Women in Construction: How Suni Miller is Shaping the Future of Women in Trades

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. This month on Women in Motion, we are highlighting women in construction. And so excited to be talking to my next guest, Suni Miller with Timberline Enterprises. Welcome.

Suni Miller: Thank you.

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

Suni Miller: So, I am a excavation concrete contractor. And I do all things dirt, rocks and structural concrete.

Lee Kantor: So, can you share a little bit about your journey? How did you get here?

Suni Miller: Sure. So, I started in construction in the trades, I would say, with my dad. He was a landscape contractor, and I worked for him, and we do snow removal in the Lake Tahoe area. I don’t know if you’re familiar with that area, but I started out with him doing landscaping and snow removal. And I was into it, but I thought, you know, I think I’m going to take a break from this and try something different. I got into the accounting field for about 15 years. And then, I figured out that living in a cubicle is not for me. I need to be back outside. And so, my dad had retired and shut the company down. I decided to go ahead and start the company back up again, but this time with an emphasis in concrete and excavation. We had done that before as well. We were just heavier on the landscape side. I now do no landscaping, and I just focused on concrete and excavation.

Lee Kantor: So, what led you to that? Was there something you were seeing in the marketplace or what?

Suni Miller: No, not. I think it was more of just what I’m into. I really like it. I love being the first on the job. You’re, kind of, building the base for the cake. As I tell people the dirt work, the structural work is everything that we’re doing, so that somebody can have a house building. We’re the first ones in. And when we were still doing landscaping, we’re the last ones out. So, we kind of put the base of the cake, and then we put the icing on the cake. And I think I just really like structural work. I’m fascinated with all things structural and the engineering process of it. And I just really enjoy being in the heavy equipment and shaping dirt and rocks. And I know it sounds probably kind of crazy, but it’s just what I’m into.

Lee Kantor: So, you got a chance to kind of do some of that when you were younger, and then you took the accounting break, and then you realized that that was really what you liked.

Suni Miller: Yeah. Yeah, just the cubicle life wasn’t for me. But I think that everything happens for a reason because being in the accounting industry in between, when I took that break, it built a solid foundation for me. I learned so much about running a business. And I learned how to balance books and to do my own accounting. And I think it gives you a better basis or kind of a structural basis also for the business side of the business. So, there’s nothing that I control in my business that I am not like, I’m not just handing my books over to somebody, I understand it. And when I go to bid, I understand what I’m doing. I worked in programs for government auditing and things like that, and it’s just really helped me out as far as I know both sides of my business really well, and I’m really comfortable running and operating my business.

Lee Kantor: Right. I would imagine, at this point, that’s almost a kind of a competitive advantage.

Suni Miller: I think so. A lot of the contractors, the general contractors and things that I work with, everybody’s got a bookkeeper. Everybody’s got somebody doing that. There’s a third party. But I kind of do my own. I do get help. I have an accountant and things like that. But when my accountant needs to sit down and discuss with me, like, “Okay, this is a plan for next year. This is where you need to be. This is what you need to do,” I get it. And I have a good understanding of where I want to go with this business and how to get there, because I have a little bit of that background.

Lee Kantor: Now, do you have any advice for women out there that maybe are in a job, like an accounting type job, and they are thinking about making the leap into one of these male-dominated businesses like you’re in? Is there any kind of do’s and don’ts or any kind of steps you recommend them taking in order to have the best chance of success?

Suni Miller: Yeah, I would say that be involved. If you’re going to start a business, and you’re in the accounting field now, you should have a good understanding of what it’s going to take. I think that a lot of people think, “Oh, I’m just going to go out and start a business,” and they forget about all of the things that go in the background to run a business. And when you’re in the business of administration and accounting and things like that, you know what it takes to run a business from the back side. And for an example, in our town recently, one of the GCs, local GCs, didn’t realize for an entire year that he was being ripped off for $86,000 worth of services that he was getting overbilled. It took him a year to figure that out. If you’re in the accounting field, you’re watching your books, you’re watching your numbers all the time. And I think that really gives you some strength.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, I think, a lot of times, people, like they’re not familiar with it or they don’t fully understand it, so they’re just kind of nodding their head when someone’s talking about it. But they really don’t understand kind of the nuances of the numbers, and where there’s opportunity, and where we got to pay attention. And if you don’t really understand that, it’s hard to run a successful business.

