About Freedom Vans
Freedom Vans was founded on the f r e e d o m of the off grid lifestyle; and we are here to enable this lifestyle for our clients. We wish to give people the foundation for their adventures; an off grid home (permanent or secondary) that will allow you to comfortably relax after a day of skiing, a big bike ride, a challenging climb, or a stroll down the beach. A place to enjoy a snack or a nap in between. Whatever the adventure- we want to build the van for you.
We are a small business that works closely with our clients to bring their dreams to life. Solar power systems are our specialty, specifically tailored to our clients needs. Attention to detail and quality are the most important factors to us in a project, as you can see in our project gallery. If you are looking for a custom and personal experience, we are right here in Bellingham, WA.
Tom Doran and Kyleigh Rogers, owners of Freedom Vans, with their daughter Ember.
Tom Doran, Co-owner
Tom co-founded Freedom Vans after 14 months of living life outside the box. Frustrated with the high costs of rent and few rental opportunities, Tom outfitted his 1996 Ford D’elegant Conversion Van with solar power and a fridge. A small sink and a microwave kept the comfort high and the costs low. This was the start of discovering a passion for the alternative way of living and adventuring.
Less than a year later, Tom upgraded to a 170″ 2007 Sprinter Van, giving him the space to carry his dirt bike and mountain bikes. FREEDOM. In June 2015, Tom quit his job of 8 years in Solar Power Installation to compete in the Big Mountain Enduro mountain bike race series around Colorado. He took on this adventure with Kyleigh, and they became a great team in forming what the company is today. He now has the freedom to bring to others what has changed his life; vans for comfortable living, travel, and independence.
Co-owner of Freedom Vans, Tom works with our team to create and build dream vans for our clients. With an eye for detail, he handcrafts all of the cabinetry and woodwork. He specializes in power systems, providing clients with the ultimate off-grid adventure vehicle! With years of experience in leading the shop team through more than 90 builds from the launch of the business, Tom has tuned his skills in providing clients with high-quality vans for their off the grid exploration.
Kyleigh Rogers, Co-owner
Kyleigh co-founded Freedom Vans with a high motivation to share a vision with others who were passionate about living freely through the joys of van life. Kyleigh graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a Bachelor of Science degree in Social Sciences. Van life appealed to her background in Anthropology and Geography, and her authentic care for the clients and this work has led this company to grow and flourish. Kyleigh and Tom discovered their Freedom Vans vision while on the road in Colorado, where they have since grown an inspired business in Bellingham, WA.
By being closely involved in each step of a build, from start to finish, Kyleigh has refined our work here and holds a high integrity for providing a thoughtful and quality experience for our clients. She has developed her management skills from her previous experience as a certified teacher in California and through her work as an Americorps VIP where she managed 25+ employees a week. At Freedom Vans she manages our team and leads us to reaching our short and long term goals as we continue to step into the future. Kyleigh is there from the meet and greet, to designing and planning for the project, to ensuring overall happiness once the van leaves our shop. Once you have a Freedom Van, you’re a part of the family.
hannah hendrickson, Sales & Marketing
Hannah grew up on a farm in a small town on the Olympic Peninsula, where she spent most of her days outdoors or doing art. She graduated from the Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2018 and then moved up to Bellingham to be closer to the mountains and British Columbia. Her passion for travel and nature brought her to Freedom Vans, where she has contributed her skills in photography, videography, marketing and sales support. Her photography work and video production has added great value to the company’s social media and YouTube van tours. Her eye finely captures the craftsmanship of our van conversions and allows our community to see the details and quality work accomplished in our shop. Hannah loves hiking and going on road trips in her free time, and she is finishing up her own van build for her future adventures! We recommend you check out more of Hannah’s work and photography on her Instagram.
