Construction can be a notoriously tough industry for women. They can face many obstacles including exclusion, gender bias, pay gap, and lack of advancement. Perhaps that is why women currently represent only 10.9% of the construction industry workforce. 

The good news is cultural shifts are happening to make construction more appealing to women. Preconstruction is one of the places in the industry many women are finding an alternative field to work in. Although skilled trades need to fill the hiring gap with women (and we encourage more to see it as a viable option!), preconstruction doesn’t require the physical demands that labor does which is attractive to some women. Meet some of our brilliant female STACK customers below and learn how they got into the industry, their must-haves in precon, and their message to the next female generation.

Kelli Baker

Financial Systems Analyst & Procurement, Metropolitan Services Group

Must have in Kelli’s preconstruction toolbox: I like working in STACK’s reporting function. I have an accounting background, so I like working in excel and uploading those accounting codes into STACK. 

Kelli grew up with some construction influences in her family. Her grandfather was a mason and built their family home with her father. She grew up a self-proclaimed daddy’s girl, learning about electrical and plumbing, which has helped her see the bigger picture in construction (and work on her own family home). After getting her bachelor’s degree in finance and accounting, she ended up at a custom foundation company, Weaver Precast. That is where she cites her first female role model in construction, her HR Generalist. “She really got me into construction because her personality made it fun.” 

Kelli agrees that women bring unique skills to the construction industry. “Women are highly organized and meticulous. We have a different personality than men which I think is complementary and adds some refinement to our business. We can map things out and set up a structure.” 

Since starting at Metropolitan Services Group, Kelli has overseen getting everything developed in STACK, setting up the accounts, doing data entry for residential and commercial sides of the business, and doing takeoffs. “I am learning a lot about every trade while doing takeoffs, I really like it. Metropolitan was missing pieces in other takeoff software, so they invested in STACK. It’s more accurate.” 

After training another employee to use STACK, he is now completing a takeoff in two hours on an entire house that would originally take days or weeks (depending on the size of a project). “Yesterday, he did three homes in one day.” 

Kelli’s words of wisdom to the younger female generation? “Don’t be afraid of getting into the construction industry and doing it. At my last job I would be in the shop and on the floor, watching them pour walls. Don’t be intimidated by it. There is room to grow like I’m growing. There’s a lot to construction, it’s not the same thing every day. Commercial, residential, and the customization end. I am seeing a trend of more women in admin, but you still need to know the basics of construction in those roles. And it’s all learnable as you go.” 

Keep reading this blog on stackct.com

• 
•