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Remodeling Firm Thriving Despite Pandemic Fears

Alison Dorvillier thought the COVID-19 pandemic would bring a halt to the remodeling business for her Inplace Studio.

She was wrong.

Business has been thriving for the La Jolla design and architecture company she founded in 2000 with her husband, Andy Dorvillier.

“We really weren’t expecting to get any clients during this thing,” Dorvillier said.

She figured that the shelter-in-place rules brought on by the pandemic may be a factor.

“When you get face-to-face with your 25-year-old kitchen, you might say, ‘hmmm, it’s time,” Dorvillier said.

So far, the pandemic also hasn’t hit real estate prices hard as happened in the Great Recession.

People Pretty Confident

People feel pretty confident, Dorvillier said.

In one recent weekend alone, she said she had four new potential clients, and she has several ongoing projects from full home remodels to smaller projects.

The focus of their business is on cabinetry and kitchen and bathroom remodeling.

“We have 20 active projects right now,” Dorvillier said. ”Nobody asked for their money back and nobody cancelled their project.”

She said one client has put a project on hold, but she expects that will resume post-pandemic.

Moving Forward

“It’s not that we’re getting flooded with clients but the clients we have are moving forward,” Dorvillier said.

Most of her work is high end residential, and unlike during and after the Great Recession, Dorvillier said they’re more concerned in getting their projects done than in the economic downturn the pandemic is causing.

Because of the inquiries she’s getting, “I think we’re going to see a big uptick in May,” Dorvillier said.

If the pandemic has indeed caused a recession, Dorvillier said this will be her third.

The first was when she was right out of college in 1995-96.

“I couldn’t find a job. I had to work at Crate & Barrel.

After Crate& Barrel, Dorvillier went to work for a Boston architectural firm.

She found the work unsatisfying.

“I did commercial buildings, mostly university housing offices, that kind of stuff,” Dorvillier said. “When you do commercial architecture, you’re either working with a committee or subcommittee. You really never work with the people who use the building.”

Prefers Working With End User

Dorvillier said she prefers working with the end user, which is why she got into residential remodeling.

Dorvillier attributes her interest in design and architecture to growing up in Reston, VA – a master-planned community.

Reston is a very design-oriented community,” Dorvillier said. “I was very influenced by that.”

She earned a bachelor’s degree from the Carnegie Melon Institute.

While Inplace Studio has been thriving, the pandemic has posed more of a challenge for the high-end Mission Hills housewares store she owns in partnership with Tami Ratliffe, the former owner of Café Chloe in East Village. Café Chloe closed in 2018.

Dorvillier said the store – Lewis Fay – is “my new passion project.”

“We’re trying to figure out how to create gifts, make bundles of gifts delivered to people locally for Mother’ Day, Father’s Day, graduations,” Dorvillier said. “We’ve been frantically working, trying to sell things when the store’s not open.”

Despite the challenge, Dorvillier is optimistic.

“The community of Mission Hills is a lot like La Jolla. People are pretty loyal. They want us in the neighborhood they’re definitely supportive, helping us stay open,” she said.

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