At Stansell Construction, we don’t just talk about safety – we live it every day. This year, Stansell committed to pull back the curtain on the experts making safety happen on our jobsites each and every day.
The Stansell Safety Spotlight allows people to meet the experts behind our Quick Service Restaurant projects and discover their passion for keeping every project safe and every client satisfied. Through this monthly feature, you’ll get a front-row seat to their strategies, stories, and commitment to protecting our teams.
This month’s Stansell Safety Spotlight shines on Superintendent Randy Rentrop.
Randy Rentrop’s journey into construction didn’t begin with a plan—it began with grit. Raised in Bayou L’Ourse, Louisiana, a small Cajun settlement near Pierre Part, Randy grew up immersed in hard work and self‑reliance.
“It's a little Cajun settlement,” he said, pointing out that it sits right near the area made famous by Swamp People. “That's where I originated from.”
As a young man growing up on a farm, Randy learned early that work wasn’t optional—it was a way of life. Still, he knew farming wasn’t his long‑term future.
“I grew up on a farm and I said, ‘There’s got to be something better,’” said Randy.
That thought sparked a leap of faith. At just 22 years old, Randy opened his own business as a building contractor, framing houses and repairing offices. By 24, he was deep into commercial construction, remodeling Winn‑Dixies and Walmarts—and he never looked back.
Over the next four decades, Randy’s career grew alongside his confidence and capability.
“I went from building a little shed in the backyard to multi‑story buildings, hospitals, hospitality, office complexes and strip malls,” he said.
Randy does not back down from a challenge. When he wasn’t paving his way in the construction industry, Randy had a few hobbies, including amateur bull riding, which he originally got involved in as a personal bet, but wound up enjoying due to the competition with the pros.
“An Oklahoma cowboy said Louisiana boys can’t ride and bet me $1,000 that I couldn’t,” Randy recalled of how he got involved in bull riding back in the late 1970s. “I wound up winning that bet and the All Around Cowboy competition. I had done some hunting and shot a crow and brought it back to collect the winnings from the bet. The Oklahoma cowboy asked me, “What are you doing to do with that crow?’ I said, ‘I’m going to watch you eat it. Well, I guess Louisiana boys can ride after all.’”
With his bull-riding days brief and well behind him, and 44 years in the commercial construction industry, Randy has seen almost every type of project—and every type of risk. Those experiences shaped the Superintendent he is today at Stansell Construction.
For Randy, safety is not a rulebook—it’s a habit, built intentionally from the very beginning of every project.
“Safety starts out in the beginning in my pre‑construction meeting,” he said.
Area Supervisor Robert Perera has worked with Randy on projects and seen firsthand how effective the Superintendent’s approach to safety is on each project.
“One thing that stands out is how clearly safety expectations are established from day one,” Robert said of Randy. “The standards are communicated early, consistently reinforced, and applied the same way across Trade Partners—no guessing and no moving goalposts.”
Randy doesn’t just talk about expectations—he shows them.
“I wear my full PPE to the pre-con meeting so I can demonstrate to all my incoming Trade Partners that this is the attire that we plan to use and keep throughout the project,” Randy said.
Project Manager Dillon Brophy has worked with Randy on several projects and can attest to how seriously Randy takes safety on his jobsites.
“Randy leads by example by wearing PPE,” said Dillon. “He’s constantly watching to make sure our Trade Partners have PPE on. Overall, Randy runs a tight ship for his projects, and he makes safety a focal point every day, starting from Day 1. Randy checks a lot of the right boxes as a Superintendent. It’s hard to find someone who cares as much about the project and safety of the people on the jobsite as much as he does.”
Even his first Toolbox Talk is personal. Randy typically starts with accident prevention, setting a clear tone: safety is not optional, and it’s not theoretical. It’s real, daily, and non‑negotiable.
That mindset comes from lived experience—some of it tragic. Early in his career, Randy worked in the oil field industry as an x‑ray technician inspecting welds on offshore platforms. Those platforms often meant working hundreds of feet in the air. One day, while working high above the ground, Randy witnessed something that permanently changed him.
Three workers were standing on a platform, none of them tied off—despite having the safety cable and equipment right there. One man stepped backward while gesturing during conversation and fell more than 110 feet.
“Once we were lowered down from the clouds we could see that he was gone, he was dead,” Randy said somberly. “He had a wife and two young children. It was tragic.”
That moment never left him.
“I've never went up above ground without a safety harness again in my life,” he said.
To this day, Randy carries an extra harness on his jobsites—just in case a Trade Partner doesn’t have one. For him, preventing one family from getting that phone call is worth every extra step.
That’s why Randy is relentless about being present. He doesn’t manage safety from a truck seat.
“The jobsite changes multiple times a day,” he explained. “You need to be on the job, on your feet, keep your eyes peeled. And if you walk the jobsite consistently, it will talk to you … it will tell you what is going well, what is wrong and what is unsafe through your eyes and ears.”
Randy makes multiple passes daily—early morning, lunchtime, and at the end of the day—catching issues before they become incidents or mistakes in workmanship.
When he sees something wrong, he acts immediately.
“I don't wait for them to correct it,” he said. “I call for it to be corrected at that moment. Like Apollo said in Rocky, ‘There is no tomorrow.’”
That directness earns respect.
“Once the Trade Partners see I'm wearing PPE and working safely with them, they turn it around and start doing it on their own,” he said.
Randy’s commitment to safety is deeply personal—and it follows him everywhere. On his safety vest, he wears an I Work Safe For badge with a picture of his family, which is made up of his wife, 26-year-old son and three daughters – ages 23, 21 and 19.
“That’s who I work safe for,” he said proudly.
His wife and children remain his daily motivation.
