Gary J. Building Doctor LLC "We make house calls!"
General Contractor - Housing Inspector - Building Consultant
Gary J. Building Doctor LLC
I am a licensed, bonded, and fully insured General Contractor, certified Housing Inspector, and Building Consultant who has been in business since 1976. My decades of experience, combined with a high-quality team, has made us the premiere choice for clients with big and small residential and commercial construction needs. My team specializes in remodeling, repair, and maintenance work, and we're ready to tackle your job, no matter the size!
License #TGC132860
The Housing Inspection Foundation #4005
SINCE
1976
About Gary Jacobsen, owner
Personal Experience
I was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, going on to the University of Illinois after attending Lane Tech HS. I volunteered for the Army and was a member of the 101st Airborne Division during the Vietnam Era. After my honorable discharge, I worked a variety of jobs, including as a salesman and an electrical mechanical draftsman. I eventually became a union elevator constructor while also performing general maintenance for an expansive real-estate company based out of Lincoln Park, Chicago. My side projects during this time included single-family homes, multi-family unit rental properties, and small commercial businesses. These years built the foundation of my experience, guiding me to gradually expand my client base and work throughout Illinois and Indiana, and I ultimately turned my side job into a flourishing full-time business called The Building Doctor, Esq. LLC. Since establishing my first business in 1976, I have led my team to complete over 2,500 projects and received ongoing acclaim for my attention to detail and craftsmanship.
Family History
My family is in its 5th Generation of Craftsmen:
Grandfather: Jacob Jacobsen
Father: Henry Jacobsen | Uncle: Ralph Jacobsen
Me: Gary Jacobsen
Son: Todd Jacobsen
Grandsons: Thor & Blaine Jacobsen
In the year 1912, Jacob Einar Jacobsen left Oslo, Norway with his family to legally migrate to the United States of America. They took the common route of entering the country through Ellis Island in New York City, and then they migrated to Chicago, IL. Once settled into his new home, Jacob Einar Jacobsen became a managing partner of the downtown house moving and shoring company Sheeler & Son Co. located at 228 N. LaSalle Street.
With a skilled hand and a keen eye, Jacob moved residential and commercial buildings several blocks away to their new locations. This image is nearly one hundred years old and shows Jacob and his colleagues in one of the buildings they moved. The company was very successful and provided excellent services to many clients over many years with Mr. Jacobsen evidently taking over 100% ownership of the company which employed many people including his two sons, Henry and Ralph. Mr. Jacobsen went on to become one of the main engineers at Lamasco Engineering Company in Evansville, Indiana.
My father, Henry, went on to become the #2 bricklayer in the City of Chicago, for which he received a letter of commendation from the Mayor of Chicago. My uncle, Ralph, became chief engineer at Miele Dexter Goss Printing Press Company. Henry was hired by the City of Chicago to complete a full renovation of the famous Chicago Water Tower, replacing more than 1,200 stones ranging from 5 pounds to nearly 1,500 pounds. These stones had to be carefully cut out of the building one-by-one, exacting sketches made and replicated from a quarry in Joliet, then meticulously installed. The project was proudly completed by Henry and his 70+ workmen 3 years later with no injuries. Upon his retirement, Henry received another letter from Mayor Daley, as well as a plethora of praise for his many decades of contributions as the premiere Chicago bricklayer.
All three men brought the honesty, integrity, and desire to succeed which they were taught in the old country, and they passed down these notable traditions to their descendants. We stand by these ideals, and bring our family's tradition of excellence to everything we do. I am proud to be followed by my son and grandsons, as their work already proves that the Jacobsen historical craftsmanship will live on into the next generation.
ANCESTRY OF
CRAFTSMAN
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a general contractor?
To put it simply, a general contractor (GC) is a project manager. They serve as the coordinator for your entire project, managing budgets, permits, materials, specialized tradesmen, general laborers, and inspections. Their direct supervision every step of the way is what really makes a project successful.
