A Home of Your Own

Do you work for this business? Unlock this free profile to update company info and see who's viewing your profile.

• By Beverly D.

  September 9, 2020

  new house constuction

  Don't even consider using this company or Dan Jacobson. He lied to us from the very start. Said he would be down every 2 to 3 weeks when the house framing got started to check on house. Well guess what that guy never came to the job site ever. I'm not even sure he new where it was at. All Dan Jacobson cared about was getting that next payment cared nothing about us as the customer. This guy was so money hungry. He even tried to put wall insulation and sheet rock in house before we had any house wrap, windows, doors, siding, or roof soffit just so he could get another payment.
  Dan Jacobson also hired a inexperienced house framer carpenter who made numerous framing mistakes on our house. This framer guy even went so far as to cut roof trusses down to make them fit. I told Dan about this he said it was ok even though he had never seen it. No oversight at all from the guy who was supposed to be general contractor. Framing carpenter was so bad he could't even build basement stairs correctly, had to be rebuilt.
  Because Dan Jacobson would not send us needed materials on time our house sat for 6 months with no house wrap on plywood walls during the winter months. We finally had to hire someone else to do it for us.
  When we discovered that none of the sub contractors had been paid up to date we told Dan Jacobson they had to be paid with lien releases before he would get any more money. Also had to pay for onxy walk in shower, pay us for getting house wrap and windows put on and also get off his lazy rear and come to the job site. He did nothing so we finished the house on our own. The only thing more Dan Jacobson did was contact MY lawyer and have him draw up a non-disclosure agreement, said he didn't want us talking bad about him. When you are dishonest and treat your customers badly they will talk bad about you. We did not sign it.
  I would never recommend using this company even to build a dog house. The whole building experience with A Home of Your Own and Dan Jacobson was a total nightmare!

  Read more
• By Mark W.

  January 19, 2020

  No I would not build with this company, we had the same problems as others have already said. We signed a handwritten contract in March 2018, what we didn't know was what wasn't covered in that contract and Dan didn't say anything until we got the blueprints, so ask questions before signing the contract. Some of our contractors were good but you could feel the frustrations they were having with A home of your own, by the way they would treat us, I also got tired of the. subs calling me continuing wanting to be paid, some calling 4 times for the same bill, if you didn't paid them within a week they would threaten you. I finally contracted a lawyer towards the end of my payments to get the last 4 contractors paid before making my last payment to them,and that's all I needed to do to get them to pay because they didn't want that to be sued. I also asked Dave's son how many employees they had he told me 5 and I know at least 3 were related to each other, I guess they were a big company when I first met them. The house they built was ok, but I did feel I built my own house myself because all they did was deliver the materials, never walk the house then leave back to Wells MN. So what I am saying you hope the subs are good, if not you will get screwed because a how of your own does not supervise anyone.So I told Dan many times that I wished I had gone with a different builder, and from what I have read and seen on my own they will not be in business much longer, which is a good thing.

  Read more
• By Allen N.

  September 9, 2019

  Framing sub

  Dig a little before you sign papers with these people! As a subcontractor, my experience was not good at all. All the other subs either walked away or were very frustrated as was I. The homeowner got unpainted materials, junky materials and not enough materials to build his project. I have heard no good word from any project they have done.

• By Gregg R.

  January 16, 2019

  Build a new house

  $285,000

  Original contact with this home builder was made through our local Home and Garden expo. The sales presentation and subsequent visit to the building site with their drafts person was very professional. After designing the home blueprints were developed and sent to me for approval. Several changes were made and agreed to. (I would recommend wording in the contract that before final payment is made prof of payment and Lien Release forms for all sub contractors shall be provided). I was told building should take about 5 to 6 months. Construction started in March of 2017. A person from AHYO came out and staked out the footprint for the foundation then left. I had to hire a contractor to dig the foundation which was agreed to on the contract. No one from AHYO was on site the day the concrete was poured. This was where things started to go wrong. Due to the grade of the hillside the concrete contractor said they needed to change one of the footings and walls to make it work. I was on the phone and after several discussions agreed to allow the changes. Since I am not a builder I had no idea what that one change would effect. I suddenly went from a four bedroom to a three bedroom home.
  The payment system they use is 20% when the contract is paid, 20% on delivery of framing materials, 20% when the roof is framed, 20% when the drywall is hung, 10% when finish material is delivered and 10% when contract is complete. They sub out all phases of the construction and for some reason feel they don't need to pay their subs. They wouldn't supply all the material needed to complete each phase. This allowed them to not pay the different phases of the sub contracts that were due upon completion of each stage. The concrete contractor filed a lien against my property for non payment which I ended up paying them direct to get the lien removed. It took 18 months to complete the project. For 9 months of that time there was no one on site to complete the work because AHYO would not pay their agreed contracts with the subs so they pulled off. I ended up being the site foreman for them because the only time they ever showed up on the job was to deliver more material. When a sub would complete their different portions of work I was expected to sign a form saying the work was completed. AHYO told me this is how they do it that we are a team in the process. I went ahead and sign off on the form so the sub could get paid only to have AHYO delay and not pay their subs. The HVAC contractor filed a lien against my property because they could not collect from AHYO. I ended up paying all the sub contractors except the Framing Contractor who completed his work in October 2017. He is owed $15,200 for the job and as of today January 16, 2019 has not been paid. If I pay that bill I will have spent almost $20,000 more then the agreed contract with AHYO. I have not received a final bill from AHYO and have not heard from them since late October 2018. I moved into the house on June 1, 2018 and have some issues that should be addressed but no one will address my issues. I will be going to the Iowa Attorney Generals office and filing a complaint with the Consumer Fraud Protection Agency.
  I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND ANYONE USE THIS CONTRACTOR. ITS BEEN 2 YEARS SINCE I SIGNED THEIR CONTRACT AND IT HAS BEEN A TOTAL NIGHTMARE TO DEAL WITH. IT APPEARS THEY ONLY WANT TO COLLECT PAYMENT FROM THE HOME OWNER AND COULD CARE LESS ABOUT WHAT IS THE RIGHT AND HONEST WAY TO DO BUSINESS.

  Read more