For Summerlin-area contractor, woman’s place isn’t in the kitchen — it’s building it

Stacey Ranieri can swing a sledgehammer at drywall with the best of them, but she knows better.

“That’s only done on TV,” said the Summerlin-area resident, who operates Ranieri Construction. “It’s much easier to cut it and remove it in slabs. There’s less mess, less dust, and you’re not wasting time sweeping up.”

Ranieri is a general contractor, a job title she took on soon after meeting her husband in the mid-‘70s. She was 18, trying out jobs and working the counter at a dry cleaning place when she met Michel, who was a general contractor.

“My father was in construction, too,” she said. “He was a supervisor for large construction companies. So, it was kind of already in my blood.”

Her family moved into two unfinished houses when she was a teen, and she pounded nails alongside her father as he walled off the interiors.

After she met Michel, their first project together was for his 1972 Ford pickup with a camper shell. Unhappy with what was available on the market, he decided to build his own, and Stacey stepped up as his assistant. They cut the plywood, covered the exterior with a fiberglass shell and polished off the edges for a customized look.

“When we were done, he said, ‘Wow, you’re really good at all this stuff,’ ” she recalled.

He used her on a house project, remodeling a home at Oakey Boulevard and Maryland Parkway. The kitchen and bathroom remodel had them installing tile, and Stacey shadowed him, again impressing him with her ability to grout and paint.

The result: She quit her counter job at the dry cleaner and became his partner, working on projects for Walter “Wally” Pinjuv, one of the founders of P&C Construction.

Michel and Stacey were married in 1976.

Many of the homes she worked on were custom. She earned her real estate license, and her knack for putting things together in the home translated to working with the homeowners.

“That was the most fun,” she said. “I was given the ability to design all our homes. I’d help them pick out all their ‘pretty’ stuff: the drawer pulls, the fixtures, the cabinetry. I always liked the design (aspect).”

She liked it so much, she studied interior design. But the custom home market began drying up.

She and Michel set out on their own about 1998. Besides remodeling jobs, they got a contract with Home Depot for installing doors, a segment that kept them so busy they hired three others to help take on the jobs they could not.

When the economy nosedived, they reinvented themselves again, doing business as Mrs. & Mr. Mike’s Handyman Service, a tongue-in-cheek approach that got them noticed. The odd jobs kept them afloat.

Now that things are getting better, she is back to remodeling homes, often juggling multiple projects. But Michel isn’t on site for them. His health deteriorated after he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1996. Four years later, he had heart issues, and, the final blow, bone cancer.

Stacey revamped the way the business operated, taking on more of a supervisory role. These days, she usually doesn’t show up on a job wearing a tool belt but rather carrying a tape measure and a briefcase.

“I think people like the idea of a woman being in charge,” she said. “I’ve had people say, ‘You’re much more detail-oriented in your estimate than the men are.’ When they’ve met with other contractors (to bid out a job), they’ll say, ‘You ask a lot of questions.’ Me, I take the time to explain things and (write out) what we’ll be doing and every aspect. It’s all spelled out so there’s no question about what they’re getting. It also protects me. If it isn’t spelled out, it’s not part of the job. It saves a lot of headaches.”

Carrie Sanchez is an advertising executive who used Ranieri when she and her husband, Jose, bought a home in Henderson last year and remodeled it. They put in new flooring and doors, removed columns for an open-concept floorplan and put in a new kitchen — more than $60,000 worth of work.

Sanchez said Stacey was recommended by someone in the business whose scope could not handle her job.

“I did not hire her because she was a woman,” Sanchez said. “I hired her because she was very diligent and went out of her way to work with me. She did that even after I hired her, all throughout the process.”

Sanchez said the work was done well and within the given timeline.

In September 2014, Stacey was contacted by Departure Films to do a reality TV show involving the remodeling of a 2,400-square-foot Henderson home. The show, “Vacation House For Free,” was for HGTV. Of four contractors, she was awarded the job — again, she suspected, because of her tendency to be as detailed as possible. The producers gave her a $60,000 budget, and cameras followed her as she got to work.

“Those shows,” she said with a shake of her head. “A lot of it isn’t real. … It’s smashing and destroying. They want you running around. They have to make it dramatic.”

The house got a full remodel, with a new kitchen, recessed lighting, ensuite cabinetry, sinks with quartz countertops, two fireplaces and front landscaping so dramatic the owners asked if she’d also painted the house.

The high-profile project and the subsequent attention it brought her would have been sweeter if Michel had been able to enjoy it with her. But he was bedridden, and Stacey insisted he stay home. Friends and family pitched in to help her, making sure he was never alone.

“That was a horrific time. I had five jobs going. I was dealing with him and making sure he was being cared for,” she said. “I think back now, and I wonder, ‘How did I do all that?’ Then I realized, I had to stay busy or I would have gone nuts.”

Michel died a week after she completed the HGTV house.

These days she keeps busy with several projects, not sure if she’ll ever truly retire. A saying from Bob Marley is tacked in front of her at her office desk: “You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.”

To reach Summerlin Area View reporter Jan Hogan, email her at jhogan@viewnews.com or call her at 702-387-2949.