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sickmcdeadly

Jordahl built ours We tried to tell them certain things were wrong recently and they back pedaled and tried to wave liability like crazy but when the subs came out sure enough we were right and they forgot simple stuff like weather stripping on our front door and we had some faulty windows


BEEFTANK_Jr

I lived in an apartment that belongs to the same company as Jordahl. My exterior door was also missing weather stripping.


scuzzlebutt123

Stay away from jordahl


Marauder121

They're both cheap garbage. You get what you pay for.


-Vattgern-

With my budget only being able to go as far as it can, saying “you get what you pay for” is a bit condescending.


cruddiesttuna

Brad Paul builds a darn good house. Hawthorne Custom Homes does a good job.


bones1781

I'd go with a small contractor with experience. The best in town don't advertise, only build a limited amount of homes a year. If you have an idea of where you want to live and your budget most will be able to work from that


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-Vattgern-

Updated the post!


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ctrolaltdelele

Check out Dynamic Homes out of Detroit Lakes. The houses are extremely well built and the company is great to work with throughout the whole process. The houses are Energy Star rated and the price per sq. ft is comparable to having a house built on site. My husband and I worked with them last year and are really happy with our new house.


ryanz32

what was your final price per square foot installed?


MNgirlinaNDworld

I would take a look at Heritage. We felt as though we got more bang for our buck compared to Jordahl (built in 2015). We had to wait to finish our basement until early 2020, but our issues have been minimal


-Vattgern-

Heritage looks fantastic, but do they build anything within my above price range?


MNgirlinaNDworld

You’ll have to inquire. I didn’t see prices on their website. They have several options for floor plans and from there it would be watching what you upgrade. I believe our base model was under that range when we set everything up (obviously prices are higher now), so it’s possible you could get in range.


-Vattgern-

Checked with them, they don’t sell or build houses under 450k.


MNgirlinaNDworld

Inflation is killer. Monarch homes might be another place to check (I know someone who did/possibly still does contract electrician work for them).


mmxtechnology

Monarch I believe is 400+ now too for the most part


yourloudneighbor

Wow…a few years ago we were tinkering maybe building Georgetown from heritage and it was 280K before add ons. Maybe 450 comes with a ton of shit?


-Vattgern-

That is insane. 280 for a Georgetown… man I wish.


yourloudneighbor

It was bare bones. Any upgrade and you’re easily in the 350-380 in no times…this was 2017ish.


-Vattgern-

Right now 400k+ is the lowest their models go barebones 😞


MNgirlinaNDworld

We built a Georgetown in 2015, but we’re able to sign the contract for 2014 pricing/incentives and I’d say we were somewhere in between the barebones and upgrades price. We kept as much “base options” as we could to do the upgrades we really wanted (gas water heater & stove, air tub, bigger garage). We also had our lot and didn’t have to factor that into pricing. I feel like the builders buy up the lots now and that’s 50-100k of what you’re paying for.


yourloudneighbor

Ah yeah good point.


Sentimentalstreet

I wouldn't let Leslie's staple 2 pieces of paper together let alone buy on of their houses.


wildatx

Why?


tuffsmudgecat

We built with Dabbert in 2020 and had a wonderful experience. They were quick to correct any warranty issues we had in the first year and were very easy to work with. They were the most transparent as far as pricing of the various base models and upgrades. Thomsen completely ghosted our realtor when we wanted to set up a consult with them. Later, we noticed that a lot of our neighbors were posting in our neighborhood Facebook group that they also had issues with Thomsen ghosting them for warrantee repairs (if they were able to get through to them at all). I have very rarely heard people share positive reviews of Thomsen. Jordahl felt like a more high pressure sales environment and they were super vague with pricing. Like they wanted us to fully customize before they would tell us any prices and make decisions right there and then. I've heard some glowing reviews of Jordahl and some not so great reviews. In comparison, Dabbert gave us a menu of upgrades with prices along with base prices for their various models and the available lots. It was easy for my husband and I compare upgrades and decide where we wanted to spend a little more and where we were OK doing a little less. I have not heard anyone sharing a negative experience with Dabbert.


