 2,200-square-foot house suffered from leaks, mold and structural damage.

The new 4,500-square-foot, two-story home was built for the family whose five of six children had been diagnosed with autism. Work on the home began on Dec. 12, 2006, when Jacobs’ crew and volunteers started the week-long, 24-hour construction process. The project was completed free of charge for the family, and the Jacobs team was able to raise enough funds to pay off the family’s $140,000 mortgage for their former home. More than 300 companies volunteered to complete the home.