Modern living: Housing industry making huge strides in becoming a welcoming place for women

From left: Linda Oliveri Blanchard (Enercare Home Services); Kaylie Chamberlin (ARTium Design Build & Just Basements); Tanya Buckley (Urbandale Construction); Alyssa Stack (Cardel Homes); Rosaline Hill (RJH Architecture + Planning); Michelle Taggart (Tamarack Homes & Tartan Homes); Caroline Castrucci (Laurysen Kitchens); Carolyn Munro (Carolyn Munro Design + Build); Lianna Mackie (Mackie Homes).  Photo by Wayne Cuddington / All Things Home

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The housing industry has traditionally been known as a male-dominated field, but that’s changing. More and more today, it’s women in the decision-making roles, as evidenced by three recent high-level appointments.  

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Late last year, Michelle Taggart, whose family has been in construction and land development since the 1940s, took over as co-president of Tamarack Homes and Tartan Homes. Two months later, Tanya Buckley, who had long been with Cardel Homes, was named senior vice-president of Urbandale Construction. And this spring, Alyssa Stack, who had been general manager at Patten Homes, was named senior vice-president and general manager at Cardel. 

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Architects Rosaline Hill, left, and Samieh Sarjamee of the RJH team check out progress at a job site. Photo by RJH Architecture + Planning

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They certainly aren’t the first women in leadership roles in the industry. Caroline Castrucci, for instance, has been running Laurysen Kitchens with her brother for several years and is a past president of the local housing association, the Greater Ottawa Home Builders’ Association (GOHBA). And Carolyn Munro started her own business, Carolyn Munro Design + Build, designing and building custom homes and renovations in 1986, leading the way for women in the field. 

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But the recent appointments seemed a natural time to explore how the industry has changed for women and what they bring to the table. In June, nine of them gathered in a conference room to examine the challenges and opportunities facing women in the housing sector. 

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The consensus was that there have been huge strides in making the housing industry a welcoming place for women, which in turn benefits homeowners and homebuyers. 

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Being a woman in this industry is “everything,” says Lianna Mackie, general manag

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Caroline Castrucci in the mezzanine overlooking the plant floor at Laurysen’s newly expanded factory in Carleton Place. Photo by Laurysen Kitchens

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er of builder Mackie Homes. “I’ve never felt more included. You walk into a room of amazing women like this and you feel that instant connection.” 

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Linda Oliveri Blanchard was one of the first women in Ontario to become a licensed gas fitter. For a long time, she had to fight misperceptions when competing for client business. “Just to be perceived at the same level as (my male competitors), I had to earn my way up and I had fight for it,” she says, even though she was actually qualified and they were not. 

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Today she is the senior regional manager of Eastern Ontario for Enercare Home Services.  

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“In the last 10 years, the pace (of change) is really starting to pick up. You go out on sites, you see women site supers, foremen, trades and even on this side as a trade supplier, we’re actually respected enough to be given a chance to place a bid on a project, whereas before it was the old boys’ club.” 

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Castrucci remembers the early days of her career, more than 40 years ago, when a GOHBA meeting of 200 people would include just two women, herself and designer Linda Nolan. Today the meetings are about 50 per cent women, she guesses.  

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Taggart has similar recollections. “When I first started, I would often be the only woman at a table,” she says. “And now it happens regularly where it’s all women. And we have engineers, architects, designers all in leadership roles… I love attending a meeting and there’s a bunch of strong women around the table.”