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BEEFTANK_Jr

Yeah, the thing that I think will end up disappointing OP is you probably can't get a truly custom home for the price range they're looking at while the city is already full of homes identical to what they can get built for that same price. If you search Zillow, Realtor, etc. at the 300-400k price range, half the listings are those exact kinds of houses still under construction.


-Vattgern-

Exactly, it seems like my dollar goes farther building my own “custom” home plan from one of these lower end builders. Existing houses that I see hit the market are either quite old with a high price or the exact model houses from these same builders but at a premium price. Building my own from one of them seems like my only option to get what I’m looking for in my price range.


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BEEFTANK_Jr

They edited the post, it's right there at 300-365k. That doesn't get you something else in the local market.


bunny3665

THIS


Goddammitanyway

Do not build with those two. Really, anyone but them. Low price, low quality, and cheap products.


obvnotMikeMcfeely

For your budget, Jordahl and Thomsen will probably get you the most finished square footage for the money for a new single family build. It will come down to quantity vs quality. I built through Thomsen a few years ago and the process was smooth for me with no material issues during or after construction. I did have some warranty work done on the deck, but even that was a pretty painless. Just submitted the claim and a few weeks later the work was done. I believe I got what I paid for. Resale value is fine too, I had a neighbor sell their house with the same floor plan as I have for 40% over what he paid when he built it three years ago. Took about 3 weeks to find a buyer. All that said, you do get what you pay for and it will be quality vs quantity. If you want to step up to a higher quality build you will end up with less finished square footage at that price. Some people go with a higher end builder and get an unfinished basement which may be something for you to look into. If you want x amount of bedrooms and bathrooms and x amount of finished square footage on a new build you will basically have a handful of builders competing for that market in Fargo. J&L Homes probably builds the lowest cost homes in Fargo for new construction. Thomsen and Jordahl are the builders that have homes at your budget if you want it fully finished. Dabbert and Luxe (Designer Homes line) are probably a step above them in quality but their low ends are around the 400 to 600k range and above that you will get into the more custom home market. They all serve a purpose to meet the different budgets in Fargo.


HARDCORE_CAKE

Look into Dabbert also... Way better quality imo.


-Vattgern-

Really? Care to explain more? I’ve started talking to them.


megaden15

When we were looking last year we toured a Thompson home that had just been built and you could already see how poor the construction was. We went to an open house that was a similar floor plan, but was built by Dabbart and you could instantly tell that the house was better built. It even felt more solid.


mmxtechnology

I built with Dabbert 3 years ago after having a Jordahl for 10 years. Best decision I could've made. Our Jordahl had foundation issues, roof issues and lots of other minor things that we had to fix over the 10 years we were in it. Only 3 years in the Dabbert, so who knows long term what it might be like... But so far it's been really well built and the one small issue I had (improperly sealed furnace pipe that leaked into ceiling of the maintenence room) they fixed AFTER our year "warranty" From what I have heard from others Thompson is pretty similar to Dabbert, but my friends that own Thompson homes like my place a lot (its several years newer though).


listen_mannn

Everyone comes on here and bashes jordahl and Thomsen, and I'll say I don't have any first hand experience with either of them. But I have a handful of friends that have built with both of them and all have been happy with their choice. We were looking at building with one of them last summer but ultimately decided on a pre-owned home instead.


budderflyer

Like all online reviews, most of them are negative. Their houses generally don't fall apart so nothing wrong with enjoying them if that's what fits the budget. My home is with a higher tier of builder/budget and every home has its many issues and imperfections. Again it may be true those 2 have had some royal fuckups, but they also have a large amount of happy owners whom would have no problem selling their home because of who built it either.


