Women in Construction: From Family Business to Federal Contracts

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.

Lee Kantor: Today on Women In Motion, we have Elizabeth Tene, and she is the CEO and President of Access General Contracting. And we’re here to celebrate women in construction this month, and this is going to be a good interview in that area. Welcome, Elizabeth.

Elizabeth Tene: Thank you so much for having me, Lee. I appreciate the opportunity.

Lee Kantor: Well, before we get too far into things, tell us about Access General Contracting. How are you serving folks?

Elizabeth Tene: So, Access General Contracting is a general engineering contractor. We are a brother and sister team. We provide construction services to the federal government and public utility companies. We service California, Arizona, and Nevada.

Lee Kantor: Do you mind sharing a little bit about your journey? How did you get involved in this line of work?

Elizabeth Tene: Yes. So, both of our parents are entrepreneurs. And our dad grew up in the construction industry with his brothers, so Albert and I had the opportunity to grow up into construction and watch our parents be entrepreneurs. They were the type of people that were like, “You know what? We just have to go for it,” and boots to the ground. So, we just grew up with parents who had that entrepreneurial spirit and passed it on to us. And so, that’s how Access came about.

Elizabeth Tene: Because our parents were both entrepreneurs, our dad would bring us out to construction sites growing up. Whether it was me taking pictures of the job sites and Albert helping my dad with the actual construction of it, we naturally were put into the business with that.

Lee Kantor: Now, did you take over his business or did you start your own business?

Elizabeth Tene: So, they helped us start the business. Initially acts as general contracting, started as a sole prop. Albert started the business – which is my brother and partner – and then our parents joined him and we started a corporation, and then, later, I joined the business. So, I actually came from a finance background, and Albert had the construction experience hands on, and so he’s able to take care of the construction part of it, and I’m able to take care of the business part of it, which is why we have been such great partners.

Lee Kantor: Now, what’s it like working with your brother?

Elizabeth Tene: It’s great. We usually, you know, get along for the most part. We don’t really have any big issues. And if we do, we’ll work through them. But family business is difficult, and I think that more of the issues will come with our parents because of generational challenges and difference in opinion.

Lee Kantor: Now, do you have any advice for other people who are thinking about getting in business with a sibling? Is that something like, did you have to kind of have a heart to heart and, you know, hope that none of this stuff when you were kids is going to kind of rear its head later on when you’re making decisions, or you see each other like you did when you were ten years old?

Elizabeth Tene: I would say go for it. I think we make a great team and I think nobody knows you better than your family, right? So, I think I would definitely say go for it. However, there is challenges with business, right? Sometimes you’re not just going to have a family dinner, it’s going to turn into a business dinner.

Lee Kantor: A work dinner.

Elizabeth Tene: Yes.

Lee Kantor: So, how do the other family members handle that when that happens, like in the holidays?

Elizabeth Tene: We work through it. It’s a challenge. You know, sometimes there’s disagreements, but we work through them. So, we just have to communicate. Communication is key.

Lee Kantor: So, who is your ideal customer? Who is the main purchasers of your products and services?

Elizabeth Tene: So, our main clients are the federal government and public utility companies.

Lee Kantor: Now, was it difficult to kind of get into that line of work? Like that seems like pretty complicated and hairy if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Elizabeth Tene: Yes, it definitely has been a challenge, but it definitely has been a great experience. We are certified as a woman-owned small business, and economically disadvantaged women-owned small business, and small business and disadvantaged business, and our ADA as well, which allows you to go after federal contracts in a smaller competitive pool. And so, you do have to have your certifications to go after that type of work, and be certified with the CPUC as well if you want to do public utility company work.

Elizabeth Tene: But the type of contracts that most people run away from, we run towards, so we enjoy the challenge and the chase. But we didn’t initially start off doing that. We actually started off doing public works and work for school districts, and we did also start off with residential projects, and worked our way up and just found our niche and decided to stay there.

Lee Kantor: So, when you were working kind of for the public as opposed to like a public sector, what was that conversation where you’re like, hey, maybe we should be going after these municipalities, these larger entities rather than, you know, this business or this house?

Elizabeth Tene: Sure. It was more so like bigger picture.

Lee Kantor: So, you were focusing on like this is where the growth is, this really kind of lends itself to what our expertise is, so we should be playing in that area?

