JG Development Inc
About us
JG Development is a local, 100% employee-owned residential and commercial contractor and single-site developer. We build homes, we build commercial structures, we build places of worship, and we build more. But what we really love to build is intangible: trust and long-lasting relationships. We love what we do, and we want you—our customer—to love what we do for you. To that end, we’re a quality-focused organization. And to deliver quality, we offer the specific knowledge, experience and expertise your project needs through our five divisions: Brio Design Homes: Design and build a timeless dream home that's just your style. Vive Home Transformations: Transform your entire home, construct an addition, or renovate a single space. National Construction: Expand your local business, building or community facility to drive growth, with a guided team approach. NCI-Roberts Construction: Update your church or nonprofit building to better serve your mission, with a process considerate of committee leadership and fundraising. Supreme Structures: Build or remodel your restaurant, brewery or retail space; a division of JG Development since 2024. What truly separates JG Development from other construction firms is the breadth of our capabilities, combined with our operational flexibility. While we build everything from geothermal luxury homes to commercial high-rises—we also source unique building materials, will act as your real estate liaison, and can offer you other services that make your project more integrated and more convenient.
Business highlights
Services we offer
New home construction, churches and nonprofits, commercial construction and remodeling services, construction management, general contracting services, home remodeling
Amenities
Free Estimates
Yes
| Number of Stars | Image of Distribution | Number of Ratings |
|---|---|---|
| 72% | ||
| 6% | ||
| 0% | ||
| 11% | ||
| 11% |
2 things that bothered us (hence the "B" Overall Experience and a "B" Quality), and JG was fully aware of them:
1. A random person walked into our house unannounced one day, walked around inside the house, and then disappeared. He had no identification as to whether he was with JG or a hired subcontractor. JG also had no clue who this person was, because the crew left the house earlier, with doors unlocked. This startled our babysitter and our 2 young boys, and we were very concerned with their safety, particularly when it is obvious that renovation work was being done with JG construction sign parked in front of our house. However, JG apologized immediately and made sure they tell us who were onsite going forward, and thank goodness nothing bad happened.
2. There were nails that punctured the pipes in the 2nd floor bathroom as JG was renovating (they did not mark the locations of the pipes to remind their floor guys). Anyhow, our 1st floor ceiling and the walls were soaked, and water seeped into our basement. JG promptly remedied it, as they tore out the drywall, the ceiling, air-dried the damage, and replaced them all. While JG absorbed all the costs, this delayed the project for a week, and hampered our living space.
"The clients came in with a set budget to build a cabin. They signed a preconstruction agreement for that budget and scope of work. JG created a floor plan and detailed estimate that met the clients requested budget and wants. While reviewing the budget and floor plans the clients wants grew, and they transformed the scope of work from a cabin into a different/high end home which included the addition of timberframe construction and stucco exterior. JG Development provided the clients additional control estimates and plans and continued designing and pricing at the request of the client. Unfortunately the client’s decision was to revert back to the original budget and therefore could not mesh with the new scope of work. This is truly a loss for everyone and we wish we could have worked together to develop a suitable solution, as we successfully deliver quality construction and happy customers in custom home design and building projects every year."
They used our home in the Madison area Nari show. It's something that happens annually.
We were pleased with their professionalism with that. It was a very postive experience.
JG Development is located right down the highway. We have seen them for years at every EXPO in Madison WI and picked up many glossy marketing materials. We wanted to trust them and hoped they would respect us especially being a neighbor. I contacted JG Development through their web site. The sales consultant Randy Ziebarth came to the house to hear my vision of a room addition. What we wanted was a copy of the octagon room JG Development uses for their office space. As we did our walk about the property I caught comments of, new siding to the house, “No thank you”, landscaping, “Nope”. I later realized why he was adding on as much as he could. Randy is a good salesman and the design contract I signed was a percentage of a completed project. $$$$$. Still we had faith that they could design our vision. The design couldn’t be difficult because we sat in the octagon room during every meeting! An agreement was drafted and I signed an agreement in an early Tuesday morning meeting. Randy walked through the agreement 12/14 in less than 15 minutes.
That night I reviewed the contract in detail and sent an email Wednesday 12/15 with a detailed list of concerns. If we would have received a "Cooling Off' Notice” in the agreement as defined in NARI's Code of Ethics we would have canceled the contract. Making the contract null and void was documented as one of our plans in the email of concerns. I have all the email communications. We received an email response to our issues but the check already cleared the bank. Big Flag!!!! I had my car salesman friend review the JG Development agreement. He told me that it was stupid high estimate and that we should have just given the money to charity.
We started the design work on the octagon room when I learned JG Development did not build the room. It came with the building they purchased. We continued with design work while waiting for a property survey. We didn’t have one. Months later we received the required property survey to identify the property setback lines. The contract allowed only 40 hours of design work and after that we would be charged hourly. The design we were working on for 2 months could not fit within the property building lines! Here is where it all goes BAD!!! We were months into the project. Randy and Charlie came to the house to take the current building measurements. We had to change our design dramatically to fit into the property setback lines. The octagon room design turned into a draft of a traditional square room addition! Octagon to square? The first step for an architect/designer is to understand the customer's point of view. How did this happen? We had been working for months on the design!! At this point we were frustrated and disappointed in this agreement. It felt like we were spinning answering questions several times. We were in this agreement big money and hoped we could at least get the house measurements and at least some design plans to work with.
