---

 

Listen to the episode

<figure class="
sqs-block-image-figure
intrinsic
">


























</figure>





























































<figure class="
sqs-block-image-figure
intrinsic
">


























</figure>





























































<figure class="
sqs-block-image-figure
intrinsic
">


























</figure>





























































<figure class="
sqs-block-image-figure
intrinsic
">


























</figure>









 

Transcript

Prefab Review

Hi, My name is Michael Frank and this is the Prefab Pod presented by Prefab Review where we interview leading people in companies in the prefab and modular housing industry. Today, we're speaking with Mike Wneck VP of New Business Development at Jacobsen Homes. Welcome, Mike.

Mike Wneck - Jacobsen Homes

Thank you.

Prefab Review

It's great to have you here. As I mentioned before, I think we tend to interview sort of small or more bespoke companies. So, it's definitely awesome to have a company that I think is at the scale of yours. Can you tell me a bit about the history of Jacobsen Homes and where you are today?

Jacobsen Homes

Sure. Jacobson is privately owned and operated and has been for 61 years. And they're located in Safety Harbor, Florida in a very seasoned manufacturing facility. They build manufactured and modular housing - about 70% manufactured and 30% modular. There are many similarities between manufactured and modular because we build such high-grade manufactured housing, and obviously, we build a high-grade modular.

Prefab Review

That makes sense. And what's the scale? How many homes are you building a year, to the extent you can talk about it?

Jacobsen Homes

We’ve built about 100 a month in this environment. Yeah, we're capable of another 40 or 50 when we get back to peak production. Coming back from covid and the labor issues surrounding covid have kept us from getting back to our peak but we also are building a lot lot more complex products. There are lots of things affecting it but we are the largest single plant builder of manufactured and modular homes in the state of Florida. And we are known for the highest quality finished standards and service after the fact that we take good care of our customers. We build to a philosophy of quality beyond code. We do not build to minimum codes. We build to the strength, material conditions, and features that will withstand the storms that come to Florida. And we have proudly survived every storm that's come this way since the ah 9094 new wind standards came into place.

Prefab Review

The beauty of time. So you're saying they're all built out of the same manufacturing facility?

Jacobsen Homes

Yes, all the houses are built out of the same facility.

Prefab Review

Wow. That must be a must be large facility. And are you doing exclusively single family homes right now? And obviously you talked about manufactured homes and you talked about modular homes. Can you give a little bit of color and details on the range of products that you sell?

Jacobsen Homes

Sure.Our manufactured housing product is built to the HUD code, the federal code. And it tops out at about 130 mph wind standard, which is very adequate for the majority of Florida. And it's a very high grade product that we sell about half to the 55+ market and the other half to the traditional family market. The modular product we build up to a high wind standard. Most of our modular product goes up on stilts, elevated platforms, and in coastal areas with high wind. High water surge areas. You know, very tough to build in areas and again, they're built to you withstand the worst that nature's going to throw at it.

Prefab Review

And all these are single-story homes, correct?

Jacobsen Homes

Well, they're single story with the exception when you're building them on on stilts. The majority of people finish the lower level, so they become de facto 2 stories.

Prefab Review

It might still be 15 or 20 feet high okay, got it. That's interesting. Okay, so it's almost like having like a site built walkout basement kind of thing.

Jacobsen Homes

Right? Well, you're building them on a concrete platform with reinforced concrete piers and you're craning this unit up in 2 or 3 sections and then typically people are framing in the bottom with the garage, utility room, workshops, whatever it might be.

Prefab Review

Right. That makes sense. What's the range of costs on these?

Jacobsen Homes

Well, are you talking about HUD or modular? Well you know, with HUD, and again, if you're talking about just a house set on a piece of dirt without any of the amenities, you know, no garage, no carport. You’ve got one price point and then you can move it all the way up to the stilt levels and you can build HUD on either grade level or stilts and typically a HUD house today, just the home will go out to a marketplace site in the $70 range. And you'll add $20 a square foot for amenities - driveway, carport, that kind of thing. If you go with a garage, you're gonna add another $10 - $20 per square foot. If you go to stilts, a typical stilt platform for 1,500 square foot houses is $75,000.

Prefab Review

Right.

Jacobsen Homes

And so it it bumps it up. Again, if you throw the modular consequence in and in the case of modular going up on stilts, today we primarily build to the majority of them in 100 mph to 200 mph wind zones. And they are craned into place. They have a triple 1 by 12 perimeter rail. They have an engineered eyejoist. They have plywood flooring that is built beefed-up at every level and the majority of them are hardboard siding and metal roofs and impact glass. All those things take cost up a notch. So a 1,500 quare foot home, going in ocean breeze we'll sell just the basic house delivered to the builder is going to be about $100 to $150 a square foot. That’s not counting the set, air, plumbing, electricity, all the rest of it.

Prefab Review

Right. So on the modular