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Karolyn Willis got her start in construction at an early age.

The Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.) resident grew up helping her father Kendall with his home improvement and siding business which he operated for 50 years.

“It’s how I got to know a lot of people in the trades and the industry. The island is a small place,” she says.

Now the branch manager of Atlantic Roofers Ltd.’s office in Winsloe, near Charlottetown, Willis continues to build connections in the field, forging relationships with various associations and companies throughout Atlantic ���ϳԹ���.

What motivates her is helping to improve the roofing industry on the island and to prove that the field, like others such as carpentry and plumbing, is a legitimate trade that can lead those in it to fulfilling careers.

Willis and others such as Rita Burgess, the operations manager of the New Brunswick Roofing Contractors Association, were instrumental in getting roofing recognized as a Red Seal certified trade in P.E.I. last year. It was the only Atlantic province without that recognition.

It creates a “standardized pathway” for people wanting to pursue a career in roofing, now a four-year apprenticeable trade.

Willis says P.E.I. apprentices can apply for provincial apprenticeship grants and student loans to help them cover costs for their in-class training in Saint John, N.B.

“It was part of the driving force for me because many of these workers can’t afford hotels and meals for seven weeks of training each year,” she adds.

Like many trades in P.E.I., roofing faces a shortage challenge. Through high school recruitment presentations and job fairs, Willis has found many young people simply aren’t aware that roofing is even a trade.

With her project manager, Willis has taken part in two-hour education sessions, where young people get to see what roofers do on a flat roof of a commercial building.

She has also collaborated with Sam Sanderson, executive director of the Construction Association of P.E.I., on various initiatives to attract more people (including women) into construction.

“He is a great champion of women in trades.”

But finding ways of keeping people in the trade might be as important to Willis as recruitment endeavours. Good pay, ongoing training, retention bonuses and providing opportunities for employees to climb the company ladder are critical.

“This is not the job it used to be,” she says, pointing out new technologies have made roofing materials lighter and easier to work with. “Men and women can’t continuously lift 80 pounds of rolls up onto a roof.”

Other tools are changing the field, such as drones used to measure projects.

“There are a lot of places where women’s skillsets can come into play.”

While there is still “a ways to go” for women to be fully accepted in the male-dominated field, she says it continues to improve.

“It can be a challenge for some of the old-school guys who have been working only with men for 20 years but when they see women show up every day and do the work they realize they are just like everyone else.”

At Atlantic Roofers, there are a number of women in leadership roles, including in project management and accounting and the company’s safety co-ordinator, Rachelle Leblanc, has more than 20 years of experience in construction.

“We have women in the trades but we need more.”

Many of those women (and men) will be from another province or country. Atlantic Roofers currently is sponsoring three people from India hired through the Atlantic Immigration Program (a pathway to permanent residence for skilled foreign workers).

Willis recently filed an AIP application for an experienced roofer from Brazil who wants to come to P.E.I. “It will be interesting to see what his skills (on the roof) look like compared to ours,” she states.

With P.E.I.’s population rapidly expanding, construction is sure to follow. She points to four new schools in the works, a hospital, other health care facilities and a multitude of residential apartment buildings going up as examples of the changes going on.

The time for women and men has never been better to be in the trade.