Designer

Working one’s way up in business is a rite of passage — even if that business was started by your grandfather and is now owned and operated by your father and uncles. Just ask Austin Waldhauser, who went from “drawing out my ‘future house’ floor plan before I even was old enough to read blueprints” to working summers as an installation helper at family-owned Kenwood Kitchens in Columbia, Md., to a designer-in-training when one of the company’s employees decided to retire. Austin now holds the title of Kitchen and Bath Designer and has been responsible for 17 kitchen remodels, 27 bathroom remodels and 28 miscellaneous projects totaling $1.8 million in sales.

Austin admits there are both pros and cons to his family connection. “I’d say a big pro is showing clients that I have more skin in the game, being a part of the family,” he notes. “A con might be that I may need to do more than my job description to make sure the business runs smoothly. I can’t play the ‘not my job’ card!”

“Seeing before and after pictures makes you feel like you accomplished something great that will impact your client’s life for so many years.”

While his daily routine runs the gamut from meeting clients and measuring spaces to creating AutoCAD plans and 2020 Design renderings, Austin has also taken it upon himself to attend many factory trainings — including Kohler, Sub-Zero Wolf, Elmwood, Wood-Mode and Mapei Tile & Stone Installation Systems — and has played a major role in training designers at Kenwood. Over the past two years, he has also been involved in Kenwood’s showroom expansions. During Maryland’s COVID-19 “stay-at-home” order, he worked from home to create virtual presentations for clients.

A recipient of awards and a five-star rating for his Houzz page, Austin loves the combination of “feeling and function,” the colors and textures that create the finished product —a long with the client’s reaction. “Seeing before and after pictures makes you feel like you accomplished something great that will impact your client’s life for so many years,” he says.

In his own life, which he shares with his wife, Lindsay, German Shepard/Husky mix Colby and cats Button and Yoda, Austin is a huge Baltimore Ravens fan who also enjoys cooking, escaping to the beach in Ocean City, Md., and running a Disc Golf business on the side. On his must-do list: kids, a house with a big yard and travel.