Ranney Building & Design, Inc.

Two Google reviews, both five stars, and one of them written by a plumbing and heating contractor who works alongside builders for a living. That is the entire written history on Ranney Building & Design, and it is a small one. The company works out of Sandwich and describes itself as a Cape Cod design-build contractor: remodeling, home improvement and new construction, with its own design drawings, site planning and permitting, custom carpentry, and an optional property maintenance service after the job is done. Its Houzz profile fills in the same picture — kitchens, baths, additions, basements, accessory dwelling units, custom homes, universal design — with a Cape Cod service area. Its Massachusetts home improvement contractor registration is active, held by the company itself rather than by an individual. What the reviews describe is careful old-house work. In a January 2025 review, a homeowner wrote about a 100-plus-year-old house that needed structural attention and credited Alex and his team with rebuilding the stairs — treads and risers redesigned, trim and paint colors matched, other rooms protected during construction — without losing the house's character. In a 2024 review, a plumbing and heating contractor of 15 years called them the only company they recommend to clients, friends and family. The caveat is volume. Two reviews is not a track record, the most recent of them dates to January 2025, and the Houzz profile carries no customer reviews at all. Alongside the registered HIC number, the company's own site and its Houzz listing both show a construction supervisor number, CS #088595 — that one is the company's own claim, not something confirmed against a registry. A reasonable call if you want a small Cape design-build shop for a renovation with carpentry at the center of it, and you are comfortable judging them on a walkthrough rather than a long review history. Ask for recent references on a project the size of yours, and confirm which office runs your job — its own site gives a Sandwich address, while Houzz and Barnstable-area town paperwork give 239 Scudder Avenue in Hyannis.