Featured on LIVE in the Bay TV: JDS Design Build

Andrea Jeffery – CEO & Principal Designer of JDS Design Build

Host: Jessica Wills
For many homeowners, the idea of renovating can feel exciting one moment and completely overwhelming the next. Andrea Jeffery, CEO and Principal Designer of JDS Design Build, joins us to talk about the renovation trends shaping Bay Area homes right now and what projects are truly worth the investment, and how homeowners can avoid some of the biggest remodeling pitfalls.

Andrea, thanks for being here live in the Bay.

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Andrea Jeffery:
Thanks so much for having me.

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Host: Jessica Wills
Yes. So tell me about JDS Design and what you do overall.

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Andrea Jeffery:
Sure. So JDS Design Build. We started as an interior design firm and we wanted to bring an amazing clean experience to our clients from start to finish of construction.

So we bring that to our clients. We’re client centric, we’re client focused. So everything that we’re designing, our own team is building. So our clients have one point of contact throughout the entire project and we want them to have this wonderful experience because it should be fun.

Yeah, I mean, these clients are investing a ton of money into what should be their forever homes. So we want them to have a really great experience with our team and through the process.

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Host: Jessica Wills
Yes. And when you guys are the one central contact for the whole experience, how much of a difference does that make?

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Andrea Jeffery:
What we’ve noticed? A tremendous just upturn in client satisfaction. So our clients are smiling. They’re happy when we walk through and we do our walks with them. We’re going through design and it should be enlightening. It should be fun and it should be something that the clients are going to remember in a positive way. And we’ve seen a really great feedback from that.

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Host: Jessica Wills
Yeah. And right now more homeowners are choosing to redesign instead of move. Why is that happening?

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Andrea Jeffery:
Well, I’m sure you’ve seen some of the home prices in the Bay Area, and that is pretty much, I mean, that is really what it’s about.

So if you bought a home and you have a 3% interest rate and you’re looking to buy and move up, you know, it’s the cost to renovate so far exceeds the cost that it’s going to take to get a new interest rate. So our clients are moving into what they want to be their forever home in their current space.

So they wanted to feel themselves. They wanted to feel like they belong in their own home and when they have to go into a higher interest rate to get what they want, they’re still going to buy, you know, close to a million dollar home and then still have to renovate for $600,000. Yeah. So why not put that into their existing space?

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Host: Jessica Wills
Yes, I want to talk about some of the mistakes that homeowners are making before starting a remodel. What do we need to know?

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Andrea Jeffery:
So something clients really don’t understand is who to hire first. And that’s really the biggest mistake that we see clients making.

So the traditional route is hire an architect and then get your plans done and go to contractors.

But the unfortunate part about that process is you design your dream home and then you go get bids and it’s much higher than what you budgeted.

So when you start a project, you really should find your design team. You should find an architect. You should bring that team together and bring the builder in from day one. So you have a great team around you to help your project succeed and give you that great experience.

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Host: Jessica Wills
Yeah. Okay. Great. And then when it comes to trends right now, what are we seeing across the Bay Area?

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Andrea Jeffery:
So kitchens are still, you know, the hot commodity for renovating and you get a lot of return on investment, both in lifestyle and if you wanted to sell the home later.

And the kitchen is the heart of the home. I mean, let’s be honest. You know, any time you have people over, you’re going to gravitate around where you centralize that food creation.

So primary suites are another thing that we’re seeing. So clients really want that spa feel. So they want to feel like they’re on a getaway while they’re in their primaries.

And with the California weather that we get, you know, we get such great weather here. So indoor outdoor living is really big. We’re seeing a lot of large accordion doors, folding doors, pocket windows really bring outside in.

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Host: Jessica Wills
Yeah. Okay. When clients are reaching out to you, you know, how can they contact and what does that first meeting look like?

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Andrea Jeffery:
Sure. So when they call, they talk to a very friendly face, her name is Nicole. She’s lovely. And it’s going to start with a 30 minute call with me. It’s completely free.

I want people to just have a really great conversation with me. And I want to know what their goal is, their outcome is for their project.

So we have a 30 minute call. It’s face to face on Zoom and we talk through their goals, what they want this project to be for them and what experience they want when they work with a team like ours.

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Host: Jessica Wills
Yeah, Andrea, thank you so much. You know, you have some incredible designs. We’re showing video of that throughout this segment. And I know that one of your main priorities is putting the customer first, making sure that they are having a great time throughout the whole process.

And so I just want to thank you so much for joining us and sharing all about what you do.

We appreciate it.