Jeffrey Sandhorf
It turns out that Jeffrey Sandorf, Vice President of Division Sales, Southern California Division at Thomas James Homes has a long history in Pacific Palisades. His mother had entire chapter devoted to her “cheerleader” in “What Really Happened to the Class of ’65?”
His children 14 and 18 are fifth generation Palisadians. He worked with Amalfi Founder Anthony Marguleas from 2009-2013. And during that time, he worked with Palisadian-Post editor Bill Bruns, who helped hone the real estate articles he submitted. It was this background that resulted in his hiring by TJH.
“My passion is for the Palisades,” Sandorf said and added about his position that “this endeavor is also personal.”
“All we want to do is provide a pathforward,” he said.
TJH provides a portfolio of choices that range from 2,350 to 4,000 sq. ft. The approximate fixed price starts at about $650 sq. ft. “We’re also collaborating with the City and have submitted three plans,” Sandorf said. On July 23, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass said the city will offer “pre-approved, code-complaint” designs for homes.
TJH offers architectural design, city approval and complete construction, which includes hardscaping, doors, windows and lights. Not included in the price are swimming pools and retaining walls.
“We partner with homeowners to see which plan will work best on their site (lot specific),” he said. The company will give a land development analysis.
“We will arrive at a build contract, that will capture all costs,” said Sandorf, who said that currently TJH is working on between 25 to 30 rebuilds.
He also pointed out that change orders can up the prices that homeowners rebuilding may face, but that with TJH, that doesn’t often happen.
Currently, TJH is working on a showcase home on Kagawa, with drywall started last week. “It’s so neighbors can see what we’re doing,” Sandorf said, and noted that the company had built more than 60 homes in Pacific Palisades prior to the fire.
“We feel like were partners in the community,” he said and urges people to “do your homework and know who you’re working with.”
He said that anyone in the Palisades who is thinking of building can reach out directly to him and he’ll walk people through the steps. He told CTN that every homeowner is different and needs specific information and he’s willing to take time to address individual’s needs. click here. To contact Sandorf, email jsandorf@tih.com
(On that website—it notes that “if you’re rebuilding in Pacific Palisades, one can learn more about the fixed priced and 12-month delivery guarantee.)
This Kagawa house is a Thomas James Home and one of the first to be built in the Alphabet Streets.
That “showcase” Kagawa house was at 915 and was 1652 sf, sold in November 2024 according to Zillow. I don’t know if it was demolished before the fire. What is clear is that now it’s going to be a grotesque monster tract home, too big for the
lot. Sanford sounds like just another one making money from our tragedy.
As an Alphabet street resident, I find this ad, disguised as an altruistic, human interest story to be upsetting. Taste is certainly subjective, but I know I’m not the only neighbor who found Thomas James homes to be a plague pre-fire and who is now at least partially basing their own rebuilding decisions on whether we are to be surrounded by large, dense, white boxes. Also, while taste is subjective, safety is not…and the fact that these houses tend to fill up nearly the whole lot is very concerning, especially considering what we now know about fire spread.
Yuck. Big white boxes with black trim that look like all the others. And they take out the street trees in the parkways that were planted by Palisades Beautiful and are on City property. Really not cool. And illegal. They have been cited for it in the past and they’ll just keep doing it because most of the time no one notices.
A crammed McMansion where it clearly doesn’t fit. Who builds a dam building like this? It’s ridiculous. Do these losers not know why the January 7th fire caught every home on just about every street? Could these clowns have built this sore thumb of an eye sore any closer to the side lines?