Today we’d like to introduce you to Christine and Jerry van Rooy.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Christine and Jerry. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
We’re a husband and wife team that wanted to create a business that would allow us to travel the world and eventually, when we had children, be able to be at home with them. During the great recession of 2007 (five years into our careers) the construction industry was hit particularly hard. Many of our friends in Architecture and Design were being laid off or closing their doors. It was scary, but we took that time as an opportunity to leave our jobs on our own terms and start our own company.
Our first project was a contract that only covered 1/4 of what we would make if we stayed employed. It was a gamble, but it was worth it. It gave us the opportunity to help a great family on the east coast completely design and rebuild their 30 years old restaurant that had been struggling for several years. Through that experience we identified a need for professional design services to help independent restaurateurs who would otherwise be priced out of great design and unable to compete with popular chain restaurants.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Our job is to make the design process as smooth as possible for our clients, however the process of a design project in general is a real battle… other than our completed work the road is pretty bumpy. And while there are always challenges with each project, we really enjoy it. We chose to build a company that worked for us and here we are 12 years later still doing what we love. We chose to stay small so we can be nimble. The most difficult part of this business is consistency. We’re either so busy, we are putting in 80 hour weeks, or it slows down so fast that we change gears and shift to marketing. We’re lucky in that we’ve done very little marketing and have still managed to secure great clients all through word-of-mouth referrals. We are very proud of that because having lasted this long with only word-of-mouth referrals, to us means our work – and the relationships we have developed along the way with our clients – speaks for itself.
Another struggle we encountered was that we started from scratch. Typically, a designer goes out on their own after several years of projects and acquiring key contacts and clients from a previous job. We didn’t have that luxury. We only had five years under our belts working for others when we started our design firm. Most business experts say it’s best to find a mentor to help develop your client list. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really happen like that for every start-up. In this industry, it’s difficult to find a mentor. Every potential mentor we spoke to shied away from offering guidance; they seemed more threatened by us being potential competition. We could’ve been discouraged by that, I suppose, but instead we took it as a sign that we were building a great design firm.
Please tell us about Vanrooy Design.
We are a small design studio based in Southern California — husband and wife owned and passionate about creating beautiful and unique spaces for our clients and their guests. We currently have five employees. We specialize in hospitality environments (hotels, restaurants, and bars). We are laser-focused on getting the details right and putting together designs that offer a great return on investment, as well as lead to increased revenues for our clients. We identify the greatest design impact and bang for your brand. It’s important to us to create a great design without breaking the bank. It just takes more effort and greater attention to detail, which is really our calling card.
We are most proud of the projects that help small restaurants or cafes become successful businesses; generating profits and security for their employees and family. We are also extremely proud of our most recent project. This week we are revealing a $23 million dollar design – the complete hotel renovation of the Westin Downtown Long Beach, Calif. The design is a tribute to our love for the local area and the beauty of the Southern California coastline. It’s special to us because we hold Long Beach so close to our hearts. It’s where we went to school, met, started our business, landed our first hotel project, and now we’re back completing our largest hotel project to date.
For the past 12 years, we have essentially operated below the radar. Now, we are slowly making a name for ourselves beyond just word-of-mouth referrals. We have several big projects on the horizon and so we’re excited to see what this next year holds for us.
We’ve been told that what sets us apart from others is that we are very hands-on as owners and obsessively dedicated to the successful outcome of our designs.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
For us, our business has been part of building our family, so I would say we wouldn’t change much. The struggles have led to essential growth and have made us what we are. If someone asks, we would say, work for an industry leader that you admire long enough to learn how to get clients. Make sure you know how to create proposals and how much to charge for your services. Then launch – determined, relentless, listening and adjusting to your clients and the industry.
Contact Info:
- Address: 149 E. City Place Dr.
Santa Ana, CA 92705 - Website: vanrooydesign.com
- Phone: (657) 210-4080
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vanrooydesign/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VANROOY.design/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/vanrooy_design
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