YOU don't have to talk to Sarah Dimitrievski for long to realise how passionate she is about the construction industry.
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She is passionate about her team at Bathurst's Chandolin Construction, she's passionate about improving safety and building standards and she's passionate about encouraging more women to get involved with the industry.
It made her the perfect choice to be a women in construction ambassador for a summit to be held at the Sydney Build 2020 Expo on March 19-20.
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Dimitrievski was approached by organisers to be an ambassador and she was more than keen to do so.
"I think it's one of the biggest women in construction summits there is, it's pretty powerful," she said.
"I was surprised, but it's great that women are being recognised by the industry because this is also at one of the biggest build events in Australia. I was pretty excited, it's great and so good for me and the family, my husband is in construction too.
"From renovating, to project management to office work, it's an industry where we can work with the family. If my husband has to work we can take the family as well. It's great it's so flexible because women have so much to offer."
As Dimitrievski pointed out, her husband is a builder. Their company got its name as Peco asked Sarah to marry him on the top of Mount Chandolin in Switzerland.
But she was familiar with construction before getting married.
"I bought my first house when I was 18. I saved up every penny to get out of home as soon as I could," Dimitrievski said.
"I just didn't have the money to get trades in after I bought my first home, so I just learnt from a young age. Now I've build my portfolio up of houses.
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"It did get easier when I married a builder because now I've got him to do everything for me," she added with a laugh.
"But I've just got a passion for the industry, you can stand back and look at what you did. My rental, we've just finished painting it and you get satisfaction from doing that, it's enjoyable to do that and not just sit in the office.
"I just love it, I'm so passionate about it, I love everything about it."
Dimitrievski has now been involved with Chandolin Construction for seven years, a job she balances with being the mother of two boys - one who is currently two, the other three.
For her family comes first, but she points out the flexible nature of the industry allows her to make her boys the priority when she needs to.
It's one of the reasons she thinks the industry is more suited to women than most probably realise.
"We're fine for women to have kids in the office if they need to, if the kids are sick it's fine to work from home," she said.
"You don't always need to be on site, so you can get up in the morning and do what you need to do or work at night when the kids are asleep or when they are in day care, it's quite flexible for women.
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"Being female and a Mum myself, I can see the power in women. They have a lot to give, they have more energy, they are really good with clients.
"I guess it's so normal to me that I don't see myself as a female in the industry. I don't see it as separated between male and female, I think it should have been that way all along, but I do think it's good to see more females getting involved.
"We run a really powerful team, everyone respects each other, it just works and it feels normal to us."
Dimitrievski admits that the construction industry is one which can seem daunting to females and that for those who are involved, strength of character certainly helps.
But she stresses that there is respect between males and females. In fact she feels they complement each other perfectly and having a split of both sexes is what has made Chandolin Construction a success.
It has also seen them expand to now have a design branch of their business and an inspection one too.
"The guys will come and tell me the schedule and ask 'What do you think of this?'. We have different opinions about things, and they'll point things out and it's like 'I didn't even think of that'," she said.
"But being a Mum, you can multi-task, we are used to doing 101 tasks, we have attention to detail and efficiency. A woman's brain doesn't work like a man's brain. We have different strengths.
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"Men are physically stronger, but when it comes to planning how a day runs, women can give a lot more options with efficiency. The design part women have a lot to give, while men are quicker at building.
"We've just started a design business as well ... the women take a lot of pride in it and really add to the design team.
"We are half women and half men in our business and it just works so well together."
It is a message that Dimitrievski will no doubt deliver in her role as an ambassador come next week's summit.
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