Page 94 - Southern Oregon Magazine Fall 2022

welcome home | build

wanted to build. Each riser of the staircase is wrapped in white oak, in Asia provide materials faster or at better prices than are currently
and the open design gives a clean and unique look to the space. “It’s available for some items.
very modern,” he notes.
It’s also allowed for a range of local job specialties within his company, as
Livni’s attention to detail has earned him a reputation that keeps new they frequently produce and supply their own flooring, cabinets, siding,
clients coming in. Like any long term connection, he acknowledges decking, or other lumber products from his plantation resources. It’s a
that the timeline of a build project makes good communication and an trade-off that has served his clients well. “Otherwise we’d be all day long
understanding of each client’s dream a necessary part of beginning a chasing the materials.” Certain items, he admits, can still be frustrating.
new project. “It’s always a tricky relationship and we want the fit to be A big window can take up to eight months, and in some projects, like a
good. We want it to be successful.” Their team brings an understand- recently completed 7,000-square-foot custom home, those delays can
ing of the process to the table that is working well, as is evident in the almost double the project timeline.
continued recommendations of past clients. “I never advertise. For 30
years, people have been referring people looking for a new home to With five construction licenses now between California and Oregon,
us.” Livni has built up a team of mixed skills that mean they can cover many
aspects of a build themselves, along with subbing with area contrac-
Even with their years of consistent growth, Magnolia Fine Homes faced tors for needed specialty skills. Magnolia Fine Homes currently has
a significant setback in the fall of 2020. “We had just finished a 40-unit 15 employees on their Rogue Valley team. While he admits that hiring
apartment building in Talent,” recalls Livni, but when the Almeda fires challenges make this one of his smaller crews, it is still a team he has
swept the valley, “we burned out.” It meant replanning and replacing confidence in as they tackle multiple projects to supply fine homes to
the facilities they lost, even as they worked to provide housing again for the Rogue Valley.
the residents of the Rogue Valley.

But what has also been a unique advantage for Magnolia Fine Homes, Magnolia Fine Homes
particularly in recent years, is Livni’s connections to Cambodia, where 453 Tucker St, Ashland Oregon
he owns several plantations. From these, he is able to provide truck- 510-913-5110
loads of timber and wood supplies to his Talent site at a time when U.S. www.magnoliafinehomes.com
supply chains have been slow to recover after the demands on the local
post-Almeda Fire construction industry and during the 2020 COVID.
“We supply other people as well,” he adds, and while he fully realizes
that local sourcing has many advantages, he has seen those connections

92 www.southernoregonmagazine.com | fall 2022