We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Caitlin Love a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Caitlin, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

Starting my own business is by far the biggest risk that I have ever taken, I never dreamt that it was something I would have done or even wanted to do, but it kind of came out of necessity. When I was 27, I had been in my own home for about a year that I had purchased, I had a truck payment and a decent job that I was happy at. The place that I was employed at was giving me more challenging projects and more responsibility, and I was really enjoying the tasks. But it came down to one thing. I wasn’t able to afford to live, so I was doing lots of side work on nights and weekends just draining myself so that I could try to get ahead. Someone who was close to me at the time encouraged me to think about starting my own business because they felt that I had the talent, ambition and people skills to make it. So one day I just walked into my job of four years where I was respected and told them I was leaving. The next week I had already had a job lined up and I have been non stop ever since, and that will be seven years ago in April. I did it even though almost EVERYONE told me not to. I was told that I wouldn’t make it, that being self employed is too hard. That it’s always feast or famine, that the winters will kill me, that I won’t be able to keep work coming in. All sorts of negativity from friends, family and lots of other people. But I knew in my heart that with my drive, and ambition that I could make this happen. I was recently rewarded double platinum status for my business with Grey County Votes, so apparently the nay-sayers were wrong. I’ve been in the trades for 17 years, and for all of my career I have heard that I shouldn’t, I couldn’t, and I won’t. But I keep proving them wrong because I’ve done it, I’ve crushed it, and I’m going to keep doing it!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a third generation tradesperson, and second generation tradeswoman in my family. I come from a family of masons, my grandfather and my aunt. My grandfather, Glenn, has been a mason for over 50 years, and my aunt, Robin, for 25. So I was born into it. When I was in high school, I wanted to drop out, I got good grades but I just hated school. Instead of dropping out my family encouraged me to take a semester off, work in the family business and go back to finish. I absolutely loved working in masonry. The hard physical labour, being outside all day, everyday, and most of all being able to stand back at the end of the day and see what you have done and built. When I went back to school I got into the co-op program and worked with a long time friend of my grandfathers, Bill Kirkham. Where I learned all of the skills I do now. We did all manners of exterior work, and framing and some interior finishing, I’ve been in the trades ever since, I was an apprentice carpenter for a high end custom home builder and completed my first level of schooling, and man did I ever HATE trade school. I have worked with contractors doing all different aspects of home building including doing some plumbing, electrical, and gas fitting. I think its very important to learn little bits of every trade so that you can understand all of the dynamics that go into building a house. Then I started my own business, Love Contracting in 2017. I do custom exterior renovation work, focusing mainly on siding, soffit, fascia, eavestrough, windows and doors, etc. But with all of my other experience it helps me manage issues and other things that pop up during a reno. Because we all know that renovations usually turn into way more than you anticipate. A thing that really sets me a part from others, is that I am a woman. Not to play the gender card, but I am in a mainly male dominated industry. A lot of my clients feel comfortable dealing with a woman because they are also women! I also hold myself to a high standard. I pride myself on my attention to detail in my work and my level of workmanship. I mainly work on my own, I do not have crews. I think this is where a lot of businesses struggle because when you put your workmanship into someone else’s hands, its easy to lose control. I feel more comfortable knowing that everything that goes into my projects has been done by me. Plus its extremely difficult to find people who want to work these days. I have my aunt and grandfather help me out on bigger projects, and I have had a female co-op student with me for the last few months. Which has opened my eyes to the fact that I really enjoy exposing other young women into the trades.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

First off, I was lucky to have a good strong family name. The Love name already has a reputation for hard working, skilled tradespeople from my grandfather and aunt. I also built quite a reputation for myself just by showing up, doing the work, having a strong work ethic and being willing to learn. I have worked extremely hard to build up this business on my own, and build my name to where it is, and hopefully to even higher! I also use social media to put myself out to the public. I have an Instagram account where I have a loyal bunch of followers who watch my stories where I share videos of my projects, I show all the aspects of my work, including calling out bad trades, and where I am known for my “colourful” language and sense of humour. I also share all of my 6 rescue dogs on there and I am proud to be known for my rescue efforts. Instagram has been really great for my business and I have received quite a bit of work from it.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Being a woman in the trades hasn’t been exactly the easiest. A lot of things have changed since I first started in my career, but it is still truly a male dominated industry. We live in the patriarchy, there is no doubt about it. Throughout my career, I have experienced all that you would expect a woman to face being surrounded by men. But I have also been extremely lucky to have worked with a lot of fantastic, talented, and open minded men. I have been denied work based on being a woman, I have dealt with SO many doubters and haters over the years, I have dealt with the “she must have got her job by sleeping with someone”, sexual harassment, inappropriate comments from clients, co workers etc. It all comes with the territory. You have to have a thick skin to be a woman in the trades. It also helps to have a good sense of humour and a quick wit to throw back some comments to people who want to antagonize you. I would absolutely love to see more women in the field, hell, even just more young people. But being in the trades is not for the weak. Mentally or physically, and honestly that’s why I love it so much. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else with my life. Being in the trades has been the most rewarding career I could have ever done. I truly love my job, and I consider myself lucky for that. Sure there are projects that really test me, and I still question myself on whether I can do this, telling myself I should pack it in, but that’s just my anxiety talking! The most important thing that I have learned in 17 years of working in this industry is that you just have to get up everyday, do the work, don’t be afraid to try new things, ask questions, network, network, network, and never stop learning. There are always new products, tools and materials coming into the industry and you have to stay relevant by keeping an open mind. Remember that there is more than one way to skin a cat! (figuratively of course)

Contact Info:

• Instagram: love.contracting