Bay Area homebuilder hopes to encourage more women to enter construction
In light of Women in Construction week, one Bay Area construction superintendent hopes her story can encourage more women to join the industry. "This is my office. This is the best office in the world," Adrea Vladyka, superintendent with Taylor Morrison, told CBS News Bay Area. Vladyka oversees the construction of more than 90 homes in the Rosemary Grove at Lagoon Valley neighborhood in Vacaville. "I am the only superintendent for Taylor Morrison that is a woman on this Bay Area division," she said. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, women make up about 11% of the construction industry nationally. At Taylor Morrison, a national homebuilder company, 44% of the workforce is female. For Vladyka, her passion for all things hands-on started when she was young. "My dad was an electrician. And so, his friends would say, 'would you mind coming over and helping me?' And he'd say, 'Oh yeah, I'll bring my daughters.' And I swear my dad wanted two boys, he got two girls. And so, he made do with what he had," she said. After graduating college, she got the opportunity to build eight homes. That soon launched her career in construction. "I am boss lady on this job site, and then I have to go home and put my mom hat, and do dinner and homework," she said. Labor experts hope that more women in the Bay Area can join the construction industry. "Training requires more opportunities for apprenticeship and learning on the job. And you need more projects with those opportunities...