Elizabeth Tene: Yes, exactly.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you were deciding that, what was that conversation like? Was there any conflicts there or you were both all in and you were like, yeah, let’s do it? And, you know, because it’s a different thing, so sometimes change can be hard.

Elizabeth Tene: Yes, change is difficult. But we also grew up with, I don’t want to say difficult parents, but parents who just instilled that hard work was the only way to do it, that nothing comes easy. And so, that mindset just really has helped us grow and take on bigger challenges.

Lee Kantor: Now, do you have kind of either a formal or an informal board of directors that helps you make these kind of decisions and helps you kind of know the ropes when you’re about to jump into something that maybe you’re not super familiar with?

Elizabeth Tene: We’ll usually speak about it just between Albert and I. But we also do have a business coach that does help us. And so, when it comes to questions that we may not know the answer to, we reach out to our network.

Lee Kantor: And then, what gets you fired up every day?

Elizabeth Tene: My team. I think they really do motivate me. There’s so many lives that depend on us, and I just feel a strong sense of obligation for them. And, also, of course, my family, my children.

Lee Kantor: Is that a challenge to kind of balance all of that, you know, during your typical workday?

Elizabeth Tene: Oh, yes. Being a working mom and a business owner is just a lot, right? There’s never an off switch. But getting help at home, and having a business coach, and organizing myself with my calendar and a routine definitely helps.

Lee Kantor: Now, do you have any advice for another woman that’s thinking about getting involved in construction, in a male dominated industry like this? So, there are some do’s and don’ts you’ve learned over the years?

Elizabeth Tene: Yes. I would say don’t back down. Just show up and do it. It is difficult because, you know, it’s a male dominated industry. But we’re women. We’ve got this. Whether we’re moms or not, I feel like we’ve always got it. We just have to show up and do it, and work through it, and never give up. So, I would say just have to do it.

Lee Kantor: And why was it important for you to become part of the WBEC-West community? What did you expect to get out of that community? And what have you gotten?

Elizabeth Tene: Yeah. So, WBENC has been great. Obviously, they certify women-owned small businesses, and they certified us for women-owned small business, economically disadvantaged women-owned small business. And they provide great matchmaking events where you’re able to meet with procurement, whether it’s federal agencies, public agencies, really get you in front of the procurement team, which has been a great advantage. And they also connect you with mentors if you need the assistance, for people who are in similar industries. So, just very supportive. And I think if you’re a woman in business, you should definitely get certified as a woman in business and reach out to WBENC.

Lee Kantor: So, what do you need more of? How can we help you?

Elizabeth Tene: Maybe some more matchmaking events. I feel like maybe the matchmaking events trickled down a little bit right before COVID and a lot of it has been virtual. But I feel like if we get some more in-person networking events together, that would be a great opportunity for us to be able to meet some more procurement.

Lee Kantor: And then, what about in your business, do you need more clients, do you need more workers, do you need more funding? What else do you need to keep growing?

Elizabeth Tene: Yeah. I think all of the above. Definitely more support. This year we’ll be doubling our revenues, and so we’ll need some more manpower, maybe some funding, and definitely more opportunities to work with other clients would be great to help us in all aspects of that.

Lee Kantor: Now, is there a story you can share that maybe illustrates what makes you special and different? Maybe explain how maybe a client had a problem and you were able to help them solve the problem, and maybe overachieve of what they even thought was possible.

Elizabeth Tene: I feel like we have a very personable approach. And we have a team that has a range of experience. So, we’re able to give our best team to our clients and be available for them. So, I feel like if they have an emergency, we’re able to respond quite quickly and send out a team right away. So, I think that that differentiates us. We’re very personable. We want to build relationships. We don’t want to just have one project and be done with it. We want to build a long lasting relationship with our clients so it’s returning work.

Lee Kantor: Well, it seems like you got tremendous momentum. Congratulations on all the success.

Elizabeth Tene: Thank you. I appreciate it.

Lee Kantor: If somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on your team, what is the best way to do that?

Elizabeth Tene: They could definitely reach out to me via email. I’m open to being contacted via email. And I can provide that, it’s elizabeth@accessgcinc.com.

Lee Kantor: And do you have a website?

Elizabeth Tene: I do, it’s accessgeneralcontracting.com.

Lee Kantor: Well, Elizabeth, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Elizabeth Tene: Thank you so much. Appreciate the opportunity.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor, we’ll see you all next time on Women In Motion.