Good Neighbor Podcast: Frisco

EP #254: Design to Doorstep: How Mae Reedy's All-Female Team is Transforming Home Construction

• Sophia Yvette

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What makes Mae Reedy with Mae Reedy Design + Build a good neighbor?

Meet your good neighbor Mae Reedy, founder of a construction company that's breaking the mold in an industry traditionally dominated by men. Mae leads an all-women team that combines design expertise with construction knowledge to deliver transformative home renovations from concept to completion.

Growing up as a builder's daughter, Mae initially pursued different paths through business, design, and art before an interior design apprenticeship reconnected her with her construction roots. What began as helping a friend evolved into a thriving business when May was handed a full client roster and decided to lean into complex projects requiring detailed specifications. Her unique approach resonated with clients, generating powerful word-of-mouth referrals that fueled organic growth.

Mae doesn't shy away from addressing industry challenges, particularly the lack of contractor licensing requirements in Texas. She advocates for homeowner education, encouraging potential clients to thoroughly vet contractors by examining their voluntary training, business practices, and testimonials. This transparency has helped her build trust with clients, especially women who've had negative experiences with contractors in the past.

The podcast takes a personal turn when Mae shares how a second-trimester pregnancy loss became a catalyst for professional transformation. Through grief, she found renewed purpose and determination to maximize every day—a philosophy that infuses her business approach. Mae's team combines technical excellence with deep empathy, recognizing that living through construction can be overwhelming. They prioritize client comfort throughout the process while still delivering stunning transformations, creating what Mae describes as magical reveal moments that show homeowners what their spaces can truly become.

Want to experience the Mae Reedy difference? Follow @maereadydesign on Instagram to see behind-the-scenes videos of their process, or visit maereadydesign.com to view their portfolio and connect with the team. Discover how this women-led construction company is redefining the renovation experience through design excellence, technical expertise, and genuine compassion.

To learn more about Mae Reedy Design + Build go to: 

https://maereedydesign.com/

Mae Reedy Design + Build

469-562-4100

Speaker 1:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Sophia Yvette.

Speaker 3:

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of a construction and design company? Well, one may be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing you to your good neighbor, may Reedy. With Mae Reedy, design and Build. Mae, how's it going today? Awesome, we're having a great week. Fantastic, I'm so glad to hear that. So, mae, we're excited to learn all about you and your business. Can you tell us a bit about your company?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so we are a little out of the norm for construction, but that's what we're so excited about. So we are a women-owned, women-led, women-operated construction company that is design-driven. So I started my career in design and then decided I wanted to take it into the build space so we could execute on everything. So we take it from concept all the way to completion with my fabulous team of ladies.

Speaker 3:

Amazing, and so May. How did you originally get into this business?

Speaker 2:

So I guess I should have known from a young age that this is exactly where I would end up. I actually grew up around construction. My dad is a builder and it's funny because I would just help him out in the summers with painting and doing roof repairs and different odds and ends, you know, just like pay. My way through college and I thought I wanted to do something entirely different. I went and got a degree in business and design, so my background focused then on art and it came back into my life when my girls were really little. I was running an Etsy shop where I was working with tapestries and handmade jewelry just you know, being all artsy, cute little things.

Speaker 2:

And one of my good friends is an interior designer and she was looking for some additional help and I thought, you know, this is a great way to get out of the house. You know, when your littles are that small sometimes you're just itching to get out. So I started apprenticing with her and with my build background that I was already, like well aware of how things should be coming together in a home. The interior design just came really naturally to me and I realized that it was just the pretty side of construction and it just lined up really well. I had so much fun apprenticing.

Speaker 2:

A couple years into this I started working more and more until I was just a full time interior designer with her. I got my certificationsifications and her husband had the opportunity to relocate for work and she was like, may, you're ready? And she basically handed me the Rolodex and she said, take over. So I was handed, you know, a whole roster of clients and projects to run with. So that's when my company was like officially under my name. I was the solopreneur now and in charge.

Speaker 2:

So I made sure to beef up my business knowledge, my design training and skills and really focused on that and absolutely loved it. I found that I really really liked to be so much in the mix of everything going on on these construction projects because I knew what it was supposed to look like from how my dad runs his build business. So I found very quickly that I wanted the big, complicated plumbing and electrical specified projects and haven't looked back. It's been so much fun and slowly, you know, bringing on more and more people with me because we've had the great honor that my clients that I've worked with have really loved working with me. And so our word of mouth has been awesome, so we've just been running to keep up with demand and so grateful.

Speaker 3:

That's amazing, and so, Mae. What is the most common myth or misconception in your industry?