Suni Miller: Right, because you wouldn’t know. If somebody’s just telling you like, “This is what you need to do, and this is how you need to do it,” you don’t know if they’re telling you right, wrong or indifferent. You’re just going through the motions. And there’s a lot of room for error in it. And when you’re a small business or just starting out, there’s no room for error like that because it could take you down really, really fast. It’s helped me in my bidding process. It’s helped me to know when other things, other companies, if I have subs coming under me what their numbers are supposed to look like and if they’re trying to get over on me. I just think it’s been really beneficial to be both hands on, on the ground doing the work, but also to have knowledge on the background of my business as well.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you took the leap back in, and then kind of leaned into the dirt side of the business, as you say, did you get any kind of successes pretty quickly or was it a struggle? Like, how was that initial growth when you decided to kind of change, you know, take on this new chapter?

Suni Miller: So, I don’t know how candid I could be on this podcast. It was a struggle. And I think being kind of the odd man out or the odd woman out in the construction field, I think I might be the only licensed concrete contractor who actually works out in the field in northern Nevada. So, I am definitely one of a few, if not the only in the concrete side. And the struggle for me, a lot of times in the beginning, well, even still now, I’ll go on big walks or job walks or meet clients, and they automatically assume I’m the bookkeeper, I’m the secretary, I’m the administrative assistant. What role do you play? Oh, is the contractor going to show up? Are you taking notes for the contractor? No, I am the contractor. And that’s been a really interesting process in itself. Just to not be taken seriously in the beginning.

Now, I have a name around here. People know who I am. And I’m doing a lot more work with government agencies and things like that, and they’ve been fully supportive. But, yeah, I still get that a lot. They just don’t take you seriously until they see you out there doing the work. Or you get referred by somebody else working with GCs. That’s been really, really interesting as well. I’ll go to meet a GC about a job, and they’re looking around for the guy to show up. And here I am, five foot two, obviously female, and I work with the GC a lot right now who was really cool about it. I stepped out of my truck, and he says, “Well, this is different.” And I said, “Because I’m a female?” And he said, “Yeah. And all of my years, I have never met another female contractor.” And he comes from Southern California, where it’s hot and heavy down there. And he said, “Well, this is actually pretty rad. I’m excited to work with you.” And we’ve been working together ever since.

So, there’s those types of struggles. Some of the old chauvinist things have come up where I have been offered some interesting things in exchange for contracts. And for me, that fuels my fire. It makes me go, “Oh, yeah. Watch this.” And my first contract that I had, it was a USDA NRCS contract where USDA, they contract with a landowner. So, we do some agriculture work out here. It’s a big agriculture community. And the husband in this situation just flat out said he didn’t think I was capable because I was a woman. And there were some issues between himself and the wife. He ended up making some advances towards me in exchange for the contract. Long story short, they’re divorced, I got the contract, I finished the contract, and I’ve done 27 contracts since then for the USDA NRCS.

So, there’s struggles for sure. But for me, to accomplish that, to get through it, not let it bother me, make it a challenge, successfully finish the project, and to be where I am now I would say was worth the struggle. The success is worth the struggle on that.

Lee Kantor: Right. There’s a book I read a while ago that’s called The Obstacle Is the Way. So, the obstacles are there not to kind of derail you, but they’re just part of the journey. And I’m sorry you had to go through what you went through. But in any great achievement, I think, you have to deal with things that aren’t fun, and they’re difficult, and they test you, I mean. And you’ve come out on top. It sounds like you really have a lot of momentum, and you really made a big impact in the industry. So, kudos to you.

Suni Miller: Thank you. I think you just have to have tough skin, and you have to know that, like, it takes a certain personality to be a contractor anyway in construction, right, because it consumes your life, and it’s hard to be a contractor. The challenges with people and corporations. And it’s a lot to take on. So, you have to be that strong personality to be able to handle that.

