Women in Construction: Challenges, Opportunities, and Community Support

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios, it’s time for Women In Motion. Brought to you by WBEC-West. Join forces. Succeed together. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of Women In Motion and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, WBEC-West. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Women In Motion, we have Dawn Barnes, who is the Founder and CEO of RGD Construction. Welcome.

Dawn Barnes: Thank you. It’s so good to be here, Lee.

Lee Kantor: Well, I am so excited to be talking to you. This month, we’re highlighting women in construction, and I’m excited to hear about your story and your journey. So, why don’t we start there? Can you talk about your journey? How did you get into this line of work?

Dawn Barnes: Yeah, absolutely. I actually started pretty young. I grew up just kind of hanging out with my dad in the garage and messing around out there and just wanting to do everything he did. So, it evolved from that, and like woodshop in high school, to starting in the field with my dad after I graduated because I didn’t really want to do that college path at that time.

Lee Kantor: So, what was it like growing up and having a proclivity to enjoy that kind of work and, you know, seeing your dad do it? Was there any pushback from your peer group or were people like, “Oh, that’s Dawn, she’s good at this,” like they were encouraging. What was it like?

Dawn Barnes: Well, it wasn’t initially fun. A lot of my friends that were females thought it was weird and had a lot of choice words to say about, you know, just femininity and things like that. Apparently it wasn’t feminine to want to build things. I didn’t really care. My dad was always encouraging, and my brother. They were just kind of like, you need to learn how to do everything, it doesn’t matter if you’re a boy or a girl. So, I always just took that approach and didn’t let what people – I didn’t let their opinions bother me. And then, it was a struggle in the field as well in, you know, 95 being one of the only females. But all in all, it was a great opportunity.

Lee Kantor: So, it sounds like you had enough support around you that made it at least easier a little bit.

Dawn Barnes: Absolutely. Just with my dad initially and my brother, that was a lot of support going through, like, the field and the trades. It was difficult, I’m not going to lie, like you didn’t even really want to use the porta potty on site with everyone at the time. But it has definitely evolved and I have found, like, other women and people throughout the years that have supported me in addition to my dad and brother.

Lee Kantor: Now, how has the business evolved for you at RGD? Is it the same type of work that your dad was doing or do you do different things now?

Dawn Barnes: We were drywallers by trade, but I actually did qualify to be able to take my general contractor’s test here in the State of Nevada, so I did that. So, we are a general contractor and a subcontractor, so I can be a prime or a sub. So, we still maintain that drywall license and everything. But business is general contractor. It’s very interesting, you know, I did eventually go back to school to get my MBA, and nothing even prepares you, not even an MBA, for bootstrapping a business. So, it’s definitely had its, as I like to call it, glow and grow moments.

Lee Kantor: Now, as you’ve gone through this and kind of earned your way up the ranks, has it been important to you to kind of get other women involved? Has that been part of your journey is to help other women explore this as a possible career?

Dawn Barnes: Absolutely. A few years ago – I’m currently married – I was a single mom raising my daughter, so construction has been an avenue to provide for her without having to struggle as much or, you know, worry about how I’m going to feed her, and pay for childcare, and have benefits. So, I do work really hard and advocate for single moms or women in the trades to get out there. It’s very important for them to know, so I’m constantly out there with NAWIC. I’m also board president for NAWIC, National Association of Women in Construction in Las Vegas. So, we’re constantly handing out scholarships and speaking to women, and just advocating and getting it out there that women can do construction.

Lee Kantor: Is there any misconception you can share with maybe some women who have self-selected out without really understanding what the possibilities could be? Is there some myths you can bust, maybe, and give them some encouragement to at least explore this a little bit?

Dawn Barnes: Absolutely. So, a lot of people are like, “Oh, I’m going to go get dirty,” or “It’s long hours,” or “It’s grueling conditions.” And it’s not. You work 40 hours a week. You can pick from any type. If you want to get dirty, you can go play in the dirt. If you want to just, you know, go do electrical – well, that’s dirty too. But there’s a lot, like there’s a lot of different avenues you can go. It’s not just what you think. People think you’re just going to be out there digging with the shovel, but there’s so many aspects and elements to construction from project management to engineering. There’s so much, so I guess that would be the myth to dispel. It’s not just all dirty work. You get to use your brain as well.

Lee Kantor: And is that something that you find where there’s an opportunity maybe for women, because they think in their head it’s one thing, but with the advent of technology, I would imagine that the technology has to have an impact as well, where it isn’t always I have to be able to lift a gazillion pounds, a lot of machinery does some of the lifting for you, I would think.

Dawn Barnes: Yeah, absolutely. There’s a lot of technology that helps and comes into play. Heck, I even watched a video where they’re doing like the full exoskeletons now to help you lift things and modifying for women. I follow technology. And men, sorry, I don’t want to just disclude. But they’re doing a lot and technology is helping a lot and robots are helping a lot. So, it does, and it’s going to, I think, more in the future help play a bigger role as well.

Lee Kantor: Now you mentioned NAWIC, can you explain what that is and how they’ve kind of played a role in your growth?

