Scott Pettengill

Owner

This is hard to think about yourself and what you want people to know about you and your business.
I started Freedom Designs after a motorcycle accident leaving me sitting in a recliner thinking about what I wanted to do. I started researching software to start my own home design business because I always wanted to work for an architect which never happened for me. I found a cheap software that got me started. This software wasn't the best and took a lot of time to draw a set of plans, so after a couple of jobs I started looking for a different software and I happened to find one of the softwares I used in High School. I had business cards made up to give to people that showed any interest in my business but I didn't know that one friend that had a bulletin board outside his business was going to catapult my business as far as it did with just 5 business cards. After getting jobs from simply putting cards on a bulletin board I got real serious about starting my company. I started putting more time and effort into my company Freedom Designs, without knowing where it was going to take me but I knew that it was worth putting time into even if it was just enough money coming in that would pay for my software. I knew this would be something for me to do when I had down time and when I retired from my 40 hour a week job.
I didn't know that it was going to replace my 40 hour week job but I am so glad it did. I feel like I get more done during my working hours which is not 8-4. I check emails up to the time I go to bed. I am always thinking about my designs and what I could do to make them better for the client.
I like to think that I am different then most designers, I try to put myself in the clients shoes thinking about how I would want to be treated and what I would expect.
I try thinking about what my expectations would be if the roles were reversed every time I sit down with a client. I try to offer them more than another designer would. I think I do that with my sit down approach, coming to them and looking at the land and how this new structure is going to interact with the existing structure and the land, talking through their ideas and explaining what I see in their design and how I could change something that may be little and it makes a huge difference in their home. I may have multiple jobs going at once but I am always thinking about every job that I have working, I find that working on a job that I can make progress on helps me with that one job that I am stuck on that one design element.
I made the jump to bet on myself and I am so glad that I did. I have the ability to spend the time with my family that I have always wanted to and even if I am not sitting at my computer drawing a floor plan or section views I am processing my next move all while spending that quality time with the family.