Building Technician - Elizabeth Scaife

Elizabeth Scaife,
Age 26

Qualifications
BSc Hons Geography and Statistics
HNC in Building Studies

What qualifications/constructionskills courses have you achieved?
I have a CSCS card with Health & Safety, a HNC in Building Studies. I've also been on a lot of other shorter courses like scaffolding safety, first aid and manual handling.

What's it like working in a man's world?
Hard, I'm not going to lie it is hard. You want to be treated the same, but when you've got a load of builders staring at you because you're new on site or they're shouting at you because something's going wrong - it is intimidating. But saying that I've had no major problems, they get used to you and most of them like having a women around the site.
It's an aggressive and tough environment though.

Can you give an example of any recent projects you have been working on?
I work on various projects everyday, pricing anything from schools, hospitals, housing, car parks - anything that comes into the office - it's so varied.

What surprised you about the construction industry?
The scope of different jobs - I'm still surprised about how few women I met on site, it's not appealing to everyone, but I love it!

If you were to recommend your job to someone else, what would you say?
It's a laugh, it's very varied and it builds your confidence - I'm not there just yet, but I'm enjoying it and hopefully getting better at my job. Also you're your own person, you get to plan your own day, it's a relaxed industry in that respect. Rather than being in an office and just a number, I certainly enjoy being out and about.