Kitty Connor describes her role at Architectural Designs as having her hands in many different cookie jars. After more than a decade as COO, it feels like an honest reflection of how deeply she’s involved in the business.

She works directly with designers, coaching existing partners and evaluating new applicants. She contributes to marketing strategy, company initiatives, and the behind-the-scenes decisions that shape how customers search for, evaluate, and purchase house plans.

What connects all of it is a single belief: treating customers, designers, and colleagues well isn’t just the right thing to do — it’s what makes everything else work.

Kitty’s roots in Customer Success still shape how she thinks about the business. “We treat people the way we would want to be treated,” she says.

It’s the kind of principle that’s easy to say and harder to sustain over decades of growth and change. At AD, customer feedback often reflects that care. Reviews regularly mention not only the answers customers received, but also the patience and personal support provided by the team.

Her work with designers carries the same philosophy. AD makes a deliberate effort to stay in genuine conversation with its design partners — sharing buying data, giving honest feedback, and showing up consistently.

Staying closely connected also allows designers and the AD team to exchange ideas, discuss what customers are responding to, and identify opportunities within a designer’s portfolio. Kitty sees that enthusiasm firsthand when designers reach out to share new work. “They text me even on the weekend,” she says, “because they’re so excited — check out this new rendering that I did.” That kind of enthusiasm does not come from a transactional relationship.

Kitty sees staying connected — especially with partners who are not part of the day-to-day — as an ongoing priority. “It can only strengthen success for both parties,” she says. Maintaining those relationships takes consistent communication, and Kitty sees that as an important part of AD’s continued success.

When Kitty joined AD, the website was filled with tiny images and hard-to-navigate URLs. The shift to a mobile-responsive site in 2016 was a turning point — the start of a technology journey she says will never really end.

Since then, renderings, interactive tours, AI-powered search, and rich media have transformed how customers browse house plans online. These tools give customers more ways to explore a house plan and better understand their options before purchasing.

But the change she finds most interesting is not technological. It is cultural.

Speed has become the priority for so many people. The challenge AD faces is giving customers what they need to make a confident decision while respecting how quickly people expect to move.

“We’re still working toward that,” Kitty says honestly. “And I don’t know whether we’ll ever solve it — because we are ever-evolving creatures.”

That kind of candor, from someone with this much experience, says a lot about how she thinks.

One of the things Kitty is most passionate about is what happens when a customer first connects with someone on the Customer Success team. She calls it the virtual handshake — or sometimes, the virtual hug.

“It’s just a reminder that we are people too, and we are here,” she says.

That connection can help customers move forward with greater confidence. They’ve gotten real answers from someone who understands the process and genuinely wants to help.

Her advice to anyone buying a house plan is direct: lean into the support and resources available through AD. “When you do,” she says, “you’ll be so much more satisfied at the end.”

Ask Kitty what happens behind the scenes at AD and she reaches for a sports analogy. During March Madness, she points out, nobody in the post-game interview talks only about themselves. They talk about the team.

Architectural Designs works the same way. “The word team gets thrown around a lot in business,” she says, “but I do believe we are a team.”

Everyone at AD is responsible for their own area, but the shared effort is what makes the company what it is. It shows up in the website, in the customer experience, in the designer relationships, and in the small decisions that shape how people experience AD.

Customers may not see every conversation, decision, or detail behind the scenes, but they can feel the result. As Kitty puts it, “Can you see it? You can’t see it. But you do see it.”

She is equally clear that no one person holds all the answers. Her approach is to lean in, have the conversations, and make sure nothing important gets lost in the speed of a fast-moving company.

When Kitty thinks about what she wants for every customer who works with AD, she comes back to something specific.

“I hope that they feel like we made them matter,” she says. “That we were there to support them, that they got their questions answered. That they felt really confident about their purchase. And that they know directionally what happens next.”

Building a home is one of the most significant things a person can undertake. Through her years at AD, Kitty has supported thousands of customers as they took an important step in their home building journeys, and she has never stopped taking that responsibility seriously.

Kitty’s architectural preferences have shifted over the years, and right now she is drawn to Scandinavian-inspired house plans and transitional styles — clean lines, large windows, natural wood, and organic materials.

For someone who hikes regularly and has explored the outdoors with her family across the country and abroad, the appeal is personal. “It’s soft and inviting and natural,” she says, “and very much who I am as a human.”

That same feeling carries into her must-have feature: a large great room, open to the kitchen, anchored by a fireplace, and designed for gathering. “My greatest joy is having people around me, at home,” she says. “To me, your house is a home. It’s where you welcome family and friends.”

For Kitty, the best spaces feel natural, welcoming, and ready to bring people together.