And there are so many women out there that are so capable but might just doubt themselves a little bit. And I think that if you keep that in mind that like, no, this is part of the reality of the business, right? But this is where I’m trying to get, and you let those struggles become your fuel. There’s no losing because nobody’s going to push you out. I mean, you’re just going to keep going, and going, and going. And that’s where I am. And I’ve had personal challenges in the last few years. I was diagnosed with breast cancer. And I just kept working through treatments and all of that, and I’m still upright. And I don’t have breast cancer now, but I still am on treatments. And you just have to keep going but, at the same time, you have to give yourself some grace and not forget to take care of yourself in the process. It’s a lot to be a contractor. It really is, but it’s totally doable.

Lee Kantor: And you’re juggling so many things between your work life, your personal life. It’s really a testament to your strength to be able to persevere this way. I mean, it’s just really an amazing success story.

Suni Miller: Thank you. I really think that it just… I hope that I could put myself out there to show other women that, like, yeah, we’re moms, we’re at home taking care of families, our children sometimes. I have a child. We still do all of those things and run a business on top of it. It’s 100% doable. When I was younger, I tell people all the time, when I was younger, yeah, I saw my dad out working. My dad was a logger when I was little. So, I’ve always been around the trades. But never once did I think, “Oh, I could do that.” And I think that that’s part of I wish there were more-

Lee Kantor: Examples, like, were used-

Suni Miller: Examples of that, yeah. For girls in high school, girls in middle school. You know, nobody ever told me when I was in high school, “Hey, have you ever thought about going into the trades? Have you ever thought about being a contractor? Have you ever?” You know, it was never. Those options were never put out there. It wasn’t until I realized working for my dad, like, “Hey, I can do this.”

Lee Kantor: I can, I’m doing it. It’s.

Suni Miller: Yeah, yeah.

Suni Miller: Not only can I do it, I am actually doing it. So-.

Suni Miller: I am doing it.

Lee Kantor: Right.

Suni Miller: “As a matter of fact, dad, I’m going to take over your business.”

Lee Kantor: Exactly.

Suni Miller: “So, go ahead and go back to retirement.” And I have two brothers. And people… also, it blows people away that I have two brothers and I’m the contractor.

Lee Kantor: And you’re the one who stepped up, yes.

Suni Miller: I’m the one that took after my dad, yeah. And my brother, one of my brothers works for me, and one of my brothers has his own company in California. But, yeah, I wish that it was out there more for younger women to say, like, “You can do this.” I mean, I work with… Now, I’ve kind of got a network of women that I work with, and I’m trying to help inspire other women and mentor them through the process of getting licensed and becoming their own contractors. And you don’t have to be the secretary. You don’t have to be the bookkeeper. Like, if you want to do this, this is the roadmap to get there. I had to figure that part out by myself, but I love sharing that. Not only with women, but I’ve helped other men, young men, get licensed and things like that, and shown them how to get there. And it’s not easy, but it’s not impossible.

Lee Kantor: Right. Well, you’re a testament to that, and you’re an example for all these people. You’re that person now that you wish you had that’s out there in the industry battling and grinding. You’ve excavated that territory. You’re the one who’s doing that.

Suni Miller: Yeah, I mean, I love what I do, and I would be a liar if I said that it’s easy because it’s not easy. But it’s well worth the amount of work that you have to put into it to just be able to say, like, “I can do this.” You know, the old cliche of you could do anything you put your mind to, it’s not a cliche. It’s true. And it almost created a problem for me because once I started getting licenses and things like that, I just got my California pipeline license, and I’m working on my California concrete license. Once I figured out that that’s true, anything that I want to do, I can do it and I am doing it. And I’ve been able to do every single thing that I’ve put my mind to thus far.

