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You don't see a lot of women at construction sites. And you don't see a lot of women heading up construction associations. In fact, at the Canadian Home Builders Association of the Central Okanagan it hadn't ever happened...until now. Cassidy deVeer has taken the helm at a time when the frenzied pace of construction has slowed. But she's optimistic about the future.
"It's exciting to be the first one," said deVeer. "But what I find more exciting is that I know there's going to be a lot more women coming."
"It can still be challenging," admits deVeer. "I've had someone come up to me as I'm getting out of my truck and say 'I can see you're driving your husband's truck, can you give him my business card?'"
And then there's the correspondence. "We'll get mass emails saying 'Gentlemen, blah blah blah' and we have to say 'I am not a man, thank you very much'."
As for the current market conditions for builders. "It's not great, but it's okay," said deVeer. "I believe we're at the same numbers as 2015. So if we stay here, we're okay, but if it continues to decline that's when people are really going to get concerned."
deVeer was pleased to see builders pushing back a bit on City Council's direction on the Official Community Plan that was heavily weighted toward multi-family housing. "To make sure that we maintain a healthy balance and hopefully the market dictates what people want."
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