Carpenter Kaitie
Episode 41: Welcome to the She Builds Show, I’m your host, Stefanie Olson. I’m excited to introduce you to my amazing guest, Kaitie King, a carpenter and a Jane of all trades. Today is Kaitie is sharing her story of how she got into construction, and the challenges and obstacles she overcame to get to where she is today.
Listen in…
SHOWNOTES:
• So, when I was 18 years old, I was desperate to get into this type of work, I had kind of done some schooling for it, but I didn’t know much. And I was helping my friends on a roof, and their boss owned a company that traveled all over the country doing construction, and I just thought it was the coolest thing. So I applied for the job and they looked at little ole’ me, 18 years old, no experience, female, and they laughed and said, No. But I kept coming back every day and asking and… No, no, no, no, no. I kept getting No’s. On the day they were leaving to go travel for a few jobs, I showed up with my suitcase with tears in my eyes and I was like, Give me a chance please… And they were fine, they gave me a chance and for the next five years, I was traveling the country and learning and working, and it changed my life. (01:14)
• I love the pool business, and that was mainly like its own separate trade. After I left the pool business, I did get other jobs and learn different things, my favorite has to be drywall, I would say. When I own my own business, I’m a remodeler, that is my passion, doing the whole thing, taking it down, putting it back together. If you look at my Instagram there’s a lot of my remodels on there, that’s been my favorite thing. I’ve found out of remodels that the drywall work is like finessing, I’m an artist, I like to do stuff like that, so I enjoy it. But the whole remodel itself, that’s my passion. I could do remodel after remote, I did for years, and be happy. (06:18)
• I got diagnosed with epilepsy at seven years old, and I was having a lot of grand mal seizures, and I didn’t think I was, or the doctors didn’t think that I was going to be able to use my brain properly, because it was still developing with all that going on, and it really messed me up a lot and it caused mental health issues, which I still struggle with today. I have PTSD from things that have happened to me as well, so it all kind of mixes together. But the older I got, I just kind of… I realized that actually the more I don’t get myself out there, the more I see it, it feels like I don’t know why, but I just started fighting it and I don’t have them as much anymore, knock on wood. But it’s more of a constant battle of fear like, Am I going to lose my license again? Am I going to see all this is happening or something like that, even if I haven’t had a seizure in a year? I still have that in the back of my head. (12:44)
• Well, the country life has always been where my heart is happy and small towns, something about them, I’ve been drawn to them since I was a kid. My grandmother took me in when I was like 10 years old, and then I stayed in West Virginia. I fell in love with the accent, I fell in love with everything. I was just in love. And once I actually came here, I made some friends and I knew people. I just, I don’t know, I fell in love with the place and it’s too busy in Massachusetts, it’s too expensive, there’s so much… But I’m not hating on it, but I’m off that population, minus me. (20:35)
ABOUT KAITIE KING:
“Being a woman in the trades has changed my life for the better. But it wasn’t always easy. It also made me tougher and more resilient. It wasn’t as accepted when I started learning years ago, and getting a job in the trades as a woman was hard. I was learning how to do a shingle roof with my friends and found out their boss owned a company that traveled the country doing construction and I applied for the job. I got turned down multiple times, so when they were leaving to travel for the next few jobs, I showed up with my suitcase anyway and begged for a chance to prove myself. They gave me a shot and I worked hard to prove myself and learned as much as I could. It was the opportunity that changed my life forever. After that I started my own carpentry company and I also work for an amazing company in Indiana now called Feinberg Construction. I’m definitely proud of how far I’ve come in the last ten years.”
CONNECT WITH KAITIE:
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@carpenterkaitie
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carpenterkaitie_
WAYS TO CONNECT WITH STEFANIE…
• Website: https://shebuildshomes.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shebuildsbetter
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shebuilds.homes
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/shebuildsshow