Typically, a GC has many years of experience across a diverse category of construction needs. That depth of experience makes a GC an excellent choice to accomplish any construction job, big or small. They bring unparalleled industry knowledge, a strong command of building codes, and a powerful toolbox of solutions to nearly every construction-related problem you can imagine. If you want a job done right the first time, hire a reputable general contractor first, and let them handle everything else.
Why should I hire one general contractor for everything?
When you have a construction project, one of the biggest struggles can be finding one highly rated party to do it all. You spend hours searching and collecting separate bids for different parts of your job, only to end up with a patchwork group of professionals who can't seem to coordinate and work together. Worse yet, if something goes wrong along the way, everyone is blaming someone else. By hiring a general contractor, you get the benefits of expert technicians and a well-seasoned supervisor to oversee your project from inception through all phases and conclusion. Hiring separate companies to handle each phase or small job may seem ideal in the short term, but the result can be quite a mess.
We serve a similar role for your construction needs as your primary care physician does your health. We handle most issues ourselves, and we organize referrals to specialists when needed. The big difference between us and your typical PCM (other than practicing medicine of course), is that we don't just pass the work off to the specialist. We are personally involved every step of the way. Imagine if you had a trusted doctor go with you to every medical appointment, taking detailed notes while supervising the quality and findings of all the care you receive. Okay, that might be a little obsessively involved for some of us when it comes to healthcare, but trust us: that is EXACTLY the level of attention to detail you want for your construction project.
We have seen it all: projects left half-finished, low quality materials, and even dangerously substandard installations that have resulted in severe injury. It's devastating to look at the broken pieces of jobs that went wrong. Unfortunately, that's the stage when many homeowners call us. They've heard about our reputation for high-quality work and effective restorations, and need someone they can trust to do the job right. We are proud of the trust that we've built with our clients since 1976, and we intend to give you the security and peace of mind that our thousands of satisfied customers have had when our work was complete.
Moral of the story? The sweet deal offered by subpar contractors leaves a long-lasting sour taste in your mouth. You might save a buck in the short-term, but it will only bring incredibly costly repairs down the road. We work to make sure that never happens to you.
Why do you charge for consultations?
We do charge a small consultation fee to reimburse us for our time and transportation costs for the in-person appointment. This fee is 100% refundable if you choose us to perform the quoted work. We provide an estimate at no cost to you.
It is very typical for homeowners to ask for bids from multiple contractors to compare prices. This is an excellent practice, and we recommend that you do this too. However, we're not just another contractor: we are a project manager. If you ask us for a quote, we plan every detail of your project BEFORE we give you our estimate. That value is not something you'll find elsewhere.
You'll find that while many of our competitors offer quick, "free" estimates upfront, some of them don't even look at your property before they give you a number. Inevitably, that "free" estimate may be a standard book price, and these are often not reflective of your specific project needs. Their inaccuracy results in unanticipated costs later.
Custom work needs custom pricing, and we stand behind our proposals.
The Project Success Roadmap
A long time ago, I learned the secret equation that increases the level of quality and makes every project successful (even if there are bumps along the way). I'm going to share that secret with you now:
TIME + EFFORT = SUCCESS!
It's pretty simple, really. The best results take more time and effort! Although we strive to complete each job as quickly as possible, we don't rush and skip steps. We treat your project as if it were our own property at stake, so we always take our time and put in the effort to reach 1st Class Quality work with everything we do.
Read on to learn about our process and warranty, and how you can help as we progress toward SUCCESS with your project.
1
Request a Quote
Our process starts the moment you submit your information. Once we receive your request, we start planning our approach, estimated labor and materials costs, and judging the level of care necessary for the job. You can expedite this step if you are extremely detailed in your initial quote request. By providing us with the address, exact scope of work, desired timeframe, budget, and pictures of the work area, you help us get you an estimate FASTER! We recommend requesting quotes from multiple contractors at least 4 weeks before your desired start date.
