About FREELITE
FREELITE, which began in Tucson in 1977 under the name “Desert Living,” was not founded by businessmen. We were seven friends in our twenties, well-educated but naive, with big ideas and varying levels of carpentry experience. We were not particularly money-driven, and we were poorly capitalized, but we were resourceful and we were persistent. Our goal was to build an organization that would provide a livelihood for ourselves and for others while materially impacting our customers in a beneficial way. The company was to be a vehicle for making a mark on the world.
We quickly learned that it wasn’t easy to start and sustain a business. We tried landscaping, and then greenhouse building, and made very little money in those early years. Eventually we stumbled on a new product, skylights, that was just coming into vogue, and we were able to ride the wave of a new trend in home improvement: opening up interior spaces to natural light.
In 1981, Chip Marvin moved to Phoenix with $500 and an old Ford pick-up truck to open a branch under the trade name “FREELITE,” and, later, other partners carried the business to Los Angeles, San Diego, and Dallas. Eventually the company split up into five separate entities, all of which are still in operation. Our continued shortage of money posed many challenges. Lacking the resources needed for a showroom and a large inventory , we couldn’t sell as many skylights as the big home improvement retailers. Instead, out of necessity, we concentrated on skylight installations, and soon it became apparent we had tapped into something marketable. People didn’t like having to buy the product from a store and then shop for different tradesmen to perform the various types of work -carpentry , roofing, drywall finishing, painting, etc. -that comprise a typical installation. As specialty contractors offering “one-stop” shopping, we were able to bridge the huge gap in the buying process between the firsr stirring of a customer’s interest and their actual enjoyment of the product in their home. Our business philosophy was to take complete responsibility for each project. This meant: listening to our customers to ascertain their needs and desires; educating them as to available options; matching a skylight design to their requirements using a low-key, no-pressure sales approach; and, finally, executing a professional installation, down to finishing touches.
Over the years, market demand and our desire to grow as a company have fueled an expansion into other daylighting products that enhance the beauty and value of homes: windows, doors, dome ceilings, and atrium enclosures. And while we have developed a large retail sales division, the heart of our business remains residential installations. Almost all of the items we carry are also available at the big chain stores and yet we now sell a greater volume of our premium skylight, Velux, than do all of the Arizona Home Depot outlets combined. This is because we do more than simply sell products; by overseeing our daylighting projects from start to finish, we literally transform living spaces. We haye responded to our customers and are successful as a result. Our slogan says it all: “We Deliver Daylight.”
