by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
You used to get a new house like this: you bought land, worked with an architect and had a house built — or, you bought one of a few designs from a developer.
That’s not how it works today. Instead of incurring a half-million-dollar mortgage on a new home, many homeowners are adding value to their property through additions. In other words, building big homes has become a big remodeling business. Locally, a family-owned construction company is adapting to the shift in customer demand.
“The market today is so crazy,” said Lauren Smith, the president of J.L. Smith Construction. “It used to be we were building homes $500,000 and up, but now we are doing a lot of remodels.
“On the Realtor side, if there is someone who has a house with wood damage, termite damage or other damage, we are now able to look at that where in the past we wouldn’t have been able to be competitive.”
It’s no secret everyone is remodeling right now. In papers like the Financial News & Daily Record, the number of building permits can run into the dozens any given day. And, many of those permits are for additions as opposed to new homes.
“We are doing major remodeling,” he said. “We are doing $300,000-500,000 remodels instead of $300,000-500,000 homes. We are also doing $7,000 bathroom renovations because they are available. There are a lot of smaller jobs available that people would not have done in 2005. They would have moved. Today, they can’t move, so they remodel.”
There are several Smiths involved in the business. Diane, his wife, works on the interior décor side of the company, while daughter Vicki Schneller has been the office manager/interior finish scheduler for five years. Maria Smith, Lauren’s sister-in-law, is the office administrator.
“I oversee the field, estimating, handle the money and supervise in the field if needed,” said Lauren. “I also deal with the customers and handle the marketing of the company. We get customers from referrals, advertising and our signs. We also have a lot of Realtors who send work our way.”
Schneller joined the family business because she got tired of corporate America. She has a bachelor’s degree in marketing from the University of Florida, interior design experience and her general contractor’s license.
“She tried it, liked it and is very good at it,” said Smith. “She is good with the customers and she has the talent required to pull it off.”
Schneller said she enjoys working for her father.
“Ever since I was little I’ve always known I wanted to do things with houses, design and decorating,” she said. “When he decided to start a construction company I thought, Hey, you can’t have a better boss than your dad. It’s nice to be able to give everyone a hug every morning and trust that they are going to have your best interest at heart. I like working and it’s nice to know everything we do every day makes a difference for us.”
The company builds in Duval, St. Johns, Clay and sometimes Nassau. They have done work in communities such as Marsh Landing, Rivertown, Jacksonville Golf & Country Club and Glen Kernan. They build between five and eight homes a year.
“We are truly a custom homebuilder,” said Lauren. “Whatever you want, that’s what we do.”