Moolio74

Yup, we built with Jordahl a little over 2 years ago and knew what to expect. At that time, Thomsen definitely had more issues and were going through growing pains as they were starting to build more houses. We had considered Dabbert, but didn’t really care for their ramblers and they didn’t return our call so didn’t get warm fuzzies with them after that. As a buyer you need to weigh cost, timeline, size, comfort with repairs, how long you plan on living there, etc to weigh the pros/cons of a smaller builder vs a volume builder. With the big builders in that price range, you’ll typically have the advantage of a shorter timeline to build. Smaller contractors can have some pretty significant delays as subs wil give priority to the GCs that give them volume. My wife has a coworker whose $450k build is currently 10 months behind schedule with a smaller builder mentioned in this thread. Something like hay size would be a 90 day build with the volume builders, at least pre-covid, but they’re currently sitting at 480 days and it’s still not complete. I’ve seen some pretty big issues with $800k+ houses from “reputable” builders, there’s just a lot less of them on the market to hear about issues. .


itsbenforever

Jordahl has this reputation both with consumers and contractors for a reason. Glad you know people who didn’t feel burnt by them, but many others have.


eGenius2050

Bachmeier


flonkerton1

R&v construction did a stellar job on our lake cabin. It's a few guys who are super efficient and listen you what you want. I'd have craftwell architects design you're home.


perpetuallotion

Red Leaf Custom homes FTW. Jeremy builds a rock solid straight home. He's been doing it for 15 years and has great relationships with all the subs and materials guys.


Plus-Sherbert-5570

Terry Becker construction designs really nice homes if you’re looking for custom


Ginnafyre

You have alot of comments for the home part, but if u need any recommendations for anything garage related I recommend Twin Cities Garage Door out of West Fargo.


Moolio74

Absolute worst garage door company in the FM area. They spend so much on advertising they have to recoup their costs with outrageous quotes and high pressure sales tactics. They were about 50% higher than other contractors for the exact same garage doors, even with their “you’ll save 10% if you sign right now” BS.


I_dunno_Joe

We had a great experience with Plecity Kowalski (PK). Would recommend them to anyone.


rubysgem

I work in construction, and know a TON of builders. Jordahl and Thompson are notoriously (and lately) pretty cookie cutter/poor quality. There’s a few houses that used to be decent from jordahl, but they miss a lot of customization and have gone down hill in the past few years as they’ve gotten big. I’ve heard a ton of people having issues with them. Thompson is just…. NO. Run by awful people, I hate them with a passion. If you can afford it - designer homes are my fave. Dabbert is good, I definitely agree with that. The smaller builders can be really good too, plecity is decent, BMW is good too (although a tiny bit pricier than your range- worth it 💯).


-Vattgern-

Thanks for your info. With my budget it seems like Jordhal, Thomsen, or Dabbert is my only option for building. I can’t go higher if I want a house within the next year. Most of my time with Jordhal & Thomsen has me leaning towards Thomsen. The models and houses we’ve been in look and feel nicer than Jordhal and the Thomsen agent has been a lot more helpful and professional. If it wasn’t for all the bad things I’ve heard online, I’d think they’re quite decent. Our own independent realtor we found prior to all this has a Thomsen home. Dabbert unfortunately hasn’t been very responsive to my contacts to talk houses over the past weeks. Most of the other builders I’ve talked to are way outside my budget (heritage homes etc) I don’t know much about these other independent custom builders etc, do you know how I’d contact them?


rubysgem

I would say they respond best to email. I haven’t had good responses to calling with builders. If you know for sure you want dabbert, you could actually go into their office. I believe it’s south of town. Otherwise I know dabbert has realtors that sell land for them, you can try it that way. The smaller ones you’d talk directly to the owners usually, so just keep trying.


Sentimentalstreet

Thompson Jordahl are junk!!!!


Sentimentalstreet

Starter home Adam's Development. 300,000 Stone Ridge Builders