Palomar Builders

Located in Redding, California and celebrating 25 years in business, Palomar Builders has developed into a premier, luxury home builder and community developer. Founded in 1991 by Jeb Allen and his wife Sue Tsai, Palomar Builders began with one spec house. The company is currently working on two master plan communities with more than 850 lots.

By producing a high-quality product, Allen and Tsai were able to build their business to the point where from 2000 to 2004 the company built an average of 150 homes per year. When the market crashed in 2008, Palomar was able to not only survive but also thrive through its determination to deliver a quality product, as well as the relationships the company had established with clients and subcontractors. “We didn’t struggle,” says Allen. “We took what we had and worked with and were able to keep building. We found that there was still a strong market for high-end homes. I think if we dropped in quality then that would have hurt us.”

When the economic downturn struck, Palomar Builders was positioned with a buyer to purchase pre-master-planned communities totaling 1,100 lots that were owned by Palomar and ready with entitlements. Palomar Builders chose to sit on the properties and instead subsidize its building program. “We met with all of subcontractors who had been a major factor in our success over the years,” recalls Allen. “Many of them had worked with us for 20-plus years. We continued to build through the recession by subsidizing the land.”

By placing relationships ahead of cash at that time, Palomar Builders has been able to remain on the cutting edge of new products within the industry. One approach that the company has taken has been establishing the attached single-family home. “It’s like a duplex but we sell them separately,” Allen explains. “We created that product type and we have sold approximately 100 of those units, which was really a springboard for people in the community to be able to buy a home in the $200,000 range where most of the homes in the area were closer to $300,000.”

Currently Jeb and Sue’s Palomar Builders team is augmented by Tim Camacho as vice president and Scott Taylor as the company’s field operations manager.

Quality communities

Palomar Builders is currently involved with a housing development in Redding called Highland Park. The company broke ground on the development in 2006 and today the community contains 386 completed homes with additional lots continuing to be added. “It’s the first master-planned community that has ever been executed in Redding,” says Allen. “It contains a community park as well as walking trails and displays different product types.” The company is now in the construction phase for the final 35 lots of the development.

Highland Park provides a diverse mix of housing types within a master-planned community. Traditional family lots with architecturally significant homes are planned adjacent to the existing residential neighborhoods. The site also features a number of stream corridors and mature trees that are being retained and enhanced to allow pedestrian connections within the new community.

Another development that Palomar Builders recently broke ground on is a community called Shastina Ranch. The overall goal of the development is to provide high-quality residential neighborhoods that further examples of the upward momentum and development of the city of Redding.

After owning the property for 10 years, Allen decided to finally begin construction and the company has already completed 81 lots. “With this community we have created some unique things in the town of Redding, including the first residential road with a roundabout,” Allen explains. “We’ve already sold 10 units.”

A comprehensive process of analysis, planning and design were applied to Shastina Ranch. Regional and local circulation, land-use relationships, natural and environmentally sensitive systems have been carefully studied, and the architectural styles have been derived from historic examples within Redding’s established neighborhoods. The overall vision for Shastina Ranch grew from the collaboration between the City of Redding, Palomar Builders, design consultants and the site itself.

A different kind of company

A current project that Allen says he holds close to his heart is a home that Palomar Builders is currently building for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The project is called House of Hope and the goal of the company is to raise $200,000 with the sale of the home to donate to the foundation. “We plan to be able to grant 20 wishes locally to children who are ill,” says Allen. “We’re halfway through the house and we’ve granted four wishes. We even have some of the kids come to the jobsite and we make them the superintendent for a day.”

As a general contracting company, Palomar Builders has built strong, lasting relationships with its subcontractors. All the construction aspects of each job are subbed out to its solid network of strategic partners. The relationships are so strong that Allen and his wife have had multiple opportunities to sell Palomar Builders and retire, but they have chosen to continue running the company due to all of the people involved in the operation. “We’ve taken on projects like Highland Park because it’s an opportunity to keep a lot of people working,” says Allen. “It was also a chance to see my first master-planned community of this nature come to fruition.

Palomar Builders has consistently maintained a commitment to always improve design, energy efficiency and value. The company treats every project with respect to the community and remains dedicated to building the best and highest-valued homes in Redding. With Palomar Builders, each client can feel secure knowing that their builder has the reputation and financial stability to build every home in an efficient manner.