Coeur d’Alene architecture and design concern Eric Hedlund Design LLC, which does business as EH Design, has seen rapid growth in the last few years, after having come into its own in the wake of the Great Recession, says Eric Hedlund, the company’s president and owner.

EH Design had developed a relationship with the Gozzer Ranch and Black Rock golf communities, both on Lake Coeur d’Alene, that carried it through the recession and continues today, although the design company now focuses on a broader luxury-home market than just golf communities and clubhouses.

Upcoming residential projects include six homes along the Spokane River in the Bellerive section of the Riverstone development in Coeur d’Alene.

Hedlund founded EH Design in 2007. The company occupies a single-story building located at 754 N. Fourth in Coeur d’Alene’s Midtown section, having moved there in 2012.

Robert Schmidt, a project manager for several Black Rock projects on the west side of Lake Coeur d’Alene, who Hedlund had known since they met in college, joined EH Design in 2008. Interior designer Amy Young, another University of Idaho grad, came on board in 2011, becoming the third member of the core team.

As the overall golf-community market slowed during and since the recession, EH Design has managed to land enough luxury home projects to keep busy, Hedlund says.

“Rob and I were never slow. We designed three houses in the last two years at Black Rock,” he says, adding that three or four of the company’s residential projects are under construction at Gozzer Ranch properties on the east side of Lake Coeur d’Alene.

Values for such homes often are in the multimillion-dollar range, Hedlund says.

In many of its projects, EH Design also manages construction.

The company’s revenue has climbed 15 percent to 20 percent annually during the last three years, he says.

In that time, the company also has grown from three people to eight, adding fully licensed architect Jim Boudreau, three project managers, and an administrative assistant. 

About 70 percent of EH Design’s current and recent projects are luxury homes, with the remainder being commercial projects. Most projects are for new construction, while interior designs and remodel work makes up about a quarter of the projects, Hedlund says.

EH Design’s largest current commercial project is a $2.5 million, 30,000-square-foot office and shop facilities for StanCraft Boat Co., which is under construction at 2935 W. Dakota, in Hayden. Young Construction Group of Idaho Inc. is the contractor on the project, which is expected to be completed by early 2016.

Another current EH Design project is a $1 million office building under construction in Riverstone. Aspen Homes & Development LLC and Labor Consultants International Ltd. plan to occupy the 8,800-square-foot building, which is 75 percent completed, Hedlund says.

Aspen Homes is acting as its own contractor on the project, which will be owned by principals in both companies.

EH Design also recently completed interior design work at the Davenport Grand Hotel, in downtown Spokane.

Northwest design styles are changing, Hedlund says. They’re turning toward open and airy styles with more emphasis on glass, and turning away from heavy and dark styles with stone and timber features, he asserts.

Many customers also are looking for luxury in smaller space, he says, although a smaller home design for Hedlund’s clientele is about 4,000 square feet, rather than 10,000 or more square feet.

More than two-thirds of EH Design’s work is in the Inland Northwest. Many of EH Design’s clients, however, are seasonal residents here, and they often hire the company to design and manage projects in other states.

Though that work takes him all over the country, including Texas, California, Arizona, and Florida, Hedlund says he has no desire to live anywhere else.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he says. 

Indeed, Hedlund says he’s designing his own next home in the Bellerive area, neighboring some of his clients.

EH Design will continue to focus on high-end residential and commercial projects, Hedlund says, adding, however, that it’s unlikely that golf community development will return to the industry boon that lasted from 1990 to 2005.

Hedlund says design is all he’s ever known in terms of career aspirations.

He says he was barely in the ninth grade when he designed a 2,400-square-foot home for a family friend in California shortly before Hedlund moved with his father and grandfather to North Idaho.

After graduating from St. Maries High School, Hedlund earned degrees in architecture and interior design at the University of Idaho.

From there, he began his professional design career in California and Colorado.

In 1996, he co-founded Marsh & Associates Inc., focusing on golf and country club designs in Denver, building the company up to a staff of 28.

Hedlund returned to North Idaho in 2004 and was lead designer for the Black Rock development before launching his own company.