Baldwin Parker builds computer business out of garage

While Karel Felipe hosts a client consultation in his storefront’s lobby, his mom and sister type away working on orders down the hall. On the other side of their office wall, in what’s known as the “workshop,” Felipe’s dad tinkers away, doing troubleshooting, taking computers apart and putting them back together again.

It’s a far cry from where Lotus Computers first got its start: Felipe’s Baldwin Park garage.

As a child, Felipe’s dad was always tinkering, especially with computers. Felipe learned the ins and outs of creating computers from his dad starting at the age of 6, and never looked back.

“It’s almost like a puzzle in a way,” he said. “As long as you know what goes into a computer, you can put it together with trial and error along the way.”

Now he said, he has it down to a science.

For more information about Lotus Computers, visit lotuscomputerusa.com

Lotus Computers ships PCs and laptops nationwide, building each by hand in the company’s Altamonte Springs workshop. Felipe said he entered the computer business with the aim of correcting everything he felt that was wrong with the industry.

“All the negative aspects of the computer brand, I wanted to change that,” he said.

That starts with customer service. If you call for customer support for a Lotus Computer, chances are you’ll talk to someone in Felipe’s family.

“I trust them more than anyone else,” he said.

And, he said, for every customer they work with, they try to know every one by their name and their needs.

“We treat every customer as if they’re our only customer,” he said.

Felipe said many customers find his company by Googling, “American-made computers.” Lotus is one of a small few that pops up.

“There’s a big movement that consumers want to buy American-made products,” he said. “We use foreign components, but in the end it’s still American-made. We build them right here.”

“We want to be the best,” he said. “Maybe not the biggest, but the best.”

Keeping it small, he said, is what sets his business apart. There are no factories or sweatshops assembling Lotus Computers, most likely it’s just his dad and a few hired contractors working diligently in the Altamonte workshop. It’s a wide-open room lined with workbenches. There’s a well-doodled-on chalkboard on one wall, and an American flag on another. The others are neatly lined with shelves of parts waiting to be combined into brand new computers.

“We like to keep it minimalist and focus on the human connection with our customers,” he said.

Each Lotus Computer is specially made for each customer.

“Customers don’t just walk in and say, ‘I like this computer,’ and we go grab them one out of the back,” he said. Everything is made to order.

He said their small crew has cranked out upwards of 30 to 50 computers in two days. His dad boasts that he can assemble one in under an hour. But under the surface, it’s a labor of love.

“The whole thing about what we do is to try and make the computer buying experience a happy one,” Felipe said.