Women in Construction Week: Kristen Heiser

Mid-States Concrete Industries celebrates Women in Construction Week (March 6 – 12) by highlighting women on our team making their mark in the construction industry.

Today we feature Senior Project Designer Kristen Heiser, who has been with Mid-States Concrete for 15 years.

“In high school, I kept rearranging my room and I wanted to rearrange the living room, but my dad wouldn’t let me,” Kristen said. “High school had a board drafting class and that was that. And then it became a computer course, AutoCad 1, and I liked it, so I went for my major in CAD work.”

In her role as Senior Project Designer, Kristen takes contract drawings and then creates shop drawings for our team, which include all the pertinent information they need to appropriately manufacture and install the precast components.

“No two jobs are the same,” Kristen said. “It’s always different. Even similar jobs are not similar… They all have different requirements.”

What Kristen enjoys about precast is that it is always evolving. The buildings are getting bigger, and more complicated. It’s not just straight beams anymore. This is also one of the biggest challenges of her job.

When Kristen reflects back on all the buildings she’s worked on – two stick out. The first is the very first project she ever did for Mid-States. It was a two-story golf clubhouse at a country club and there were no straight lines, everything was angled. And while Kristen worked off of dimensions that were taken in the field by her fellow Mid-States team members, when the pieces got to the site, they didn’t fit. This resulted in tons of section cuts, but in the end the project turned out just fine. Luckily, Kristen’s following projects didn’t have the same issue.

The other project that stands out is St. James Church in Belvidere, because she and her son attend that church. She knew the project was one Mid-States would work on and started asking around, inquiring whether she could serve as the designer on the project. She ended up getting the drawings from the sales team on Ash Wednesday. The project was unique as a formliner was used on the wall panels to match the stone of the then 104-year-old church. It was also one of Mid-States Concrete’s first jobs that used C-GRID, and had the added complexity of the openings for the stained glass windows.

Kristen has grown used to working in a male-dominated field as even early on she was often one of the only women in her classes, but she thrived.

“The guys knew I knew what I was doing and they’d come ask me for help,” she said.

In terms of advice for other women looking to get in to the field: just go for it. If that’s what you like to do, there’s no reason you can’t do it.

Women in Construction Week: Wendy Mendiola

Mid-States Concrete Industries celebrates Women in Construction Week (March 6 – 12) by highlighting women on our team making their mark in the construction industry.

Today we feature Field Scheduling Manager Wendy Mendiola. Wendy celebrates her 19-year anniversary with Mid-States Concrete in March.

In her role, Wendy coordinates anywhere between 30-70  loads going to multiple job sites daily, as well as seven installation crews daily, and all FOB and FOB Yard jobs (usually at least one/day). With the help of the project management team, Wendy puts together the field schedule, creates the shipping schedule, sets up trucking for every load, including the timing of truck arrivals to the yard and jobsite, makes the daily field crew schedule so they know exactly where they are going and what they are doing every day, and coordinates any extra equipment the crew may need.

Wendy communicates with the field team all day long to help keep everything progressing and everyone on the same page.

“It’s definitely not a job for someone who doesn’t handle change very well,” she said.

Over time, several of Wendy’s family members have worked at Mid-States (and several still work here) and it was through those family members that Wendy first came to be part of the Mid-States team. Wendy was first asked to join the team when a team member was out on military leave. The team liked her so much, they asked her to stick around even after that team member returned. Over the years, Wendy has worked in several roles, including field coordinator and production scheduler.

“Working through the daily, sometimes hourly, changes that can occur within the construction industry is a challenge,” Wendy said. “I’m so grateful for the experience I’ve gained and the team I’m part of for showing me how to adapt to all the changes and I do enjoy the challenge of handling it all.”

Wendy added that the entire project management team has been great at helping Wendy learn how to effectively communicate all the changes that occur on a regular basis – it is the construction industry after all – especially when talking with customers.

“I care a lot,” Wendy said. “Sometimes I take things way too personal and I know I need to try not to take things personally or take it home with me at night.”

As a woman in a male-dominated industry, Wendy has come a long way over the years and has earned the respect of those she works with. She put in the time and the work to learn the job and the company-workings inside and out to effectively serve customers.

In terms of advice she would offer other women looking to get into this type of work: have a strong personality because you are going to have to stand up for yourself and the company. There are going to be conflicts, she said, and you have to work through them professionally.