Greetings! I'm Jeff Altom, the designer and proprietor at Artisan. Home design has been my passion since childhood, with my early school projects involving houses made from clay and passive solar science experiments. Growing up I got to observe my dad work on a never ending list of remodeling projects to improve our home, and learned from his love of creating things and his approach of doing things right the first time.
So while I became an engineer instead of an architect and had a successful career in technology, I've also spent much of that time building and remodeling homes and helping clients design new homes and redesign existing spaces.
In 2002 I was blessed to be able to switch careers and pursue my passion full-time, starting a design/build firm in Wisconsin. Over the next 10 years we completed more than 65 new home builds and remodeling projects, working with great clients and refining my process for design, budgeting and planning. And while I loved everything about the business, the Great Recession and housing crash made life really difficult for my company and thousands of other small builders across the country. So even though we survived the downturn, in 2012 I made the difficult decision to close the business rather than wait for the housing market to return.
So back I went to the tech field to help rebuild a small IT company and find solutions for those clients ... while continuing my design services as a side business. Having recently transitioned the tech company to new owners, I've once again been blessed to be able to focus on home design on a full-time basis. Which brings me full circle back to pursue my passion for helping clients create homes that work for their families and enhance their lives!
When I'm not drawing house plans or helping clients plan for improving their home, you'll find me working on my house, playing with our grandkids, or hiking around the Blue Ridge Mountains with my wife Stephanie from our home base in Roanoke, Virginia.
I look forward to getting to know you to see how I can help!
