Rich Allen

Chapman Construction, McCall Idaho Custom Homes

To anyone considering hiring a building contractor:

Selecting a building contractor for any size job is a very important decision.  Selecting a building contractor you can trust, rely on for good advice, complete the project on time and on budget and become good friends along the way is a grand slam!

We had the good fortune of meeting Jess and some of his crew a year before we even knew we would be building a new home.  We watched them build a home across the street from our existing home and remarked on several occasions what a clean jobsite they kept, how hard everyone worked every day and how little material made its way to the trash bin.

We interviewed other builders, but it was clear in our first conversation with Jess he was a good match for us and a clear choice.  Jess was engaged from day one with any and all details. We were building a custom home and Jess provided excellent ideas, options and feedback throughout the design and construction process.

We had an existing structure to demolish in preparation for a spring start.  Jess’s schedule required all his subs to be timely in order to have the house completely closed in before winter so finish work could continue.  I make a point of this because Jess has excellent subs.  Good subs want to work for Jess because they can count on Jess to be ready for their part of the project.  Maintaining good communication with the owners for their input and decisions is critical to the schedule.  Everyone wins when a project is kept on schedule.

Trust and confidence are not to be taken for granted.  We had both early in our project and Jess proved to us time and again he deserved both.  We are grateful for that relationship and love the end product we envisioned, and he produced.

We would recommend Jess and Chapman Construction without reservation for your project regardless of size or scope.

Anne and Bud

Chapman Construction, McCall Idaho Custom Homes

As we interviewed builders in Valley County, it became obvious that Jess Chapman was our man.

We found him to be experienced, highly qualified, and we felt that his personality would afford us the best chance for a relationship that could take us through the joys and difficulties of a building project. There will always be unforeseen problems that need to be solved amicably and fairly. Jess was the man for our job. His skill sets are amazing. He is an excellent framer, an excellent finish carpenter and an excellent planner and scheduler. His subcontractors and suppliers are the finest in Valley County. The quality of our project is unsurpassed. And, as questions or problems did arise, Jess’ only concern was our satisfaction. Yes, we recommend Jess for any building project. And, we are certain that at completion, you will be as happy with the result as we are with ours.

Bob and Cris

Chapman Construction, McCall Idaho Custom Homes
Where and how does one begin to express the unbelievable pleasure and privilege of working with Jess Chapman? Homebuilding is supposed to be one of the most stressful events in a person’s life. All I can say is that it was a delight. We are so grateful for Jess and the entire team that was brought together to build our home in New Meadows from. We wake up every day in our beautiful home in its beautiful mountainside setting with grateful hearts. The beginning of our venture started with our architect Claire Remsberg. She was was eager to help us incorporate ideas proposed in Sarah Susanka’s book The Not So Big House. The author’s driving philosophy for creating a home is that it should be focussed on quality and not quantity of size, beauty, comfort, and conserving of valuable resources. In additions, our own personal desires were to build the most efficient and environmentally sound home possible.

It was our architect who suggested Jess Chapman of Chapman Construction. And he was entirely on board with our desires to build in this way.

From the very first meeting together, we knew that Jess was going to be the one to build our home. He listened, was enthusiastic, organized, concerned with quality, able to make recommendations, amiable and totally absent of the ego that can make working together impossible. We were impressed with his financial and budgeting skills: accuracy, tracking, adjusting, and handling of surprises. He was always anticipating next steps when it came to our own responsibilities… and was a good sounding board for decisions concerning everything from flooring to paint. Best of all, he was supportive while also advising about “out of the box suggestions”.

His crew was amazing: Luke, Jesse, Ethan,  I wanted to adopt them all! They were so accomplished, friendly, considerate, and consummately capable. Jess’ subcontractors were a pleasure to work with also.

We were committed to building using Passivhaus standards for low-level energy consumption building. It is a German technology that aims to achieve the lowest levels of energy usage and highest level of comfort using complex algorithms for airtightness, air exchange and heat loss. Our consultant, Skylar Swinford of ESCO worked closely with Jess and helped us achieve PHIUS (Passive House Institute U.S.) certification, something about which we are enormously proud, especially in this age when conservation is so greatly needed. We primarily heat with wood and have used only 1.2-1.4 cords of wood per winter in our 2900 sq. ft. home!

It has been two plus years now. The windows are marvelous and efficient. The walls have no cracks, the floors are straight, the trim work is impeccable. Our front entry door that Jess created to surround our custom leaded glass panel from our original home delights us every time we pass through it. Everything is just the way it was the day Jess and his crew were finished. We love being here every single day. We think that is a great testament to Jess and the team, and is most praiseworthy.

What we most admire about Jess is his personal integrity, skill and knowledge. We could not recommend him and his company enough.

CJ Boyce

Chapman Construction, McCall Idaho Custom Homes

I first heard about Jess when I told a co-worker that we were interviewing for builders in McCall.  He told me that we could stop; he had interviewed everyone in town and that Jess was far and away the best. Now, having had Jess build our house, I couldn’t agree more!

From the day we told him about the project, our budget and desired completion date, he made it his mission to keep the project on time and within budget. He helped us find an architect, was there at multiple meetings during the design process to help with budget and feasibility, gave us lists and due dates of appliances and finishings to pick out.  Jess would call me every few days during the construction process with a saved up list of decisions to make. He was always helpful with questions pertaining to these decisions and kept the disruptions to a minimum such that the process had as little impact upon our lives as possible.  Finally, Jess was always clear and accurate about costs and time expectations such that the house was ultimately completed both on time and within our budget.

