Championing Women in Construction
Casey Corriveau, Senior Estimator, PCL Construction
Casey Corriveau – Senior Estimator, PCL Construction and WLI Champion (2022)
I am a Senior Estimator with 15 years of experience in the construction industry. I’ve been with PCL for just over 10 years and roughly 5 years with another contractor before that. I’ve spent my whole career, including 2 co-op terms, in estimating. As an estimator, my job is to figure out how much it’s going to cost to build a project. I go through all the plans and specifications, contract all the subcontractors for pricing and compile everything into a proposal for the client.
Being a female in a male-dominated industry is not easy. I’ve lost count of the number of times I am the only female in the room. But it also contributes to a lot of the drive I have within me. I’ve never been content to come into work, do the tasks and go home. I’m curious and I want to know more. I have goals to move up within our Estimating Department – goals which are also supported by my managers and mentors. I’ve been very lucky in my career to have some great mentors. Two of those mentors are male senior managers within the estimating department. I wouldn’t be where I am in my career without them. They both know how to challenge me and really make me think about “what do I want to be when I grow up?”. One mentor is female, but she is not in the estimating field. I’ve learned to seek mentors outside of estimating because there are very few female professionals in the field. Because of that, I focus a lot of my time on figuring out how can I be that mentor or role model to younger female estimators. How do my career goals contribute to helping others along the way? One mentor said to me early in my career that he was where he wanted to be in his career so asked “how can I help you get to where you want to be?”. This has always stuck with me and is something I try to keep at the forefront of my goal planning.
I have some pretty lofty goals for my career. These goals wouldn’t even be on my radar as achievable if not for my husband Ben and the support we provide each other. Coming back to work from maternity leave was a big eye-opener for me. What happens when daycare calls in the middle of the day saying you have to come to pick up your sick child? Or when COVID hits and suddenly there are two parents working from home with a toddler under two years old and all the daycares are shut down? We are very fortunate that my husband has a flexible job that allows him to work from home most of the time. Our son just started Junior Kindergarten this past September which has given us another big change in the family. We thought we had a firm routine with daycare drop-off and pick-up and now we have a whole new routine to get used to with an even shorter school day. We’re still learning how to best support each other professionally and personally – we’re doing it as a team and that’s what matters.
This past Summer, I was very grateful to be selected as a 2022 WLI Champion. I take great pride in this selection to be highlighted as one of the women who is paving the way forward for future women leaders in the industry within a large area like Toronto. I am following in the footsteps of three other PCL women leaders who have been selected to the Championship Team before me – Lisa Kurina, Lilianne Dobbs, and Cheyanne Hammell. Being a Champion means that I can bring more awareness to women in construction. I am an active member of PCL Toronto’s DEI Committee where a big focus is on how to recruit and retain women. Through PCL, I’ve worked with Build a Dream to help young girls (grades 7-12) get more exposure to STEM programs and roles. I was a participant in their recent Dreamer Day with PCL. It was noted after this day that 75% of the attendees reported that the event encouraged them to get into a career that they never imagined. Estimating is considered a supporting role in the industry. We are office-based and aren’t onsite every day. I help promote that there would be no construction without estimators. We are there to win and bring work into the company so everyone else can do their respective jobs. By spreading awareness of my role, I’m hoping it will help bring more females into an industry that they may not have considered before.
More about Casey:
With more than 15 years of experience in the construction industry, Casey Corriveau has progressed to her current position as a Senior Estimator for PCL Constructors Canada Inc. (Toronto) since joining the team in 2011.
Casey has worked on successful pursuits for a variety of projects across the Greater Toronto Area, serving the residential, retail, health care, public institutional, commercial, manufacturing and aviation sectors. Prior to joining PCL, she worked for a large, local general contractor providing build services to the municipal, civil and energy marketplaces.
Recognizing the value of the mentorship she has received in her career, Casey is dedicated to mentoring new or junior employees and students on her team and in her department, with a focus on their training and development. As an active member of PCL Toronto’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Team, Casey strives to help create a more diverse, equitable and inclusive space within PCL, the construction industry and our communities.
In 2021, Casey was recognized as the PCL Toronto winner of PCL’s prestigious internal Estimating Award of Excellence. She holds an applied technology degree in architecture from Conestoga College and an architectural technology diploma from St. Clair College. She is certified as a Professional Quantity Surveyor by the Canadian Institute of Quantity Surveyors, a Gold Seal Estimator by then Canadian Construction Association, and a LEED Green Associate by the Canada Green Building Council.