BC Business
The floor-plan presentation studio helps customers visualize their ideas
Managing partner, Plan Your Space
Life Story: Manny Deol says he’s always been passionate about design—he started his own marketing company before he’d even finished his degree at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Deep in the world of branding and graphic design, he figured his skills would translate smoothly to interiors when he decided to build his own multi-generational family home. But once he faced the framing stage, the 3D structure was underwhelming. The great room was too large (too great!), the spice kitchen was too small and the layout for one of the bathrooms wasn’t practical. The framer assured him this was normal (“Dude, of course, everyone makes changes on-site”) but detail-oriented Deol wouldn’t let it slide. “I was like, I don’t like this… I’ve got to spend almost $10,000 on changes that could have been avoided if I had a different way to view the plan,” he says.
This laid the foundation (pun extremely intended) for Plan Your Space, a floor-plan presentation studio that Deol launched in February 2022. The company can project up to 2,300 square feet at a time in its Langley location, and offers customers 80 feet of walls and real furniture and appliances on wheels to get a custom, life-sized visualization of their floor plans. “We’re always trying to elevate this more and more,” says Deol. “How do we make this as real as possible for a homeowner?”
Bottom Line: Plan Your Space has completed over 250 floorplan walkthroughs and is moving to an 8,000-square-foot Burnaby studio this summer. The furniture library is growing thanks to partnerships with B.C. brands including Rove Concepts and Midland Appliance, and local interior designers are starting to include a Plan Your Space walkthrough as part of their quote for custom homes. Beyond residential design, Deol reports that the studio has been used for planning dental clinics, mini golf courses and even fast-food drive-throughs. All the marketing is done in-house, of course. “I feel like I get to live both my dreams simultaneously,” says Deol.