We had lived in our previous home 25 years. However it was 2 stories and we really needed a ranch. We looked and looked, hesitant to move because we really did love our old home, but when we met Tom and saw the lot we both knew it was meant to be. Tom and his crew built us a totally custom home, were professional, responsive, and now we are in our forever home. My entire family is happy here. Like living in a vacation home. Highly, highly recommended and believe me, my family is "picky". All the horror stories you hear about building, I have none. Only regret is I wish I had picked a different light fixture in one room. We all got everything we wanted including my husband's giant garage with the electric car plug in "just in case"... read more

Tom is a real stand up guy. I've seen a lot of his work and many of my friends have had homes built by him. My day will be coming soon and James Edwards builders will be the company we use. read more

I almost did not use Tom based on previous Yelp reviews. We are so glad we dug deeper! My wife and I are overwhelmed by how pleased we are with the custom home James Edward Builders constructed for us. Tom Gottschalk and his team were absolutely phenomenal! Tom truly is a custom home builder who is open and willing to make changes for his clients during the building process. It was clear, with other builders we comsidered, that any modifications after the initial contract would add costs far in excess of the true cost of the change. With Tom, we only paid the actual cost of the change, This is very rare, and a true indicator of Tom's ethics and values. We made many changes during the process. We were stunned by the willingness and eagerness to fulfill our dream. The quality, attention to detail, and desire to deliver a home that both we as the owners, and Tom as the Builder would be proud of, was evident throughout the process. For real value, quality craftsmanship, and an enjoyable building process, we strongly recommend James Edwards Builders. read more

We would definitely not recommend this business to anyone! It is years later and we still have several major unresolved issues that were not addressed by these builders. Throughout the building process many mistakes were made (the plumber flooded our basement after the hardwood floors were installed, the master bath fixtures were installed so that only one works at a time, a 2 story great room window was constructed in the wrong place and had to be torn out and redone- affecting the integrity of the large wall, the sump pump pipe that removes water was duct taped together and was later caulked (it actually requires a fitting). It still leaks and erodes the soil next to the foundation. A major problem is that our home is built in a hole with the grading actually sloping toward our home. Needless to say, we have had water in our basement and several cracks have developed that extend to the outside of the house. There was a lack of communication from one of the builders and midway through construction he switched us to working with the other builder and key issues were lost in translation. This builder displayed threatening and intimidating behaviors and created a stressful situation. We are aware of two other families that had similar experiences (huge unexpected bills at the end and many outstanding issues). read more

Tom with James Edward Builders is the best to work with. He built out our bathrooms, catering kitchen and bridal suite for our wedding venue. His staff is fantastic and work is impeccable! Highly recommend! read more

Tom at James Edward Builders is a builder with heart. He puts it into every home that he builds, and into every relationship with his clients. He has a vision and a passion for what he does, and because of his architectural sensibility and uncompromising standards, he creates a truly beautiful home of superior quality that will last for generations. We had a modest budget, and he worked with us in every way possible to meet our financial goals; while building for us a home that has far surpassed anything we could have imagined or hoped for. During the construction process, Tom has been unfailingly and immediately responsive to any concern, as well as courteous, friendly and easy to work with. Even more importantly (and indicative of Tom's work ethic) is the fact that even now that our house is finished, we still get his immediate attention and swift action whenever we contact him for anything; no matter how small. He truly makes every effort to ensure that his clients are happy with every aspect of their new home, and that they have fond memories of the building process. He has great talent and initiative - but what makes his clients return to him again and again, sometimes for two or even three houses - is that he cares. Donna and Tom read more

James Edward Builders built our home two years before we bought it. Upon purchase we noticed a foundation leak that had been repaired. Before we agreed to buy the house, we asked for a warranty on the foundation and repair, which we received. Unfortunately, the repair leaked again. I contacted Tom. He came over and assessed the leak, and said he would have his foundation crew fix it, no charge. Many months later with multiple phone calls and emails, he never came through. I had to hire an outside company to fix it. This builder does not stand behind his product. I will never recommend this builder to anyone. I will warn them about their dishonesty. read more

James Edward Builders built my house in 2009 and my basement kept leaking. He sent some one over to put another sun pump in and it worked for a few weeks but whenever there was rain or a lot of snow it would flood again. He promised that he only build 5 house in a year, and that he would oversee the house being built, but he never was there. It was my first experience in not only buying a home, but owning one aswell. I lost all my savings, over $20, 000 in down payment money, and then I spent over $10, 000 in monthly payments. A house that was supposed to cost me $150, 000 was increased to over $220,000, and was not built according to the specifications we had agreed to. As one other complaint wrote, you start off talking to the nice guy and then you get the negotiator, that forgets to treat you as a customer and starts treating you like a dog. He would meet with me and act like he sincerely wanted to do right, and after you have problems them he treats you like you are nothing. After the house was built, he raised the price of it, and pretended to give me the best price. I ended up losing all my money, the house flooded over 4 times in a year, and then he wanted me to keep paying the mortgage although he admitted that there was problems with the build. I went to an attorney but I did not have any money because I took my retirement money to pay for the down payment. I eventually was told by a legal team offered free from my job that I needed to cut my losses and move out, give the house back to the builder, and move on. I asked him if when he sold the house if he would give me some of my money back, he slightly said yes, but to this day when I run in to him he acts like he never met me before. read more

James Edward Builders is a company to avoid. We contracted with them to do a relatively small project in our older home. They never showed up on time or worked a full day (8 hours), ever. They'd say they would be there at 8:00am and wouldn't show up until hours later, sometimes 12:00 or 1:00pm. There was one day when two people showed up for 1/2 hour; most days we felt lucky if they were there for 2-3 hours. They did the demolition work for the job and then couldn't figure out how to build it according to the agreed upon plans. They kept telling us that they couldn't do something the way it was on the plans, and we'd have to change things. One day they jack-hammered up part of our basement floor to pour concrete pads for support beams, only to have to re-do the whole project a day or two later because it had been done incorrectly. We found out later that they were having staffing problems and were stretched thin because of a heavy workload, but this was never communicated to us. The impression I got was that they just couldn't be bothered; that our project meant little or nothing to them. I also felt they they were in over their heads with our job, that they really didn't know what they were doing and how to do the work correctly. We ended up firing them, with our project still in a demolition state, and hiring someone else to finish the job. The contractor we hired to finish the job was appalled by what work they had done. He ended up re-doing most of what little work they had completed. read more