“My wife is 20 years younger than me, so I feel like I need to be here for her as long as I can be,” Randy explained. “My kids are older and off doing their own thing, but they still need their daddy. They still need daddy’s advice and daddy’s help. There’s a lot of people at home that are going to be disappointed in me if I don’t come home because I was working unsafely on the job.”
That reminder grounds his decisions on every jobsite.
Being a seasoned veteran Superintendent, Randy subscribes to the notion that a clean worksite is indeed a safe worksite. But in construction, keeping the site clean is easier said than done. Randy said there is one key component to maintaining a clean site, and it’s not necessarily a dustpan, broom or mop.
“Keeping the jobsite clean basically comes down to communication,” he said. “Communicate once per week to everyone on the jobsite about it, communicate it via e-mail to the Trade Partners and then reinforce it every time you walk the jobsite, which should be multiple times per day. The message is really simple and consistent – the jobsite has to remain clean and safe each and every day.”
The state of a project makes an impression on visitors, including Stansell’s clients. Dillon said Randy’s efforts reiterate to the client that they hired the right contractor in Stansell Construction.
“He projects the concept of professionalism to our Trade Partners on our jobsite 24/7,” said Dillon. “He makes sure the jobsite stays clean, that materials are brought to the job and stored properly by the Trade Partners. He consistently checks the quality of the workmanship. Randy just projects a good image throughout the duration of the project.”
Not only does walking the jobsite help keep people safe, it also impacts other aspects of the project, like the quality of work and schedule, which is important when it comes to not scheduling too many Trade Partners on a jobsite at once or certain Trade Partners on top of each other.
“We don’t just have a 3-week lookahead, we have the entire schedule determined and posted,” said Randy. “The schedule is the blueprint to build the building. If you use it as a resource you learn how to manipulate time and gain time on the project while keeping everyone informed of the schedule. Without it, you can’t build the building, and if you do, it’s going to be terribly inefficient. Some subcontractors want to dictate the schedule to you. Even though it’s a partnership, it’s Stansell’s schedule, not the other way around. I look at it like this – the schedule is the engine, and my job is to put my foot down on the accelerator and drive a high-quality and safe project that finishes on time or early for the client.”
Randy notes that having the Stansell Safety Station on his jobsite reinforces the notion that Stansell genuinely cares about the well-being of everyone on the jobsite by not just saying it, but also showing it.
“I have two safety stations on my jobsite,” said Randy. “I have one in the Conex and one available on the jobsite. At first the Trade Partners say, ‘What is this thing?’ But then they look closely and see the station has a fire extinguisher, first-aid kit and access to Safety Date Sheet information. So, there’s a message sent to everyone by having the Stansell Safety Station prominently displayed – we have to make it safe here!”
Character is the lens through which Randy views leadership. When asked which of Stansell’s four Pillars he lives out most, his answer is immediate.
“The Pillar that I live out the most… is character,” he said. “My character is I'm a child of God.”
Randy believes humility, honesty, and transparency set the tone long before rules ever do.
That same character shapes how he treats clients and coworkers. Customer service, for Randy, is about trust and communication.
“Customer service is of the utmost importance,” he said. “That’s our purpose as Superintendents and Stansell Construction – to provide great customer service. If we don’t give our client the best experience each and every time, then we’ll be hard pressed to build that trust and relationship.”
While he maintains consistent, proactive communication with the client, he does the same with everyone involved at Stansell. He believes strong internal communication protects projects and people alike.
“I just refuse to let anyone at Stansell get blindsided, so I make sure I tell the Project Manager and everyone else involved what is going on as it happens,” Randy said.
Randy’s colleagues and Stansell’s clients appreciate the effort he puts forth on a lot of levels, including communication and scheduling the project in a way that helps Stansell hand over the finished product to the clients as soon as possible.
“Randy is a phenomenal communicator,” said Dillon. “He communicates great with the subcontractors. He plans well in advance on his projects, so there’s really no guessing on his projects. He’s also very good about communicating with the clients. He really tries hard to keep everyone in the loop. It’s a fine line to be a great communicator and not over communicate, but Randy’s intentions with communication are always well intended.”
Even beyond construction, Randy’s personal life reflects self‑reliance and resilience. After suffering a broken back injury earlier in life, he grew wary of relying solely on prescription medication. That experience led him into gardening and herbalism.
“Weeds aren't just weeds,” he said. “Everything God put on this earth is a measurement of some use.”
Today, Randy grows plants for municipal use, creating tinctures, teas, and natural remedies—a quiet extension of his belief in stewardship and care.
Ask Randy what he loves most about Stansell Construction, and he doesn’t hesitate to offer a thoughtful answer.
“It’s a family,” said Randy. “It’s very transparent. Nobody tries to hide anything from you. The ownership will speak with you at any time. They rub shoulders with you, and you will see them on your projects. You’re not just a number here. And as a Superintendent, I know I’m not out here on the jobsite all alone. For every job we have, there are 17 people behind the Superintendent to offer support for job and client. They support you before, during and after the project. We all share the same goal – deliver a great result for the client, and do it safely.”
Randy values leadership’s visibility and genuine care for people.
“Safety is definitely fully supported by Stansell’s Owners and Leadership team,” Randy said. “It’s clear in everything they say and do. And it’s not just liability they are concerned about – they genuinely care about the well-being of people on the jobsites. They want everyone on our jobs to go home safely. Leadership is behind us in everything we do at Stansell, not just safety. That’s why I say Stansell is family!”
After decades in construction, Randy still shows up every day with a purpose forged by experience, faith, and family. He walks the job, sets expectations early, and intervenes without hesitation—because he knows firsthand what happens when safety becomes an afterthought.
For Randy, building safely isn’t just about structures. It’s about protecting people, honoring families, and making sure tomorrow always comes.