Several more specific examples of why Jess is an ideal builder:

– There was a post in our plans next to the stairwell that Jess was concerned was going to look funny. He came up with an inexpensive solution using some extra lumber that he had at minimal extra cost.  He could have just built the post as planned but went the extra mile to make the house to look great (and it does)!

– We retrofitted an upgraded ERV the summer after we built.  After the HVAC guys were done, Jess noted that some of the insulation in the attic had been squished down.  Jess independently arranged for the insulation guys to come back and blow in more insulation. I never go into the attic and would have never seen that but Jess fixed it just to “do the right thing”.

In summary, my wife and I frequently comment that we wish we could clone Jess and have him here in Boise for other projects. He is genuinely one of the good guys and I can’t recommend him highly enough!

Michael L. Simplot

Chapman Construction, McCall Idaho Custom Homes

If you are reading this Letter of Recommendation it means you are talking to Jess Chapman of Chapman Construction to build your home or cabin. If you want to save yourself a lot of time just stop reading right here and hire Jess. It will be the best thing you ever do.

My wife and I decided 6 years ago that we wanted to remodel our cabin. Well, it turned into a renovation as the project doubled in size once the plans were done, and we still wanted to use some of the original cabin footings and walls. We probably should have just torn everything down and started fresh. But Jess told us he could do what we wanted and also could get us in by Christmas of the same year. Now I know you have heard all the horror stories from people saying that couples almost got divorced from building a house together. Well my wife and I had the same concerns but we shouldn’t have. Working with Jess put all those fears to ease right away. It was amazing to work with him.

Chapman Construction, McCall Idaho Custom Homes

Now Jess is not your normal contractor who gets the bid out and then moves on to the next project. Jess was on our job site wearing a carpenter’s belt right along with all of his crew. This made Lisa and I really happy, as we knew he would, be addressing each issue as it arose on the job site. Jess was also great about giving us plenty of lead time so we could pick out lights, bathroom fixtures, tubs, toilets, carpet, tile and whatever else we needed. Jess was always there to answer questions for us so we could stay ahead of him on what he needed next. All of this made our life so much easier during the process.

We also threw Jess a curve when we decided to use some reclaimed lumber which meant Jess needed to figure out how much he would need, get it picked up and sent to Salt Lake City to have all the metal removed from it, milled and sent back to McCall without slowing down the process at all. Well he did all that and still got us into the cabin a week before we thought he ever could.

I could go on and on about our experience with Jess. But everything he does is so great that I would love to build another house or cabin if we could hire him. The architect we used also loved working with Jess and his crew and the work he did was top notch. These are all the things you get by using Chapman Construction. But on top of this the sub-contractors he has are also top notch and from the local area, so if you ever do have a problem they are able to get there quickly to help you figure out what is going on.

I hate writing these letters but not this one. Working with Jess and everybody he surrounds himself with made our project so wonderful, and I think we have some of the best quality workmanship you will find anywhere. You can’t do any better than hiring Jess to be your contractor. If you don’t believe me have him take you out and look at our cabin. It is a little lived in now but the quality of Jess’s work is still more than visible. If you want to talk to me in person please call me at (208) 321-0357. This is my work number so I am at it most work days.

Thank you for reading this whole letter and I hope you find working with Jess Chapman as fun as my wife and I did.

Joan Whitacre

Chapman Construction, McCall Idaho Custom Homes

As the owner of a large interior design firm, I have the opportunity to work with many general contractors.  I would place Jess Chapman at the very top.  His job sites are run professionally with talented employees and subcontractors.  He communicates and collaborates well with other professionals hired by the client, creating a positive project experience for all involved.  Projects are on-schedule and his monthly billing package is thorough and understandable.  When my husband and I had a personal project to complete in Valley County, Jess Chapman is who we selected.  He is a great client advocate while still keeping a positive relationship with his subcontractors, resulting in the premium product he delivers time and time again.  Anyone that has the opportunity to work with Jess will be enriched by the experience.

Steven and Debra

Chapman Construction, McCall Idaho Custom Homes
In our search for a home builder in the McCall area, we began at ground zero. The traits we were looking for in a builder were honesty, transparency, competency, creativeness, and good communication skills. In short, we wanted someone who could envision and build our dream home in a timely fashion, within budget, and with a reasonable measure of certainty throughout the process. We feel so fortunate in finding Jess Chapman of Chapman Construction to build our home. Chapman Construction exceeded our expectations and we recommend them highly.

Mike and Karen

Chapman Construction, McCall Idaho Custom Homes
The important things we found while working with Jess were his willingness to work with us to achieve our objectives and the advice he gave us to help us keep within the budget we had established. The result has been a beautiful, livable, energy efficient home all of which is attributable in large part to Jess and the folks that work for him. Thanks once again for what you did for us!

John and Ann

Chapman Construction, McCall Idaho Custom Homes

Jess Chapman built our home in Jug Mountain Ranch four years ago. Jess, his crew, and subcontractors made the project a wonderful experience. Jess was very organized, easy to work with, and very financially responsible. And, of course, the workmanship was of the highest quality. We continually receive compliments about how beautiful our home is.

Jess, we are very pleased and enjoyed working with you!