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internships. If they are interested in the field, they should
The Real Deal... Charlotte Van Horn: Tri-State Drywall & Acoustical
definitely reach out to construction companies and union personnel.
Are you seeing interest by women? We don’t see a lot of women going into the field. I don’t see women interested at job fairs. I’ve been approached may times to apprentice, but it’s been for male applicants. It’s definitely a male dominated industry. I don’t know if it’s because women have not been introduced into the construction industry. If it’s not in their background or family, they may not be looking for it.
Is the problem part perception? It could be, construction is a male dominated field. It’s sort of like the military, it’s male dominated for the most part. There are women that are interested in going into that field. They need to know they’re welcome in the industry. Van Horn, a graduate of Port Jervis High School who earned her bachelor’s degree in accounting at SUNY New Paltz, is the only woman on the board of directors for the Construction Contractors Association of the Hudson Valley.
in the field, so people questioned who was heading the company. “The WB interviewers came out and they want to make sure as a woman that you’re actually involved in the company. One guy asked me about things that went on and after meeting me he said, ‘you’re definitely the real deal, you’re WBE, you’re involved, you know what you’re doing.” TSA is truly a family-run WBE. Van Horn’s mother, Deborah Davenport is the bookkeeper, sister Christina Bennett is the office manager and Rebecca Rivera is the project manager/estimator.
How do you deal with sexual harassment? I’m not as sensitive as probably other women and I’ve been in the construction field for more than 20 years. There are some things that might be said…it rolls off my back and you just move on with it. I’ve never had a problem with GC or anyone like that.
Are there opportunities for women? I know there are a lot of things in place for WB as far as owners, starting your own company and owning 51 percent of it. Right now, the requirements for most of the WB participation is around 30 percent. Gov. Cuomo wanted to raise that to 50 percent. At 30 percent I already see that there’s a lack of WB companies to fill
It’s not unusual for Van Horn and TSA to be juggling several projects at a time. Currently they are working at several businesses, schools and as a subcontractor doing metal framing, drywall and acoustical installation work in a new emergency room department at Montefiore St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital in Newburgh. Charlotte Van
the positions.
Are those realistic mandates? I get calls from general contractors that can’t meet that 30 percent basically begging us to bid their projects. It’s my understanding if they make an effort to hit
Horn still managed to make time for a few questions:
those marks, they can they can get a waiver. A lot of
What advice do give women who might want a career in construction industry?
in Rochester. Well, I don’t go to Rochester, so they’ll
There are a lot of job fairs or requirements for
and that for whatever reason, it was too far for me
apprenticeship programs and degrees. There are plenty
or I’m too busy and that declined the project. If they
of colleges that have scholarships for girls looking to get
get enough of those letters, they can submit them
into the construction field, specifically for architecture
and try to get a waiver to the WBE requirement.
and engineering. Some of the larger companies have
They will waive if they made a good-faith effort.
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ON THE LEVEL:
times I’ll get calls from a GC saying I need WBE, I’m ask me to put in writing that they solicited a bid from
OCTOBER 2019 QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER