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Meet Devin Lish and Ronda Sanson of D & R Design in Chandler

Today we’d like to introduce you to Devin Lish and Ronda Sanson.

Devin and Ronda, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Devin was in industrial construction this caused him to travel constantly keeping him away for months at a time, this became a concern as this is not a healthy or happy relationship. After the last separation of almost 6 months and the project wrapping up in Virginia he decided to come back to Phoenix and pursue opportunities here at home. Almost immediately after he came home he became bored and decided to build barn doors for our office space, I had been wanting them for sometime. I knew Devin had woodworking experience as he has made a few other pieces including a 14’ wine bar for our home but I had no idea of how truly talented he was. While he was in the process of making the barn doors, mind you using storage bins in the garage as makeshift tables, we had several friends show an interest and decided to build more doors and a couple pieces of furniture for friends.The response has been amazing and we now offer full design service, room renovations and a full line of custom woodworking pieces. While Devin builds and installs all of the projects, he and I both work together at designing spaces for our clients and as for myself I handle all of the quoting, scheduling, bookkeeping and customer service aspects of the business as well as helping in the shop when needed. We are extremely busy and as crazy as it gets some days we wouldn’t change a thing and feel completely blessed.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It has definitely not been a smooth road, we have had serious adversities along the way, we literally had no capital to be starting a business. Devin was not having any luck landing a position, I was having trouble finding a full-time position as well. Devin was driving for Lyft at night starting at around 9 PM and would work until after 3 AM come home and sleep until 9 AM and work all day. With the extremely positive response we received we decided to do this full-time. We pride ourselves on becoming so successful in such a short amount of time and we firmly believe it has everything to do with the customer service we provide as well as quality products at a very competitive range. March will be our one year mark and we already have a great following in our community and hope to continue to grow!

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about D & R Design – what should we know?
We offer full design service as well as room renovations, custom furniture pieces, wood planked/shiplap walls, unique barn door designs and custom built in designs. Devin has a talent of replicating almost anything, most of the furniture pieces we build are based off of a picture someone sends us. We are most proud of the unique projects we have been asked to do including recently landing and completing our first corporate project, we built a 16′ wall of shelves for one of the tech companies in Chandler as well as landing an exciting project with a local landscaping company. We feel we stand out from our competition as we offer so many services to our clients as we aren’t just a woodworking company, we can take someone’s vision and turn it into reality while realizing that no two clients have the same budget and always working to achieve their dreams within their budgets. I have almost completed all of my courses in real estate school and Devin is days away from becoming a licensed contractor. We hope to provide any and all services our clients may need!

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
We have had an amazing amount of support from our friends, family and our community. I have to give my sister RaShea Lane lots of credit she really helped us in the beginning, she saw something in what we were doing and had such faith in us succeeding she paid for our first booth at the Home & Garden show last spring and helped with some marketing tools. Our biggest support comes from our amazing friends and their continued word of mouth and the wonderful community! We absolutely wouldn’t be here without being truly blessed! We have to admit Chip and Joanna Gains are a huge inspiration to us!

Contact Info:


Image Credit:
Main Photo: Melissa Shumway Photography

Getting in touch: VoyagePhoenix is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

2 Comments

  1. Dan Self

    February 22, 2018 at 11:04 pm

    I’ve known and worked with Devin for over a decade and he is a great person, honest, dependable and always delivers quality work. Glad to see him creating a new revenue stream for himself and his family, but will miss him in the trades.

  2. Brian Pinks

    October 30, 2018 at 2:07 am

    I had a bid from Ronda and D&R Design. I wanted to hire them after seeing some of their work and seeing the passion for my project from Ronda. They were not available during the time I needed them for my project. I had to go with another that was available. I got stuck behind in my project and reached out to Ronda and told her I needed help on fireplace build before my tile guys got to it. Devin came in and looked at a Pinterest picture and said I will get this done for you. He absolutely crushed it working super hard and efficiently. Devin built an extremely awesome fireplace wall. Our family was so happy our project was not delayed. I believe they are very great people! You won’t be disappointed! Hire D&R Design!

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