The largest and oldest manufacturer of prefabricated houses in the state of Florida, Jacobsen Homes has consistently made it a point to build carefully designed and crafted houses using only the best materials and supplies since 1959. Pairing modern style with a distinctively personal touch, the company has long embraced its “natural knack” for construction and design while remaining grounded in the quality and integrity the Jacobsen family has brought to the Florida area for three generations.
Acknowledged as a pioneer in the construction and design of mobile houses since its founding, Jacobsen Homes are manufactured in a factory, but not constructed on a conventional manufacturing line—the company instead chooses to emphasize personalization and giving buyers a voice in how their ideal house will be designed.
“We’ve been at the forefront of the prefabricated home market since 1987 because of our AutoCAD automated floor plan design,” says Beecher Jacobsen, who along with brother Colby, are both owners and CEOs. “Every one of our homes is designed by our in-house team of engineers. Every housing component is constructed in our factories with the highest quality and meticulous attention to detail.”
The company is also deeply committed to investing in its people and establishing a lasting legacy. “At Jacobsen Homes, we think that a business is only as good as its employees, and we’re pleased to report that more than 30 percent of our salespeople have worked for us for more than 10 years, and some have been with us for over 30,” says Beecher. “Being a family-run business, we take care to ensure that we treat our clients with the same kindness.”
Founded in 1959 by the brothers’ grandfather, Bill Jacobsen, who moved to Florida from Champaign, Illinois, Jacobsen Homes started with Bill, a carpenter by trade, working on a variety of fabricated homes before founding the Jacobsen company.
“He ran it for several years and our dad ended up coming back and taking over the company when he was in his mid-30s,” says Beecher. “He ran it for about 40 years, and we are now third-generation owners. My brother and I bought Jacobsen Homes five years ago and now run the company.”
While there has been a great deal of evolution in the business, Jacobsen Homes has continued to thrive thanks to its dedication to quality and integrity alongside its commitment to having a “lot of good people” who have managed to adapt with the changing times.
What’s the reason for the company’s impressive decades of ongoing success? Keeping it in the family, an extensive knowledge of the Florida market, and a dedication to customization for its customers. “We’re one of the most flexible when it comes to customizing our houses, within reason,” Colby says. “We’re still a manufactured home company and we’re limited to some of our designs, but we will move walls, change rooms, and build you a custom floor plan where a lot of other manufacturers in the state will not let you make those types of changes.”
Whether it’s adding or moving doors or windows, or changing configurations, one vital factor is that clients are able to reach the people who are able to make the decisions, like Colby or Beecher, an important detail and a huge bonus for anyone looking to work with or purchase from Jacobsen Homes.
Being co-CEOs and owners also means the brothers can pivot and make important decisions very quickly compared to a corporate structure, adds Beecher. “Our father did a great job of setting up a big street dealer business space. And when times got tough back in 2007 to 2008, he opened up a floor plan company and was able to help a lot of dealers stay in business,” he says. “That involved taking a risk there, but also helping people we were already selling to stay in business.”
Additionally, Jacobsen Homes also takes great pride in being a long-time, successful family-owned business. “We’re very, I would say, simple, but we’ve been very fortunate with the employees we have,” Beecher says. “We try to take great care of our employees. We have a ton of families that work here in the plant—brother, sister, husband, wife, all of the above. We’ve had several family generations work through our plant and in our business.”
It’s that dedication to maintaining generational loyalty that has helped build Jacobsen Homes’ enduring success. “We’ve been lucky,” says Colby. “We’ve been fortunate to find a lot of great employees, and we do our best to take care of them and try to keep them here and keep them happy.”
Employees staying with a company for decades certainly doesn’t happen very often these days, and Jacobsen Homes appreciates the importance of doing everything possible to keep them happy and satisfied. “We’re lucky to have them, and I think a lot of times they’re lucky to have us,” Beecher says. “It’s give-and-take, and we try to be fair and expect the same out of them.”
It’s important for Jacobsen Homes to maintain not only control over its product, but the ability to help its employees do their jobs properly and efficiently while maintaining the integrity of what the company promotes in all of its products. And keeping those skilled and knowledgeable employees produces great results. As the oldest and largest manufacturer in the state of Florida, Jacobsen Homes has long been outranking every other manufacturer for years, says Beecher. “We do everything from private property to family parks or 55-plus,” says Colby.
The brothers’ ownership of the Jacobsen Homes enterprise and making the transition wasn’t easy, but it’s been rewarding in the long run,” he tells us. “We started a couple months before COVID, so it’s been pretty interesting. We had some extremely difficult challenges with the supply chain and the labor force. And you know, you show up one day and have 35 or 40 people missing out of your plant, which makes it pretty hard to run what you’re supposed to run, substituting materials and everything else. So that part was extremely difficult.”
Although the pandemic, of course, created such challenges and obstacles for all businesses, Jacobsen Homes managed to emerge in good shape. “I think the two biggest things that have helped to make us so successful are customization and keeping up with and staying ahead of the times on product,” Colby says—along with knowing well what the local market demands. “Some of our competitors have people [based in other areas] that are telling them how to run their plant or what they need to do or change, and not the people who have boots on the ground here and are dealing with customers and dealers every day.”
“The other biggest element, again, would be our people,” says Beecher. “We’ve been very fortunate to have a lot of good people here. We had very little turnover during COVID. It was a little different out in the plant, but overall, almost no turnover, so we were just very fortunate.”
Despite challenges, the company has managed to not only survive but thrive, and even maintain its commitment to greener building, contributing to waste reduction and energy conservation throughout the construction process. Because they are constructed in climate-controlled warehouses using bulk-purchased materials, Jacobsen’s manufactured homes are naturally eco-friendly. The company stores its resources indoors and recycles as much as it can to cut down on waste, resulting in a negligible environmental impact.
When it comes to milestones, Jacobsen Homes is aiming high both presently and in the years to come. “We’ve built up a great family name and reputation, and I think the goal is to continue doing that and provide a great quality product at an affordable price for our customers,” says Beecher.
Providing a quality product includes successfully handling several recent natural disasters that have rocked the Florida area, namely Hurricanes Helene and Ivan. “We’ve been through several hurricanes the last few years, and we have not had any major structural damage to houses that were actually finished and complete in the field,” Colby says.
“And we’re very proud of that,” adds Beecher.
Looking ahead, Jacobsen Homes is striving to grow while maintaining its dedication to solid building and integrity in everything it does. “We’re actually coming out with video testimonials and pictures of the most recent storm here; that’s one of our biggest marketing campaigns,” says Beecher. “Our company builds above what the code requires, so our construction quality, we would say, is superior.” With superior people and a superior product, Jacobsen Homes is sure to continue meeting with success in this fast-growing sector.
