May 2003

Ran: San Diego Metropolitan - May 2003

Women in Construction and Local Success Stories

Career opportunities are plentiful

The market in the construction industry is open and receptive in San Diego, says Vera Howell, president of the San Diego chapter of the National Association of Women in Construction. That trend, she says, has been accelerating over the past several years.

Women who are successful in seeking such careers are "ambitious, they want to succeed and they are willing to pay their dues," Howell says. The result is jobs with responsibility often requiring technical knowledge that translates to top dollar pay.

"The main problem is getting the word out that jobs and training for women are available," she says. "Women are capable of meeting the requirements if they are willing to educate themselves."

For Amy Cowell, It's Been A Very Good Year

Amy Cowell is living a little larger since her appearance on the Metropolitan cover in May 2002.

Cowell is wrapping up her third year as one of five project managers on San Diego's highest-profile construction job - the Downtown ballpark, aka Petco Park. She reflects that the increasing complexity of her work and her gradually lengthening work day have been a pretty good trade for the economic and geographic stability it has given her and her family.

On the ballpark, she says, "We are getting near the end of the structural part of the project and moving into finishing." By this she means that the phase of placing massive steel girders and precast concrete monoliths at the $233 million ballpark is winding up and the days of framing, seats, doors and windows are beginning.

And in finishing, she says, "There is more potential for change orders because there are more subcontractors and others at work in the space" than during structural work.

Change orders - the two most dangerous words in construction - are Cowell's bailiwick at the ballpark. Every deviation from original specs means more money and more time, two things at a premium in any building project.

But the joint venture partners that make up the Ballpark Builders consortium - including Cowell's own employer, Douglas E. Barnhart Inc. - made a no-fail commitment to have the park ready for the San Diego Padres' opening day 2004, "and we will do what we have to do to make it," she says.

Cowell's hope for her family life - more stability - has come true. Her sons thrive in their Chula Vista home, and are all the happier for their dad's recent relocation from Arizona to a nearby apartment.

Cowell's new car is a metaphor of her growing prosperity: in mid-April she traded her Chevy Lumina for a 2000 Mercedes. --- Joanne Gribble

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