SAUGUS — When Emiliya McNeil-Kross walks onto a job site, clients may be surprised that she’s a one-woman crew. But through years of carpentry and renovation work, a love for design, and a reputation built on word-of-mouth recommendations, McNeil-Kross has carved out a place for herself in the industry.

“It’s hard to say exactly what got me into carpentry. I always liked to fix stuff, and growing up, I learned a lot from my dad. He’s an engineer, but he’s more in the electrical field. I went to school for mechanical engineering, so that’s how I learned how things work,” McNeil-Kross said.

Later on, she realized she also enjoyed design, but she was already so invested in engineering, and design school was expensive and private.

“I just said, ‘OK, I’m not going there.’ And then I came to the States when I was 21 on a work and travel visa,” she said.

For McNeil-Kross, the path didn’t lead directly to carpentry. She started out in restaurants and did landscaping on the side.

“But then I would fix patios, and learn concrete, and I did painting, and started slowly fixing stuff. And when I moved to Boston, I didn’t like working in restaurants anymore, and I started as an assistant to a guy who was a contractor in Brookline for three years,” she said.

McNeil-Kross eventually joined a union, where she learned a bit more about the standards in the business.

During COVID-19, McNeil-Kross took on personal projects, renovating her home for herself and her family.

One clear aspect of her home, and the work that she does, is she aims to give everything purpose.

“Everybody is running out of space. I’m very practical. I try to figure out what is the best way to save space and make things easier and more accessible,” she said.

McNeil-Kross said one challenge was being not just a woman in a male-dominated field but also someone from another country.

“The man I worked for in Brookline was very nice. But when I started in the union, it was kind of hard, also just being from another country, people were like ‘What is she doing here?’ But the funny part was, when I joined, I was put on two weeks of probation or testing. They knew I had experience, and after the first two days, they saw how I worked, and I got to skip four years of training. They bumped me straight to the fourth year,” she said.

McNeil-Kross takes great pride in her work ethic, saying once she starts a project, she plugs away until it’s completed.

“I don’t really like taking breaks. I push, push, push. And for the past five years it’s been kind of hard because I do it on my own. At first, people aren’t really comfortable when I just show up,” she said.

However, McNeil-Kross has built a business based on her clients’ appreciation of her work, gaining most of her jobs through word-of-mouth recommendations.

When asked what style she prefers, McNeil-Kross said she enjoys Scandinavian design, which features a lot of wood. She noted that the Scandinavian style involves things like white oak and lighter-colored floors.

“But if I go into a house that is full of beautiful vintage woodwork, I don’t think I would have the heart to paint it. A lot of people would do it. It really depends on how it is done,” she said, adding that while she likes modern styles such as Scandinavian design, she also appreciates the woodwork found in older homes, including Victorian houses.

“For my favorite project, it was a pipe that burst in Melrose in a kitchen. They had to cut the kitchen cabinet, and it was a weird size, so there were supposed to be custom-made cabinets that got estimated for like $40,000,” she said.

McNeil-Kross said insurance would cover nearly the entire $40,000 cost, and that when she heard about the project, she contacted the owner, telling him not to pay for it yet.

“He had a very small old-school kitchen. I think he had never done anything to it in at least 40 years. So I jumped in, and we ended up taking off two walls and renovating the whole floor. We took the $40,000 from the insurance, and with the floor, the project was around $65,000. So he only paid $25,000 for a whole first-floor renovation,” she said.

With the summer season bringing an influx of projects, McNeil-Kross said she is currently juggling several larger jobs. Examples of her work can be found on her Facebook page, “Em’s Design & Repair.”

What began as a joy for fixing things has now become a career that she’s built one project at a time.