Abby Butzen, Design Engineer
Abby, fueled by her love of the outdoors and new adventures, transplanted to Bellingham from Wisconsin in 2016. After graduating with a BS in Mechanical Engineering, she went on to work in the HVAC and Marine industries. Working with clients on the design of their systems and boats perfectly primed her to conquer the spatial restrictions of designing a van. You could say the stars aligned when Kyleigh and Tom moved next door to her, which piqued her interest in van life. Abby works closely with clients to decide all aspects of the van layout, often down to the inch. She has designed over thirty van conversions with Freedom Vans, and that number is quickly growing. When she’s not creating van designs, she is busy honing one of her many crafts. Whether it be biking, snowboarding, silversmithing, yoga, hiking or mindfulness at the beach – she will always be accompanied by her furriest friend, Bosa.
Seth Feralin, Carpentry Lead
Kristian Duft, Van Builder
Kristian grew up on the move living in many places, and stays psyched on getting out to new destinations and new (sa-weet) mountains. He is repping the Freedom Vans motto of getting out and exploring. “Have fun doing it ‘your way’”, he says. Kristian has a bachelors in Fine Arts and took his skills into the field of mechanics, where he has worked as a bike mechanic, fabricator, shop tech and screen printer. His comfort with fine hand tools, forklifts, hydraulic presses, CNC machines and metal foundry has brought him to Freedom Vans with a wide array of skills to accomplish the small and large tasks of building vans. Here, he gets to blend his fabricating and sculpting skills to fit all the pieces together for the final product – the van.
Tony enriquez, systems Lead
Tony is all about the focus and detail needed for working on cars, trucks, and vans. He has a passion for car mechanics that is a hobby and a lifestyle. Tony has seven years experience as a machine operator where he became well versed with operator heavy equipment, as well designing custom cuts with autocad. Before that he worked for six years as an electrician and an audio video specialist. His knowledge of mechanical equipment, electrical systems, and audio video equipment is extensive and adds to complex systems that our shop equips in conversions. Ask him about the tattoo on his arm, and you will hear about his past collection of Ford Broncos and Rangers. The attention needed to get things done in the shop working on the vans put him in his element. He takes pride in the very stylin’ orange, Bronco he fixed up for his wife.
Henry Jenkins, systems Tech
Alex Zbarazky, Service technician
Alex comes to us from Kiev in the Ukraine. The skills that he brought to Freedom Vans shows an array of his talents. Those skills he brought to us include engineering, aerospace and love for the biking and automotive industries.
In his spare time, he enjoys doing research, designing and fixing things with his favorite passion, working on his ambulance camper. His valuable skills and attention to detail has made him an important part of the team. Alex’s favorite part of van building is fabrication and suspension. Alex is the go to guy, if you need a single service job done!
On Alex’s days off, he might take off mountain biking or cook some awesome new dish. He loves traveling and seeing new places, especially in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest.
Jake foster, foundations builder
Jake, originally from Ventura California, has worked in all sorts of industries and traveled his whole life, and finds off grid mobile living to be the best way to experience everything. He is an experienced metalworker and woodworker, and in his time off enjoys hiking, writing, painting, mushroom hunting, playing music, photography, and building things. So far, his favorite thing to work on at Freedom Vans are the shiplap ceilings.
tim bartilson, Foundations lead
Stacy enriquez, office MANAGER
Stacy was born and raised in Bakersfield, CA, where she was a Campfire Girl. That is where her love for crafts and the outdoors begans. She would do crafts and go camping with her Campfire Girl friends. She would also go camping, fishing and off-road wheeling with her grandpa. All of these have led her to her favorite hobbies of camping and making any kind of blanket from t-shirt quilts to blankets for her grandchildren. She moved to Bellingham with her family for her career and the beautiful green surroundings. Her favorite hobby is going anywhere in her 1976 Bronco or with her husband in their off-road 1972 Bronco. This is where her love for off-grid living began. They even got married on the Oregon Beach at a Bronco Event, and for the past 21 years, they have not missed any Bronco Events on the Oregon Coast. Stacy’s favorite thing about Freedom Vans is the passion everyone has for building vans. She is excited to help them in any way possible in the office, or even in the shop.
Chad Hedlund, carpenter
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