About Homework Remodels

A Partnership Built Around Clarity

Steve Shinn and Sheila Lanier lead Homework Remodels as equal business partners—combining leadership, design expertise, and thoughtful planning to guide homeowners toward confident remodeling decisions.

Remodeling Begins With Trust

Remodeling asks homeowners to place an extraordinary amount of trust in the people they choose. They are opening their home, investing significant resources, and making decisions that will affect how they live for years to come. That trust deserves clear expectations, thoughtful preparation, honest budget conversations, professional accountability, and steady communication throughout the remodeling journey.

For more than two decades, Homework Remodels has helped Greater Phoenix homeowners navigate those decisions through an integrated design-build process. We specialize in whole-home renovations, additions, casitas and ADUs, kitchens, bathrooms, and architectural reconfiguration for homes of every era—from historic and mid-century modern properties to newer residences ready for thoughtful transformation.

Our work is built around a simple but consequential belief: homeowners should understand what they are undertaking before construction begins. When priorities, design, scope, budget, and construction realities are carefully aligned, people can move forward with greater confidence and fewer avoidable surprises. That alignment does not happen accidentally; it grows from listening, disciplined preparation, and a team willing to address important questions before they become problems in the field.

A Partnership of Complementary Strengths

Homework Remodels is led by Steve Shinn and Sheila Lanier as equal business partners. Their partnership brings together complementary strengths in company leadership, design, construction, planning, and operational systems. Their responsibilities are different, but their commitment to the company, its clients, and the quality of every remodeling experience is shared.

Steve founded Homework Remodels in 2005 with a vision of creating a remodeling company grounded in integrity, preparation, and accountable leadership. His experience in construction, business leadership, and design-build remodeling provides the long-term perspective behind the company’s direction. He brings a practical understanding of how vision, investment, leadership, and construction must work together if a project is to succeed.

Sheila brings design leadership, organizational discipline, and an exceptional ability to translate homeowner priorities into coordinated project decisions. She understands that good design must do more than create an attractive room; it must respond to the people who live there, respect the architecture of the home, and remain connected to scope, budget, and construction realities. Her leadership also strengthens the systems that carry projects from early conversations through design development and construction preparation.

Together, Steve and Sheila guide the company’s vision, strengthen its design-build systems, evaluate important project decisions, and maintain the standards that shape the client experience. Their partnership reflects one of the central principles behind Homework Remodels: successful remodeling is not created by design, estimating, or construction acting independently. It is created when those disciplines are brought together under clear, responsible leadership.

Steve Shinn

Founder & Managing Partner — Operations & Leadership

Steve’s leadership philosophy has been shaped by more than five decades of experience leading service-oriented businesses. Within Homework Remodels, he provides leadership in company direction, construction strategy, professional standards, client relationships, and the continued development of the company’s design-build philosophy. He believes remodeling should be approached as stewardship—honoring commitments, protecting client trust, developing people, and creating spaces that will serve families for years to come.

Steve emphasizes long-term thinking over short-term convenience. His approach calls for difficult questions to be addressed honestly, expectations to be established clearly, and responsibility to remain visible throughout the life of a project.

Professional credentials and industry service

• NARI Master Certified Remodeler (MCR)
• NARI Master Certified Kitchen & Bath Remodeler (MCKBR)
• Universal Design Certified Professional (UDCP)
• Green Certified Professional (GCP)
• Member, NARI National Professional Certification Committee
• Past President, Greater Phoenix Chapter of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry

Sheila Lanier

Managing Partner — Design & Systems

Sheila leads the design and operational systems that help transform homeowner goals into coordinated, buildable projects. Her work begins with understanding how people live, what they value, and what they need their homes to become. She carries those priorities into the design process while maintaining careful attention to function, proportion, material relationships, project scope, and the many interconnected decisions required before construction can begin.

Her leadership extends well beyond aesthetics. Sheila helps create the structure connecting design development, client selections, documentation, budgeting, and construction preparation. Her combination of design expertise and systems thinking is essential to the clarity-first approach that defines Homework Remodels.

Professional credentials and industry service

• NARI Master Certified Kitchen & Bath Remodeler (MCKBR)
• Universal Design Certified Professional (UDCP)
• President, Greater Phoenix Chapter of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry
• National Contractor of the Year Awards Judge, National Association of the Remodeling Industry

Clarity Before Construction

Homeowners rarely begin the remodeling journey with every answer. They may know what is no longer working in their home, but they may not yet understand what is structurally possible, how different design decisions affect cost, or what level of remodeling will best serve their lives. They are often surrounded by information without having a reliable way to determine how it applies to their home, priorities, and investment.

More information by itself does not necessarily resolve that uncertainty. Homeowners need a thoughtful process for bringing together the elements that determine whether a project is realistic and ready to build. Their priorities, the conditions within the home, the design direction, the scope of work, the available investment, and the realities of construction must be considered together rather than as separate decisions.

This is what we mean by clarity before construction. Clarity does not mean that every decision will be easy or that an existing home will never reveal an unforeseen condition. It means that the questions we can reasonably anticipate have been explored, the important tradeoffs have been discussed, and the homeowner understands what is being proposed before making a construction commitment.

