Building with Love
Meet Niki and Ryan Van Anda of Van Anda Construction, LLC
Many businesses say that they do their work with love—but the husband and wife team behind Van Anda Construction, LLC have perhaps a greater claim than most.
Founded in 2001, Van Anda Construction is a family-owned contracting business specializing in home renovation projects, and is co-owned and operated by Ryan Van Anda and Niki Van Anda. The two are originally from California—and have known each other nearly all their lives. The pair dated through high school. After graduation, Ryan had the chance to move to Lititz, PA to learn the trade of home flips and renovations. Niki was still in school and couldn’t join him on the move, but travelled with him for the summer and spent three months in Pennsylvania—and fell in love with central PA.
“During that summer in 1989, we saw the firework display in Lititz Springs Park and ever since, I always compared everything to that,” Niki says with a laugh. “I was living in San Diego at the time, so we had great fireworks. But in my mind, nothing compared to Lititz.”
The couple broke up after that summer, as Ryan stayed in Lititz to continue learning his trade and Niki returned to California to finish high school.
Cut to: twenty years later—it’s 2009 and Niki has never forgotten her summer in Lancaster County. An opportunity arises for her to move to Lititz from where she was then living in Wisconsin, and she jumps at it. Ryan and Niki reunite and have been happily married since.
“There is so much love in our work,” Niki says of Van Anda Construction. “Being a husband and wife team made working together different. We’re best friends.” And it’s clear they’ve found a balance that works perfectly for them—and their business. Ryan spends most of his time on their current construction sites, managing their team and doing hands-on work, while two years ago, Niki took over the management of their social media accounts, invoices, drafting, and other aspects of the business.
And you can see their love manifested in every single aspect of the work they do—from their focus on making sure the smallest details of any home are absolutely perfect, to the care and attention they put into communication and developing a working relationship with their clients.
Nowhere is the Van Anda team’s love for their work more evident than in their most recent flip in downtown Lancaster.
Originally built in the 1880s, this three-unit combines the magic of an old home with fresh, modern trends. The Van Andas unearthed and refinished the home’s stunning original inlay floors. They updated the kitchen with gorgeous hunter green cabinets, quartz countertops, open shelving, and gold accents. They kept the home’s original, decorative 8” woodwork and added a space for a stacked in-unit washer and dryer, as well as a new coat closet for added storage space (of which old homes are notoriously lacking!). The powder room has been perked up with blue and white tile and gold fixtures.
“I just fell in love with the home. We’re adding so many special touches,” Niki shares. “It is going to be really neat. When a home has a rich, old character, I want to play that up as much as possible. We found the original door hinges underneath layers and layers of paint. They were the type of door hinges used in mansions, so we refinished them and are using them in the home.”
She continues, “We maintain as much of the character of an older home as possible—but reimagine the space for modern living.”
It’s clear that Niki lives and breathes home trends. After seeing a new project for the first time, she’ll often lose herself in the planning and drafting process for hours, thrilled to spend time designing the perfect space for her clients. “Sometimes I feel like, ‘I have to design this kitchen right now!’” Niki says with a laugh.
As for what’s coming next in Lancaster’s home trends?
“I would love to see more homes mixing antique, vintage style with the super modern. The juxtaposition of those two styles together creates such a unique space,” Niki says. “Lancaster County has antique shops everywhere and the mixing of antique touches with modern design is absolutely beautiful.” And in a way, is this mixing of old and new not perfectly symbolic of Lancaster itself? An old city, brimming with history and tradition—and yet open to new ideas, encouraging of creativity, and seeking constantly to grow.
Niki also predicts that a bohemian revolution is coming for central PA, at least in the world of interior design.
“I think mixing boho touches into the popular modern farmhouse aesthetic is the next trend in Lancaster,” she says. “Fun touches like colored cabinets—I actually saw pink cabinets in a home recently—and beaded light fixtures can add so much to a space.”
And what’s next for Van Anda Construction? Well, the sky’s the limit.
“We would love to build a custom home from the bottom up,” Niki says. “We have so much fun helping our clients dream big and find ideas for their space to work with their style and color preferences. We also love working on home additions, building extra space into their lives.”
She continues, “We’ve actually never advertised our business. It’s always grown from word of mouth, and we’re lucky to always be busy.” Over the past two decades, Van Anda Construction has grown into what it is today, thanks to the love and care of its owners, Ryan and Niki Van Anda.
For more information, email vananda@ptd.net or call (717) 568-6200. You can find Van Anda Construction on Facebook or Instagram
By Maddy Pontz
