Spacecrafting
When Lake Country Builders was founded in 1976 by Pete and Sue Jacobson, the vision was simple: Use Pete’s carpentry skills to build a company that could offer prospective clients quality work at a fair price.
“Pete brought a passion for carpentry and craftsmanship, and Sue brought a strong customer-service mindset,” says Patrick Jacobson, son of Pete and Sue, and now owner and president. “They started with a van full of tools, a willingness to work hard, and the belief that if they took care of people and delivered quality work, the business would take care of itself.”
Fifty years later, that same commitment to craftsmanship and service endures, while the company itself has grown into something much bigger: a design-build organization with projects throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin that has an in-house carpentry team and offers professional design and project management services. “But the core idea hasn’t changed,” Patrick says. “Today, I would describe our purpose as handcrafting our clients’ visions while impacting lives—the lives of our clients, employees, trade partners, and the communities where we work.”
As the respected Minnesota company celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, Midwest Design spoke with Patrick, Pete, and Sue about their reflections on the business through the decades and what’s ahead.
Building Homes That Endure
Spacecrafting
Lake Country Builders has cultivated a reputation of creating homes that are built to last. Pete and Sue say a long-held mantra of their team’s is, “A house is built from the top down, not the bottom up.”
“Those are the words of one of our staff master carpenters, and they taught our apprentices to begin with the end in mind—to think ahead from the very first step so the finished product turns out exactly as intended,” they say. Patrick agrees and adds that their commitment to design and client relationships remains just as steadfast.
“Great homes aren’t designed around whatever happens to be popular this year. They’re designed around the people who live there—how they gather, cook, entertain, work, age, and spend time together,” he says. “And, the relationship has to endure. Some of the best evidence of our success isn’t a photograph of a completed house. It’s a client who calls us years later for another project or refers us to their children, neighbors, or friends.”
Weathering Challenges
Navigating the ups and downs of business ownership is a universal experience for nearly every company leader, and Lake Country Builders has seen its fair share of challenges in the past 50 years. Economic recessions, housing downturns, periods of high interest rates, labor shortages, material shortages, the COVID-19 pandemic, and supply-chain disruption are a few of the many tests the company has weathered.
Pete and Sue remark that from a business standpoint, creativity is essential to surviving hard times. “We built out a Design Division and a Small Project Division and expanded into Northern Minnesota and Western Wisconsin, all to maximize the value we could offer clients,” they explain, as an example of how they have navigated difficult moments. The people make a difference, too. “On a personal level, Pete got through some of the toughest stretches because of the kindness and support of the Lake Country Builders team.”
Patrick says that challenging periods are also when company values are underscored. “When times get difficult, there’s always pressure to compromise somewhere: chase the wrong work, cut quality, reduce communication, squeeze a trade partner, or make a short-term decision because you’re worried about tomorrow. We’ve tried to resist that,” he says. “Our philosophy has been to protect the things that created the company in the first place: our people, our relationships, our craftsmanship, our reputation, and our commitment to the client.”
Homeowner Preferences
Spacecrafting
The Jacobson family has seen trends wax and wane and homeowner preferences and priorities shift throughout their five decades in business. One of the biggest shifts they’ve seen is how homeowners have adjusted their focus more on how a home supports their life, rather than how it looks. “Home offices, entertaining spaces, indoor-outdoor connections, multigenerational living, aging in place, wellness, and flexible spaces are increasingly part of the conversation,” Patrick says.
Pete and Sue add that today’s homeowners are looking for improvements that make a home less expensive to run and more resilient over time, citing better insulation and windows, efficient electrical systems, heat-pump readiness, water-saving fixtures, solar readiness, EV charging, and durable long-lasting materials.
“Going forward, I think expectations around transparency will continue increasing. Clients will have access to more information and technology than ever,” Patrick adds. “But paradoxically, that will make trust even more valuable. The best builders won’t simply provide more information. They’ll help clients make better decisions.”
Looking Back—and Ahead
Countless projects make it difficult to pick favorites, but as the family reflects on 50 years in business, one in particular stands out to Pete from years ago, when he bought a property in Linden Hills. Pete was inspired by an Italian villa he had fallen in love with while vacationing in Italy and decided to put the tool pouch back on and build his dream home himself, alongside his sons and members of the Lake Country Builders crew. “It turned out to be one of the most beautiful, authentically built homes the company had created,” Pete and Sue recall. During construction, two people walked up the sidewalk and struck up a conversation with Pete. “The next day, they walked into the Lake Country Builders office and said, ‘We want you to build us a house!’ A year later, they had their own Italian masterpiece.”
It’s just one of many examples of the dedication to craft and commitment to people that Lake Country Builders has steadfastly maintained from day one in 1976 until now. And while the design-build industry is always evolving, some things remain constant.
“The scale has changed. The process has changed. The homes have changed. But the fundamental promise hasn’t—do excellent work, take care of people, and do what you say you’re going to do,” Patrick says. “That is what got us through the first 50 years, and it’s what we intend to carry into the next 50.”
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