Our integrated design-build approach supports that understanding by bringing design, estimating, preconstruction planning, and construction together within one accountable team. Traditional project delivery may require homeowners to coordinate separate designers, estimators, engineers, and contractors, sometimes discovering too late that plans, expectations, and budgets do not agree. By evaluating creative ideas alongside building requirements, existing conditions, costs, and construction methods as the design develops, we can help homeowners make better-informed decisions much earlier.

Preparation therefore comes before production. We work through design development, scope clarification, material and product decisions, budgeting, and the practical requirements of building the project before construction begins. The purpose is not merely to make our internal operations more efficient; it is to give homeowners a clearer understanding of what they are approving, what they are investing, and what they should expect as their home moves into construction.

This philosophy is expressed throughout The Path to Remodeling Clarity™, the homeowner-centered system we have created to help people understand remodeling, plan responsibly, prepare for construction, and ultimately enjoy a home designed for the way they truly live.

Experience Across Greater Phoenix Homes

Greater Phoenix contains a remarkable range of residential architecture. Our work has taken us into historic districts, mid-century modern neighborhoods, long-established communities, and newer homes ready to be adapted for changing families and lifestyles. Every era presents different opportunities, but it also carries responsibilities that must be understood before meaningful design decisions can be made.

Historic homes require sensitivity to original character, aging construction methods, and the relationship between preservation and modern living. Mid-century modern homes call for an understanding of architectural proportion, openness, materials, and the distinctive features that give the style its identity. Homes built during the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s often present different challenges, including compartmentalized layouts, undersized kitchens, limited connections between living areas, and spaces that no longer reflect how their owners want to live.

Our experience includes whole-home renovations, additions, detached casitas and ADUs, kitchens, bathrooms, open-concept transformations, and architectural reconfiguration. Some projects restore character that has been diminished over time, while others introduce a new chapter into the life of the home. Regardless of the project type, we begin by listening carefully, understanding the property, and developing a plan that respects both the home and the people who live there.

We serve homeowners throughout Greater Phoenix, including Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Tempe, Chandler, Mesa, Gilbert, Cave Creek, Phoenix, Ahwatukee, Arcadia, Arcadia Lite, and the region’s historic and established neighborhoods. This depth of local experience helps us recognize how construction methods, architectural character, municipal requirements, climate, and neighborhood context can influence remodeling decisions.

Professional Leadership and Recognition

Steve and Sheila have invested substantially in professional education and service through the National Association of the Remodeling Industry. Their certifications reflect demonstrated experience, technical knowledge, ethical conduct, and a commitment to continued learning. Their leadership roles also allow them to contribute to the professional standards, certification programs, and awards processes that strengthen the remodeling industry beyond their own company.

Homework Remodels’ projects have received local, regional, and national recognition, including multiple NARI Contractor of the Year awards. Our work has also been featured by HGTV, Phoenix Home & Garden, Modern Phoenix, and other respected organizations. These distinctions provide meaningful evidence that careful planning, creative design, professional collaboration, and disciplined execution can produce exceptional results.

We are grateful for professional recognition, but awards are not the purpose of our work. Their value lies in what they represent: the effort of homeowners, designers, craftsmen, trade partners, and project leaders working together toward a shared result. The more enduring measure of success is the relationship we establish with each client and the home they continue to enjoy long after construction is complete.

Faith, Stewardship, and the Way We Work

Our approach to remodeling is shaped not only by professional experience, but also by conviction. As a Christ-centered leadership team, we believe integrity is foundational to construction. Commitments are meant to be honored, budgets should be discussed honestly, communication should remain clear, and difficult conversations should be handled directly and respectfully.

For us, faith is not a marketing theme, but a guiding principle that shapes how people are treated, how promises are kept, and how responsibility is carried. It reminds us that leadership is stewardship and that every relationship—with clients, employees, craftsmen, trade partners, and the wider community—deserves honesty, respect, and care. We do not claim that faith makes us perfect; it calls us to remain accountable, correct our mistakes, continue growing, and conduct our work consistently with the convictions we profess.

Those convictions give practical meaning to our core values. Integrity requires honest conversations about possibilities, limitations, costs, and expectations. Quality requires attention to craftsmanship, durability, function, and long-term performance, including the work that will eventually be concealed behind finished surfaces. Creativity requires solutions that respond to both the architecture of the home and the lives of the people within it.

Accountability means taking ownership of decisions and outcomes rather than allowing responsibility to disappear between separate professionals. Teamwork means aligning homeowners, designers, construction leaders, craftsmen, and trade partners around a shared understanding of the project. Faith shapes the spirit in which all these values are practiced, reminding us that the way we accomplish the work matters as much as the finished work itself.

A Remodeling Relationship Built on Understanding

We recognize that Homework Remodels will not be the right company for every homeowner or every project. Our approach is best suited to homeowners who value preparation, collaboration, honest conversation, and a clear process before construction. They want to understand the reasoning behind important decisions and are willing to invest the time required to develop their project responsibly.

In return, they should expect a team that listens carefully, raises important questions, communicates openly, and remains accountable for bringing design and construction together. We do not believe trust is created by asking homeowners to overlook uncertainty; trust grows as people receive the understanding they need to make informed decisions.

You do not need to have every answer before beginning a remodeling conversation. You need a place where your questions will be taken seriously, your goals will be carefully explored, and the realities of your project will be discussed honestly. That is where clarity begins.

Explore The Path to Remodeling Clarity™ to better understand the remodeling journey, or schedule a consultation when you are ready to discuss your home and what you hope to accomplish.

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