So, it created this kind of – because it’s my personality as well – “Oh, I can do this. Oh, I want to go do this. I can do this. I’m going to go get this license, this license, this license. And I was going to go get my demolition license.” And my insurance company was like, “Whoa, hold on, slow down. You’re going to need to make a lot of money to pay for all this insurance becauseyou’re you want to do so many different things.” And so, I’m learning how to rein that in and say, “Okay, well, there’s a guy in my company who would really like to start a demolition company. I can help him through the process, and we can team up together instead of taking it all on myself.” But you really can do anything that you put your mind to. I tell my son that, if I decided I wanted to be a pilot, I’ll go figure out how to be a pilot.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. And that’s the thing is, once you have those wins and successes, it gives you the confidence to just keep pushing harder and going higher.

Suni Miller: Correct, yeah. And you’re just like, “Wow.” There is a big world out there that you think that you have to fit in this box as a female. You have to just do these things. I have to be just a nurse, or I have to be a secretary, or I have to be an administrative assistant. No, you can do anything. You can do anything that anybody else can. There’s a pathway to get there, and there’s usually somebody that will help you get there. And that’s been the inspiration that’s kept me going is, is that, like, “Oh, okay, I want to do this. I’ll figure out how to do this and I’ll do it.”

Lee Kantor: Now, can you share a little bit about why it was important to you to become part of the WBEC-West community? Was that community helpful in getting you to the place you are today?

Suni Miller: So, I’ve only been certified for a year now. So, I’m a new certified, newly certified member. And now, I’m starting to get a lot of DBE solicitations where in my area, a lot of the really large companies are bidding on really big jobs, and they’re requiring that certificate, the woman-owned small business certificate. And so, that just opened an entire new world to me of work. And I have them reaching out to me now saying, “Hey, I have this requirement. Can you bid this job?” almost to the point where I can’t keep up with it because I am keeping my business somewhat small in the concrete excavation industry because the equipment does a lot of the work. You don’t have to have a huge crew. But now, I’m starting. Like that’s my next step for growth would be to take advantage of some of those solicitations that are coming to me and say, “Yeah, here’s my woman-owned business certificate. And I’m going to go ahead and start bidding some of that work.”

And that puts you in a whole nother level of work. I feel really blessed that I was certified through you, guys. And I definitely plan on getting the work with the certifications that I’ve done. And it’s nice. I love seeing the emails come through from y’all. And just knowing that there’s a community of women out there that are doing the same thing and knowing that you have a community of women that you can reach out to that that will have your back, and I’m really excited about that. And I’m starting to see some of the events coming up. And I’m really excited to attend some of them and just find my network of people that aren’t just all males because, right now, it’s all males.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. So-

Suni Miller: So, there’s nothing wrong with that. But, you know, I’d like to find my tribe.

Lee Kantor: Well, they’re definitely a part of WBEC-West. What can we be doing for you? What do you need more of? Do you need more connections? Do you want to know more women in construction just to hang out with and chat? Or do you want more clients? Do you need more workers? How can we help you?

Suni Miller: I think it would be really cool to meet other women in construction to kind of just share your war stories with and just connect with and maybe even collaborate with. You know, kind of all of the above. I’m always looking for new avenues for work. I really want to start doing some mentorship, whether that’s I can get some guidance from WBEC-West on mentoring high school students. I know I talked to one of the high school programs a couple years ago about coming in and doing exactly what we talked about, about saying, “Hey, there’s this opportunity for you all out there that you may not know is there, and you may not have even considered it, but there’s a whole big world out here that us, as women, can also play in the field.” And if there were some mentorships for me to be able to mentor others through WBEC, that would be awesome.

Lee Kantor: So, if somebody wants to learn more and connect with you, what’s the website? What’s the best way to get in touch?

Suni Miller: The best way to get in touch with me is probably the email or my cell phone. My email is smiller@Timberline-ent.com or (775) 720-1622. And I’m open to taking any questions about how to get into the business or whatever anybody might need or however I can help anybody as well. Please call me, email me, text me, and I’d like to be there now.

Lee Kantor: Is the website Timberline-ent.com?

Suni Miller: My website is under construction right now. I’m revamping it because I had the same website for quite a while and now that we’re no longer doing landscaping, I’m having it redone.

Lee Kantor: All right. So, connect through email or call you.

Suni Miller: Yeah, that would be great.

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

Suni Miller: Oh thank you. I appreciate you guys.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Women in Motion.