Blog & Latest News from Jacobs Construction

The Changing Role of Allowances

Price chaos for materials has made budgeting more complicated. Here’s what you need to know. Most people are familiar with allowances—a way to let homeowners create firm budgets for items that haven’t been specified at the time of contract signing. For instance, if the homeowners and kitchen designer concluded that $30,000 would support the quality

Who You Gonna Call?

How do you identify a great custom builder—and choose the best one for your needs? There’s an oft-repeated quip that building a custom home is as much about the experience as the result. Yes and no. It’s true that you will invest more emotion into the design and construction process than with an off-the-shelf tract

All Quartz is Not Equal

Even if the budget is tight, this is not the place to economize. Here’s why. If asked to describe your relationship with your home’s products, only a few would warrant the term “intimate.” One of the few is your kitchen counter. You gaze at it and rub it daily. You trust it not to contaminate

The Best House You Can Build

              There are codes and there are standards. A great home requires both. There was a TV commercial for kosher hot dogs that first aired in the 1970s. With a surprised and disappointed Uncle Sam as background, the narrator described how government authorities allowed the company to use ingredients

A Home for All Ages

The best accessible features are really just good design By some estimates, the decade from 2011 to 2021 saw a quadrupling of households with parents and grown children. Last year’s increase was especially sharp—the National Association of Realtors reported 15% growth in demand for multigenerational homes between April and June of 2020. As home prices

What Drives a Home’s Price?

Builders need a lot of information to arrive at an accurate number Every now and then a homeowner will call to ask how much our new homes cost per square foot. The answer, of course, depends on a range of variables. Some of these are obvious, and others less so. The differences everyone grasps have

Managing the Great Supply Crunch

In the future, you can tell friends and family what things were like during the Great Supply Crunch If you’re contemplating a new custom home, you’re no doubt aware of rising costs for lumber and other building materials. That problem has gotten plenty of media coverage. But price isn’t the only challenge. There’s another issue

Battery Powered Homes

This cutting-edge technology is growing fast. Is it right for you? With solar panels sprouting on roofs from sea to shining sea, their big weakness is hitting more homeowners where it hurts—in the wallet. New technology aims to cure that weakness and to make solar a more profitable investment. Solar has become practical in nearly

Simplifying Home Automation

The trick is to choose the technologies you need while ignoring those you don’t A new custom home is a chance to get the latest digital bells and whistles for some people. The problem is that home automation can feel like a daunting topic and the wrong choices can lead to frustration. Which technologies will

How to Fight Escalating Lumber Prices

The essential skill of value engineering Lumber continues to be THE big issue in homebuilding. As we write this in May 2021, costs for framing lumber and plywood are three times what they were a year ago. That’s right—they’ve tripled. It’s insane. They might go even higher. An April 14 Business Insider article predicted a further

Keeping the Authorities Happy

Your home builder needs to navigate a maze of government regulations—homeowners can help make the process easier A successful new-home build is a predictable one, with no unpleasant surprises. Predictability comes from good planning, as well-planned projects tend to stay on budget and on schedule. Good planning includes making sure the home will meet all

Is the Customer Always Right?

The short answer is no, and here’s why that’s a good thing Some builders are what one might call ‘order takers.’ They do anything the homeowners want within the constraints of budget, timetable, and zoning or code regulations. That’s understandable: everyone wants happy customers and positive reviews. But the best builders understand that an anything-you-want

Internet Reality Check

Avoid the most common mistakes when searching for ideas on the web We all love the internet. It’s a bottomless source of ideas and inspiration for any project, and most people wouldn’t think of starting a new custom home before spending some serious time online. The internet is also a valuable resource for builders: it’s

Solving the Price Puzzle

Have you ever called a car dealership to ask how much cars cost per pound? Do you say that’s a ridiculous question? We agree. In fact, we expect the dealership’s sales staff would wonder what you had been smoking. The serious answer is that it depends. Are you asking about a Toyota Camry or a

If you’re ready to start a new custom home, you may need to deal with the ongoing fallout from the coronavirus-related economic shutdown. That means working with your builder to mitigate its impact. The problem, as we all know, started in March and April. Some states and localities halted all construction, and homebuyers in other

Why Budget Poker Is a Bad Bet

 Transparency about what you can afford is the only way to get the most house for your money Your new custom home is likely one of your biggest-ever investments, so you obviously need a builder you can trust. Ways to confirm trustworthiness include reading online reviews, calling references and noting the builder’s professional certifications. As

The Perfect Kitchen

This imaginative and fun exercise will get you a space that’s just right for your needs One of the many benefits of a new custom home is that the kitchen can be perfectly tailored to support how you cook and entertain. A first step to getting that result is to think through the space in

Considering the ‘New’ Home Office

Societal trends are making this a must-have for many homeowners, but careful planning is the key to getting a space where you can be truly productive Remote work arrangements have been on the upswing for a long time. Research firm Global Workplace Analytics figured in 2019 that there were 4.3 million telecommuters in the US,

Health concerns have turned homeowners’ attention to this question Health and wellness have seized center stage in the homebuilding world. This year’s coronavirus scare and lockdown made indoor air quality a top priority even among those who hadn’t thought much about it before, and most industry pros expect it will still be a priority after

Pretty Good Isn’t Excellent

Companies built for production work aren’t built for perfect work. On the surface, the difference between a production builder and a custom builder is simple. One builds the same basic house over and over, and the other builds a unique home for each customer. But the real differences go deeper. These two builder types are,

Stylish or Trendy?

Want to make sure your new home doesn’t feel dated in a few years? Then you need a good interior designer. One great thing about a new custom home is that you get to create a space perfectly tailored to your needs. Once that’s done, however, your satisfaction with the space will depend largely on

Future-Proofing Made Simple

A few key devices and some basic wiring will make your home ready for just about anything Homebuilders are sometimes accused of resistance to digital home technologies. That’s not quite the case, but we have seen many high-tech devices hit the market with great hype, only to quietly disappear two years later. The best service

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