If the name sounds familiar, it should. We’ve covered the beautiful, award-winning work of JLD Custom Homes and its owner, Jeff Dworkin, on these pages many times. And for good reason: Dworkin invests time and personal attention into every project his skilled team takes on, which has earned his brand a spot among our Daltxrealestate.com Approved Builders. With quality you can count on for 14 years running, earning accolades, leading the industry, and serving customers day in and day out, we’re excited to share even more about Dworkin and JLD Custom Homes in our Dallas Builders Association Member Spotlight.
Find out more about JLD Custom Homes as the Daltxrealestate.com staff highlights some of the spectacular members of Dallas Builders Association right here, asking these consummate professionals all about their business as a way to brag on the many quality, trustworthy builders in the North Texas area that can count themselves among their peers in the Dallas Builders Association.
What location or area do you primarily build in? What about the location makes it especially attractive?
East Dallas and the Lakewood area. The proximity to downtown, SMU, Baylor Medical Center — all great employment centers. The restaurants, parks, White Rock Lake, bike trails, the Dallas Arboretum, etc.
What’s your go-to architectural style? Traditional? Contemporary? Old World? Modern?
We build some traditional-style homes — Prairie, Craftsman, etc. — but lately have been building a lot of transitional plans, taking some of the traditional and blending it with modern and modern farmhouse.
How does your company provide value to your clients?
We value engineer all our plans to maximize the square footage and eliminate as much wasted space (hallways, over-sized rooms, separate media rooms, etc.) that buyers do not want or need. We also include a really nice set of standard features in our homes and let the buyer decide if they want to upgrade those even further (ie. KitchenAid appliances and if they choose they can upgrade to Sub-Zero or Viking).
Have you received any recent awards? What for? From whom?
We build all of our homes to Energy Star V3.0 Specifications and Green Built Texas. We have been a D Magazine “Best Builder” for nine years running.
Considering the competition, how does your brand distinguish itself?
Whether you call at 8 a.m. or 8 p.m., weekday or weekend, you get to speak to the owner, me, Jeff Dworkin, on the phone. We only build a max of three homes at once, so we are able to be on every job site every day checking the status and keeping the home moving along. With a team with over 50 years in the home building business, we know how to build a home the right way. We also like to brag that we can build most homes in five months or less!
What does being a member of the Dallas Builders Association do for you and your business?
The DBA allows us to stay on top of the latest regulations, codes, and trends in the industry. The top-notch advocacy effort led by David Lehde and Phil Crone is second to none in the industry and have saved us thousands in unnecessary regulations at both the state and city levels. The work they have done along with many of us to partner with the City of Dallas Building Dept. is unlike one you’ll see in any other City.
What is the biggest challenge you face in the current market? What are you doing to overcome it?
We are definitely seeing an increase in inventory, especially in the higher price points. We also still have a labor shortage that makes it more expensive for the labor-intensive subs, and jobs take longer. We are very strategic in our land purchases, pushing back at prices that might have been good in early 2018, but are now too high. We get three to four calls a week from homeowners or brokers looking to sell teardowns that are mainly overpriced. We are trying to keep our average sales price less than $900,000, and in order to do that, we must keep our lot costs below $300,000.