Speaker 2:

I feel like the biggest misconception can be true if you don't search for the right team, and that is that you can't trust a contractor. There are a lot of them out there that you can't trust contractor. There are a lot of them out there that you can't trust. I think, especially for homeowners to be aware that in the state of Texas, you are not required to sit for a state licensing exam. The standard is actually pretty darn low in Texas, and so I think if homeowners are educated enough to know that a really good contractor should prove to you what training they have chosen to put themselves through. What is their business background? How do you run your books? What are other clients saying about this? Because there isn't an exam to show that you know what you need to know. So I think asking a lot of questions is going to help someone get away from an untrustworthy contractor. When you can look for a company that is running itself properly, that they've gone out of their way to be educated in what code is and what the proper process is, and focus on someone that has really achieved excellence with other clients, then you can trust that contractor.

Speaker 2:

We find that a lot of our clients are wonderful females who have not had good experiences with contractors in the past because they've gotten ripped off. They collected a deposit and then disappeared, didn't do good work, a number of things and so for a team of women to come in and sit down with you in your home to decide, like, what is your project going to be, and to talk about what it should look like and what it can look like, is really a breath of fresh air. We want to earn people's trust because we're not a fly-by-night company. There are a lot of them out there, but if you do your homework, then you really really can trust a good contractor, and I think it comes down to process.

Speaker 3:

Let's go ahead and switch gears for a second. Can you describe a hardship or life challenge you overcame and how it made you a better and stronger woman today? What comes to mind for you?

Speaker 2:

That's a really good question. I think one of the hardest things that I've gone through have been kind of right in the middle of my business getting larger. We were blessed with a surprise pregnancy and I got myself like really excited for that and really amped up for that. I got myself really excited for that and really amped up for that. I thought I can figure this out, I can do it. I already had two older girls. I'm like they're going to be great helpers. I'll figure it out. We actually lost that pregnancy in the second trimester. It was really hard.

Speaker 2:

I think people don't talk enough about pregnancy loss and how it really transforms you. It's it's such a deep grief and it was a struggle for quite a bit of like what am I doing with my life? And to experience like that big of a loss and then like a shift in our family really quick of like, oh, here's what we're doing, and then oh wait, that's not what we're doing. It really made me step back and assess am I where I want to be at in my life right now? And I decided that I was not pushing myself as hard as I could. I was kind of coasting and and I wanted to be more in control of my future.

Speaker 2:

Um, you know not to be cheesy, but I was like YOLO, you know, if I'm only here once, I want to run. And so I came out of that loss and processing that grief with a desire to just like amp everything up. I felt like it made me realize that I wasn't getting the most out of every single day. And when you're going through that process of dealing with grief and kind of try to come out the other side a better version of yourself, I just wanted to hit the ground a lot harder every single day. No excuses, I'm in control of, like, how awesome each day can be, even when bad things happen.

Speaker 3:

Well, I certainly understand all of that and I am so sorry for your loss, but I'm glad to see that you made it through. I think losing a baby can be very, very difficult.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's a crazy time.

Speaker 3:

So, Mae, please tell our listeners one thing they should remember about May Reedy Design and Build.

Speaker 2:

I think our hallmark and the thing to remember is that, in the same way that a mom can like shuffle so many things on a daily basis, everyone on our team is so addicted to that before and after just beautiful transformation that will happen in the home, but also mindful of what that experience is on the daily basis for the homeowner that is making all the decisions living with construction in their home. It's just such a high empathy approach to such a big project in someone's life. I would hope that if construction feels scary, that I agree with you and we're here to take the fear down 20, 30 notches, because we're here to serve you. We're not going to be ever putting you in a position where you feel uncomfortable or overwhelmed. We try to break it all down. So if anyone could just remember that like we're real people too and we respect the very real people that are going through construction. We think your home is a really sacred space and we honor the difficult process that it is to just make it easier to get the beautiful outcome.

Speaker 3:

Well, may I agree with you, and I think anytime you're building something new, it can be scary in the process, but usually we end up happier than we think we would be right.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. My favorite is when someone gets their like project reveal at the end to finally see a styled space, especially when it's been like a flood client or someone who's had like a fire or you know some type of disaster in the home to bring them back in at the end and say, like did you ever think it could be this beautiful? And it's just such a wonderful moment to show them what their home can really be for them.

Speaker 3:

And where can our listeners go to learn more about May Reedy Design and Build?

Speaker 2:

So our favorite, where we're always hopping, is on Instagram. You can see a lot of great videos of our week, what it looks like for us, you know, as designers and as a general contractor. So on Instagram we're mayreadydesign. You can also check out our portfolio and you can select the button on the top of the page to work with us. To fill out an interest form at mayreadydesigncom.

Speaker 3:

Well, may I really appreciate you being on the show. We wish you and your business the best moving forward.

Speaker 2:

Thank you so much. It's been great to be here. I appreciate it.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpfriscocom. That's gnpfriscocom, or call 469-221-9345.