At Fort Construction, we are proud to employ a number of women – from the front office to skilled labor in the field. In the third of a series of articles that will highlight the amazing women we employ, we take a closer look at Crystal Averitt, Field Superintendent.
Crystal will celebrate her 10-year anniversary with Fort in May. Crystal has two Bachelor’s degrees and was hoping to move into the medical field after college. Fortunately for us, she found herself in construction.
Here’s a brief Q&A with Crystal …
What do you enjoy about working in construction?
I have been around construction my entire life with my dad and my family. In fact, when I was 12 years old, my brother and I helped my dad pour concrete! I guess you could say it’s in my blood.
Fort Construction employs a number of terrific people, and everyone gets along and works well with each other. In addition, I have a few family members who work here and I love seeing them.
Is it easy or difficult being a woman in the construction industry?
Being a woman in construction can prove to be challenging at times. Mostly, people respect me, but others need a little more time to realize I know what I’m doing. While there are some difficulties, there are also times when someone might offer their help. For example, if there’s a large heavy box, many men will offer to help me with it. Now if I were a male Superintendent that help would never be offered. I think that’s awesome.
What keeps you at Fort Construction?
I know this may be a common answer, but we really do have good people that work at Fort, and I enjoy working with them. We continue to grow as a company and I hope to continue to be part of it.
On the personal side, you have some exciting news.
I got engaged two weeks ago – it only took him 10 years to ask me! Lol! I have two Pit Bull fur babies named Baxter and Brandi. I’ve only had Brandi for about seven months, but she has blended into the family perfectly. I also have five godchildren, and three of them work at Fort Construction. When I say working at Fort is like working with family, I mean it!
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At Fort, our goal is to hire the best candidate for every job, and there have been a number of times that the best candidate is female. We have found that women are extremely hard workers, take immense pride in their work, and have a natural eye for the smallest of details.
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: this type of diversity not only benefits the quality of our projects, it benefits our clients as well. We’re extremely proud to have Crystal on our team.
