JA Long Keeps Pace Housing Trends over Three Decades
Rise in Waterfront Living, More Features, Upsizing Empty Nesters

By R.P. Whittington

It’s been more than 35 years since John A. Long started his post-military career as a residential custom builder – founding J.A. Long, Inc. and constructing his company’s first home in Green Cove Springs.

Since that time, the firm has built hundreds of homes in the Jacksonville area. J.A. Long is family-owned and truly family-operated. Along with John and his son Randy, who took over day-to-day management as chief operating officer two years ago, John’s wife Linda serves as office manager and their youngest son Ryan, now 22, also works in the office.

With a total staff of 13, the Longs will work with homeowners to create houses truly personalized to the buyers’ wants, or they offer their own home designs, which they have adapted over time to keep pace with the changing wants and desires of today’s homeowners.

John and Randy say that while the basics of custom home building have remained virtually the same over the last 30 years, the size and scope of the projects they build have become more complex as the market in Jacksonville has matured.

"When we design a home these days, nearly all have a distinctive Florida-style," Randy said. "The back exit onto the patio will either have the amenities in place to entertain outside, with the house positioned so owners and visitors have the best views, or we will make sure that if our customer doesn’t want patio amenities now that they can be incorporated later on."

Their approach is apparent with its San Marcos Design Home recently completed at Eagle Harbor. The two-story, 4,100-square-foot home, which features five bedrooms, four and a half bathrooms and a four-car garage with a side entrance, offers a beautiful view of a wooded area and a walking path to Doctor’s Lake. The property, which comes with a dock permit, is priced at $1.25 million.

J.A. Long followed the same approach with its slightly smaller Costa del Sol Design recently built at the Eagle Landing at Oak Leaf development. Priced at $585,000, the design still offers buyers five bedrooms and four bathrooms within 3,400 square feet of livable space – and a great view of a lake and golf course.

While J.A. Long primarily designs and builds its residential properties in Clay County, it has built some prestigious homes at the Jacksonville Golf & Country Club, World Golf Village and many other well-known residential developments in Jacksonville. The company builds up to 40 custom homes a year – mostly high-end homes in size from 2,800 to 5,500 square feet and ranging in price from $ 400,000 to $1 million.

"Over the last 10 years, many buyers have been asking for designs that are larger in square footage, which we’ve been able to accommodate," John said. "Although very few of our recent projects offer less than 3,000 square feet, I believe there are an infinite number of wonderful smaller homes that use space better and are just as livable, and we enjoy building these as well."

Long says he especially likes the homes featured in Sarah Susankah’s book series about "The Not So Big Home".

"I particularly like her design principals for smaller lots, which offer buyers a lower price but still feature real architectural appeal and flare," he said. "We can come up with smarter style on smaller lots that is much better than what the ‘big box builders’ offer today."

In addition to the demand for more living space, homebuyers have many more features, amenities and other add-ons to choose from today.

"Years ago, appliances, countertops and other amenities of the home were pretty much standard," John said. "Now a buyer may pay anywhere from $2,000 to $30,000 on appliances alone. People will also pay $50,000 or more to add an audio-theater room in the home, something that wasn’t even considered in the 1990’s."

His son Randy believes the Internet and the plethora of home improvement programs have been catalysts for this trend as more homebuyers are exposed to all the different features available on the market.

"Buyers can surf the web and see all these add-ons and features in home building today," he said. "If they have the money to splurge on these things, there are a lot more upgrades they can get."

Even as the residential market has cooled down after a three-year period of staggering sales and record home appreciation, Randy says he has been impressed with the steady sales of waterfront properties.

"Within the general market of buyers, those attracted to waterfront properties are really a different breed," Randy said. "There is always be a market for these properties because there is such a limited supply. Whether they are located within a country club or just near water, waterfront homes really don’t follow the same trends as other homes in the marketplace."

Those water views, along with trees and the surrounding landscape, are some of the features J.A. Long now uses in determining which lots they select. The company also keeps an eye on the views from inside the home when they build, orienting the home to take advantage of the scenery and incorporating lots of glass and open areas on the home’s first floor.

J.A. Long has also experienced an interesting trend among its buyers as of late – empty nesters who, instead of downsizing, actually want larger homes.

"Of our 33 active projects last year, about a fourth of them involved couples who were increasing the size of their homes to anywhere from 3,200 to 5,500 square feet," Randy said. "While some are local, most of these buyers are moving to Florida from other cities and want a larger house that’s specifically designed for entertaining and accommodating guests."

Randy says many of these upsizing buyers are asking for design features such as long sight views, cabana bathrooms, big open kitchens and lots of bedrooms.

In addition to entertaining, they are also asking for bigger, open rooms and fewer small, formal rooms, which will allow for more functionality when guests and family members come to visit.

"With more baby boomers reaching retirement age, and with breakthroughs in health care keeping us living longer, these buyers are finding they still want to entertain, have the space available for the kids and grandkids to visit, or the flexibility to have their parents or in-laws move in as they get older," Randy Long concludes. "We’re certainly seeing more of this than we ever have before."

J.A. Long continues to enjoy an excellent reputation thanks to the early work of John Long, known for working on projects from the original design stage to on-site supervision during construction – a similar work ethic adopted by son Randy.

The firm is also known its personal touch in working with customers – always being accessible and willing to work with the homebuyer to accommodate their design ideas.

"We really focus on delivering a quality product, whether we are working from one of our own original designs or we’re modifying existing designs brought to us by the homeowner," Randy said.

John adds that, rather than a custom builder, "site-specific builder" probably best describes what the company has always done.

"Working smarter and studying to emulate architects by being very "site specific" in designs is really more important in our product than the word "custom," John said. "We have many examples of difficult sites where we’ve built that show real pizzazz when the house is designed to fit them. The essence is making the home is compatible to the customer and making sure the house is compatible with its lot."

Media Contact: Ron Whittington (904-563-0402)