Bridgette Tena holds a position that ranks among the most perilous careers on Earth. Even so, she mentions that she is incredibly content with her choice. This 51-year-old works on roofs in Santa Fe, New Mexico, placing her in a small group, as women make up under 10% of the U.S. construction workforce.
The U.S. Department of Labor reports that people in this trade deal with the second-highest frequency of lethal workplace accidents. At the same time, the industry is exploding in popularity, and forecasts suggest close to 15,000 new positions will open up every year for the next decade.
Tena began doing roof repairs and builds on the side four years ago, aiming to boost her earnings as a broker while getting a better grasp of the construction aspect of real estate. She officially started her own company, B. Barela Construction, back in February 2021. Financial records checked by CNBC show that her company pulled in around $180,000 last year and looks ready to top $200,000 in 2024.
Although she refused to give an exact paycheck figure (smart girl), she earns over $70,000 between the roofing business and her real estate job. With her fourth year coming up, Tena indicated that she plans to expand the operation into a full-time endeavor. She was, however, kind enough to give us a peek into the industry she works at:
This is a men’s world
It runs in the family: both her uncle and her grandfather were contractors. She wasn’t shy to handling tools, even as a young girl. She admits that the industry had always called to her, though it took her quite a while to finally commit to the dream and pursue that line of work.
From 1995 to 2002, she took classes sporadically at Santa Fe Community College, bouncing around majors like business, law, and real estate without ever completing her bachelor’s degree. Once she moved on from school, Tena took a front-desk job at a realty firm in Santa Fe and managed to earn her licenses for both real estate agent and broker.
Tena spent over ten years as a broker, but she didn’t get enough satisfaction from that career by itself; she eventually realized she was meant to be outdoors rather than cooped up in an office.
The main reason she delayed entering the construction field was simply that men dominate the industry so heavily. Tena added that she never spotted anyone who looked like her doing that work, noting that it felt frightening and daunting for a woman to try entering that field alone.
On 24/7 duty like an emergency dispatcher
Tena explains that she usually works from 6 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon during the week, but she also stays ready on nights and weekends to handle urgent fixes, like a dripping ceiling or damaged drywall. She mentioned that they are constantly hustling back and forth with their ladders.
An average day for her involves scaling a thin ladder to work atop houses and commercial properties that stand anywhere from eight to thirty feet tall. After reaching the roof, she and her crew handle tasks like stripping off old materials, laying down new shingles, or patching up holes.
Since she works at such heights and handles dangerous tools like saws and nail guns, Tena puts on a hard hat, heavy leather gloves, a safety harness, and other gear to lower the risk of getting hurt. There’s little room for vanity and outfit fashion when there are safety codes to abide by.
She manages a crew of four full-time workers and nearly a dozen independent contractors, many of them female—in fact, her own mother and daughter frequently tag along to assist with larger projects. Tena points out that even though roofing isn’t exactly a trendy pick for young professionals, it is a surprisingly overlooked field that offers plenty of job security and personal satisfaction.