2
Consultation - $ (refundable)
After we have processed your request, we may reach out to schedule an in-person inspection/consultation. This appointment allows us to get a view of the surrounding work areas and potential hazards, while also refining our understanding of the work to be performed as we discuss your specific needs. We'll explain how we would plan to complete your project and give you an overview of costs. In most cases, we are available to schedule within 1 week of receiving your quote request. We recommend scheduling your consultation at least 3 weeks before your desired start date. The consultation fee (amount varies based on job specifics) is refunded upon acceptance of our proposal. The refund will be applied to the job bill, lowering your total payment. This fee reimburses us for our time and travel costs associated with the consultation.
3
Estimate and Proposal - FREE!
We gladly offer free estimates and proposals. Our typical turnaround time to provide you with our proposal is 1 week from the consultation appointment. Our proposal will include our total job pricing for materials, labor, transportation, and waste management fees. Although some jobs may result in price increases due to circumstances beyond our control (previously unknown structural deficiencies, surging market price for materials, etc.), we always try to be as transparent as possible with our price--there are no hidden fees, and the price you see is our best estimation for the total cost of your job. Now that you've received bids for your job, it's time to compare factors such as price, availability, and quality of work. Oftentimes, the cheapest bid is not going to be the best choice. Remember: you get what you pay for. We pride ourselves on offering a high standard of quality at a reasonable price. Cheap work is easy to find, and also typically first to fail. You'll find that our price is often "middle of the road" of our competitors for this reason. We offer premium materials and work, while saving you from a premium price tag. Our proposals are typically valid for 4 weeks, so take your time to make the decision that's best for YOU! If you decide to go with someone else, no hard feelings. Please just send us a quick email to let us know so that we can close out our file for your job.
Let us know if you do (or don't) accept our proposal!
4
Contract - $ (30% Deposit)
To get the job started, there's two easy steps. First, we'll sign a contract. This detailed document will outline our scope of work, including the specific issues you are facing, our approach to solve these issues, and the price of our service. It also spells out the industry standard payment schedule, with a 30% upfront deposit, proportional payments due at 60% and 90% completion, and a final bill for any remaining amount after the job is finished (service-call jobs are typically billed at the time of service). Next, after we both have signed the contract, you will pay the deposit when you're ready to get on our schedule. Typically, we can get your project scheduled to start within a 1-3 week timeframe after proposal acceptance, depending on our workload. In the meantime, we start organizing everything required to get your job done right the first time! This is the real benefit of hiring a general contractor: from here on out, your work is finished! We handle everything from here, including managing inspections, organizing partner contractors for specialty work, and all the things that come up along the way.
5
The Job - $ (Proportion Payments)
We are in the homestretch now! Here we are at the start date for your job. We'll ask you to move pets out of the work area, as well as any valuables and breakables. Throughout the project, we will give you periodic status updates, and inform you of any unexpected issues that come up along the way. If a certified inspection is required, we'll coordinate with you to find a time that works best. Most of our jobs are custom work, so the exact amount of time each job requires depends heavily on the work being performed. When the job is about 60% completed, your next proportional payment is due, according to the payment schedule in your contract. You'll pay the next proportional payment once we are mostly done with our work, and we'll ask you to walk through the project area and give us one punch list of details to get our work tuned to your exact specifications. Please let us know up front if you may face difficulties with making the payments. There may be room for us to space out these payments, but we can only help if you tell us!
6
Project SUCCESS!
With the job wrapped up and final bill paid, our work is made truly complete by our 1 year warranty. If something isn't quite right, let us know, and we'll come back and make it right, often at no cost to you. We also always ask our clients to leave us an honest review on Yelp, Google, and/or Facebook. By sharing your experience working with any contractor, you can help other people make informed decisions about their own projects. Your feedback is valuable, and your satisfaction is our priority! Now it's time to sit back, relax, and enjoy the quality work by our team. If you ever have a new project on the horizon, we're only a call, email, or click away.
© 2026 • GARY J. BUILDING DOCTOR, LLC
serving Northwest Indiana & Chicago
Gary Jacobsen, owner
10803 Potomac Drive
DeMotte, IN 46310