Dawn Barnes: Yeah, absolutely. NAWIC is the National Association of Women in Construction. It was created about 73 years ago. I hope I get that right so I don’t make anyone upset at me. Our local chapter is 63 years old. And it is a platform where women come together in construction. We educate, we support, and we grow our networks together. It’s an amazing platform. They have, like I said, scholarship programs, education programs. And here at a local level, we have scholarships as well. We give out scholarships to the trades. We did two for a welding school. And it’s just a great national organization that’s just a sisterhood for women in construction.

Lee Kantor: Now, what’s the employment situation? Is this an area where you need a lot more talent or is it an area where you have as many as you need?

Dawn Barnes: In construction?

Lee Kantor: Yeah.

Dawn Barnes: No, we are definitely in a situation where we have a lack of skilled trade. So, I feel like it is an amazing time for people to get involved. You don’t have to have a background in construction. You just have to have a willingness to learn. There’s union and nonunion trade programs for people to go into. I’m not for either one. I started in the union. My current company is not union. But for me, I believe that there’s so much education and so much room, and so you don’t have to have a lot of background in it. People will train you. We need more people in the field and in the offices helping in construction.

Lee Kantor: Now, is NAWIC doing anything for young people like in terms of high school age? Or is there a path for maybe high school aged kids to get involved, or is it start after high school?

Dawn Barnes: Yeah. Excuse me. I apologize for interrupting. Yes, we do high school programs. There’s a high school camp program for females where they do a week long camp. There are programs in sixth grade. We do a National Lego Building Competition. It’s a construction Lego building competition – that’s my favorite because I’m a giant Lego nerd – that introduces children to fields in construction and design.

Dawn Barnes: And then, the high school program, like I mentioned, does a week long construction program where they bring in women in all different areas and they build during the week and learn. We do post out of college. We have scholarships for college path for engineering and project management and construction management, as well as trade scholarships locally, we do that. So, we do a lot of advocating.

Dawn Barnes: I personally partner with some of our magnet and trade schools out here in Las Vegas, and we just did a huge thing for Women In Construction Week, and we were at the high schools and advocating and bringing engineers and construction workers in for all the female students.

Lee Kantor: Now, why was it important for you to become part of the WBEC-West community, what were you hoping to get out of that and what have you gotten?

Dawn Barnes: WBEC-West was super important to me because not only am I in construction, I’m a small business owner. And like I said, I did go back to school and obtain my MBA. I just didn’t feel like it prepared me enough to bootstrap a business or even be at that CEO level. And I felt much on an island as a female business owner, like no one else to talk to or anything, so I reached out to WBEC-West in hopes of building a community of other fellow women business owners. Because I just love our small business community, and I want to talk more, include more, and be more a part of that small woman business community.

Lee Kantor: Now, at RGD Construction, primarily do you work in residential or do you work in commercial? Like what types of clients do you take on?

Dawn Barnes: We do both residential and commercial. So, for the residential industry, we do bathroom, kitchen remodels, ADUs. We love building man caves or she caves, cool stuff like that. And then, in the commercial side, we do commercial tenant improvements and restaurant build outs and some stadium repairs. We’ve been really fortunate to have a couple of really amazing projects as we first started out in the commercial industry.

Lee Kantor: Is there a project you can share? You don’t have to name the name of the client, but maybe they came to you with a challenge and you were able to make something memorable.

Dawn Barnes: Yeah. Actually, in one of the stadiums here, we were able to help them with some of their needs in a system that had been out in the weather. We were able to help them find solutions in fixing that and being creative, and offering products to them that could help with their seating system to make sure that it withstood the weather out here. We’re pretty creative and inventive in custom projects and sourcing materials that will just bring solutions to people.

Lee Kantor: And I would imagine in Nevada, it has its challenges with the heat that maybe since you’ve been doing this long, you have a specialty that can help people in ways that maybe they didn’t consider.

Dawn Barnes: We just honestly educate about the weather out here, and let people know that with the heat, you know, with paint and different things, there’s additives you can put in to make your paint last longer. It’s just a whole different ballfield out here in Vegas with the heat, honestly. So we do, we do a lot of education about how to help your home residentially, what you can do to prolong the life of some of your products and your weather stripping and stuff in your house. That’s what we kind of specialize in, some of those things, making sure things are green and efficient and lasting as long as they can for our customers.

Lee Kantor: Now, do you have any advice for women entrepreneurs out there, or aspiring women entrepreneurs when they are in a male dominated industry, like you’re in, is there some do’s and don’ts, there’s some tips or advice you can share on how to not only just survive it, but to thrive like you have?

Dawn Barnes: Yeah. Well, I don’t know if I have any do’s or don’ts because I’m sure I’m still making some don’ts here and there on my path. So, I think, to just put yourself out there and go. You know, I didn’t take no for an answer. I always found a solution and a way to make it happen. And, honestly, just go for it and make your own table. You don’t have to wait for a seat. Just build your own.

Lee Kantor: Good advice. Now, if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on the team, what is the website? What’s the best way to connect?

Dawn Barnes: Yeah, absolutely. You can reach out to us through our website at rgdalv.com. You can email me directly at dawn@rgdlv.com, or give us a call at our office at 702-888-3213.

Lee Kantor: Well, Dawn, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you. All right. This is Lee Kantor, we’ll see you all next time on Women In Motion.