We finally initiated communication to end our business relationship. It was time to move on to work with someone we could trust and who would work with us. Not just for the money. This is when the JG Development relationship got NASTY!!! We were no longer customer and business partner. We were communicating on legal terms as the owner and contractor. There was no “Dispute Resolution” method for resolving disputes in the agreement. Jeff Grundahl let me know neither a 3 day cooling off period or a dispute resolution is required in agreements even though NARI indicates they are part of best practices. We shared emails trying to resolve the complaints. We stopped communication when it was clear Jeff Grundahl did not feel they caused us monetary loss. After several requests for the detail work JG Development performed we received a spreadsheet of the meetings, phone calls and design work. JG Development worked a total of 36 hours. They worked 11.75 hours on the design. The work rate shared was $65 and hour. Hmmm … they retained the 6K fee for $2340 of work. We entered the agreement for design work and today we have nothing from JG Development we can work with.
We sent JG Development an email requesting a partial refund. We received this response, “Wanting to resolve this issue without any further effort or expense, I am willing to send you a refund in the amount of $2,000.00. If that is unacceptable to you, then my position stands. If you so choose to accept that offer, and you notify me of your intentions, I will forward you a full release and hold harmless document that you will be required to sign and we will release the payment once we receive the signed release. This payment is in no way an admission of anything you have accused us of; it is simply an offer in good faith and is an only and final offer. “ HA! We did not accept this embarrassing offer. JG Development was out only a few hours of design work during winter months. The dollars are important but what is more important is our integrity to refuse an unacceptable compromise. I share this experience so other people are aware of JG Developments business tactics. Businesses should be responsible and accountable for customers. We share this experience because people want to see how a company takes care of customers.
Does anyone think we should take this to small claims court?
Anyone who would like to see the facts - deliverables, are more than welcome to contact me for the documents. It is interesting that any company would consider 36 hours of work as way out their way and beyond customer service.
"We at JG understand that much research goes into selecting the right company, so we will offer a detailed response to this accusation. In response to this post regarding JG Development and our accused ethical violations, what the member fails to mention are the facts. Thank you for reading on. It is true the member entered into a Pre-Construction Agreement with JG-just like hundreds of our other customers in fact. The agreement is not a “design agreement” as member states; it is a “service agreement”. Design is a portion of that agreement. The agreement clearly states the intent, the deliverable and the summation of how the money is used and credited to the project or not credited in the event of member termination. The member fails to mention that not only did she sign our agreement, but that her meeting and review of that document was in person and thorough. The emails referred to, never mentions any concern about “the cooling off notice”, it only mentions that she wanted to confirm some doors and also wanted to confirm that she would get the designs and renderings. The JG staff follows the code of conduct, applicable laws and codes in all situations. The member has been shown that all of those were followed, yes she is disappointed, but that doesn’t change the facts. The JG staff went way out their way and beyond customer service to help the member, in fact, they even helped when she told us she would just purchase more land to accommodate her site constraints, we helped line up the surveyor, initiated conversations with the land owner and negotiated with the county all on her behalf in the interest of serving our customer. The member also fails to mention that not only did she willingly sign our agreement and pay the deposit; she signed the same agreement months later to reflect the new scope of work she had requested. JG has 2 signed agreements for this project. We were allowed to perform way beyond the agreement and at the very end; we were told we didn’t perform. We simply were lead down a path that the member didn’t intend to complete, and only then at the end did she say “I should have received a cooling off notice”. As per ATCP110, it clearly states the requirements of that notice and it clearly states in capital letters that ALL conditions must apply. It is very clear that those conditions did not apply and that the member’s choice to construct yet again a different scope of project from what she hired us to commence, does not point fault at JG Development or the ethical conduct of our staff or the 2 contractual agreements signed. As the member points out, in the interest of customer service and resolving our differences, we offered her a refund, completely in the interest of customer service, not by obligation or contract. We share this point of view so you the consumer, understands that there are always two sides of the story. JG Development has been in business for almost 22 years, we have one of the most talented, dedicated and knowledgeable staff in our industry. In our 22 years and hundreds of customers, we have few customers whom wouldn’t recommend us to their family and friends. Our contracts, ethics and procedures have all been reviewed, documented and tested by attorneys and courts of law. They uphold not only our requirements, but consumer interests as well. We are sorry that the member is unhappy with us, but that is a rarity. We stand by our performance, actions and obligations to not only our customers, but our team as well. We welcome any interested person to contact our President, Jeff, if you have any questions or comments at 608-437-6181. He will be more than happy to provide any answers or necessary information regarding this complaint."
I was doing this process as a single person. They made me feel confident and well taken care of.
"Thank you for all of your positive feedback. You were a pleasure to work with and we look forward to working with you again in the future."
"Thank you for your positive feedback. Giving back to the community and supporting the causes our customers believe in is something that is very important for us. We were honored that you selected us for your special project."
"We feel very fortunate that over our 21 years in business, our customer service rating remains a source of company pride. We are proud that we are constantly implementing new systems to ensure that the vision our customers see is aligned with the reality we create for them. For JG Development, we will always strive to make changes to improve our processes along the way. Thank you for your feedback on your project."
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