Tom Kelly is preparing to retire as president of design-build remodel and home improvement company Neil Kelly after 43 years with the firm.

Under Kelly’s leadership, Neil Kelly has become the largest design-build remodeling firm in the United States, with sales totaling $55 million in 2021. The firm has more than 200 employees that work out of offices in Portland, Eugene, Bend and Seattle.

Dan Watson, currently Neil Kelly’s chief financial officer, will take on the role of president and assume day-to-day leadership responsibilities in the middle of this year, when the company will celebrate its 75th anniversary. Kelly will become chairman of Neil Kelly’s board of directors.

“I am handing the company to a great leadership team and the best employees anywhere,” Kelly stated in a news release.

Kelly’s father, Neil Kelly, started the remodeling company in 1947 in the basement of his Portland home with a $100 investment and a commitment to quality, value and client satisfaction. Tom Kelly grew up working in the family business. His son, Garret, followed suit and now serves as the company’s vice president of production.

“Tom is in a class of his own,” Kathy Long Holland, Neil Kelly’s board director, stated in the news release. “He is innovative, curious and supportive of new ideas. During the challenges of these past two years driven by COVID, Tom has been a stalwart, supporting his employees and customers. He has put a plan in place for his succession to ensure a bright future for the company.”

Board member Julia Spence added in the news release, “Tom’s courage to be innovative, his entrepreneurial spirit, and his ability to listen to smart people helped the company become one of the first certified B Corporations in Oregon, becoming a leader in solar installations, and incorporating many other steps toward environmental sustainability.”

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The ratio of men to women in the construction industry isn’t a mystery.

The most recent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics survey shows that in 2018 women comprised roughly 9.1 percent of the construction workforce. More notably, only 3.4 percent of skilled tradespeople in 2018 were women. In 1999, the same survey was compiled differently but showed that 2.6 percent of skilled tradespeople were women. It’s a small difference.

This week, the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) has been looking into why women aren’t making greater strides in the industry. Hundreds of NAWIC chapters are holding events during the annual Women in Construction Week. The goal is to bring together women to celebrate professional achievements and determine new ways to recruit more into the industry.

This year, the 91��Ƶ spoke with a number of industry figures about the prospects for transforming the culture of construction to more fully embrace women.

“I’m never one of the mindset that says ‘No, it can’t be done,” said Liz Cowen, president of NAWIC’s Portland chapter, which was established in 1961. “It’s just not going to happen overnight. It is about making improvements for sure, and a lot of it has to do with not just things that are women-related.”

From the now-constant shortage of skilled workers to ongoing jobsite culture issues, the reasons themselves are largely recognized. But redirecting recruitment and educational efforts are just the start. Women also have to want to work in construction, and that is probably a larger challenge.

“I just would say that by not figuring out how to make the industry work for women we’re missing out on half the talent pool right out of the gate,” said Elizabeth Rinehart, a vice president and general manager in Walsh Construction‘s Seattle office. “You think ‘what a silly way to start out.’”

Some firms, however, are looking to set an example.

Neil Kelly Co. is a bit of an outlier and proud of it. Even in progressive Portland, the design-build remodeling firm stands out with its large number of women in positions such as designer and carpenter. The firm, which operates largely in the residential sector, relies on women to facilitate business relationships.

“My dad and my family tend to be more open-minded and progressive, and it relates to what we do, which is residential remodeling,” said Tom Kelly, the firm’s president and son of founder Neil Kelly. “Women are the deciders on the client side, so having a woman designer deal with a woman just fits the client’s needs.”

By employing women in customer-facing positions in design and the skilled trades, the firm inspired trust in those decision-makers and inspired them to tell their neighbors.

“With women, I can’t tell you how many times they’ve told me, ‘We’re so glad we have a female carpenter in the house.’” said journey-level carpenter Jeanette Wagner, who has worked for Neil Kelly Co. for 29 years. “They’re grateful and it gives a higher level of comfort.”

According to the company’s own numbers, women currently comprise 33 percent of IT staff, 73 percent of design, build and sales staff; 67 percent of accounting staff, 50 percent of marketing staff and 100 percent of both administration and human resources personnel.

“It’s a slow crawl,” said Michelle Rolens, a senior designer who has worked for the firm for over 25 years. “But there are far more than there used to be.”

Despite Neil Kelly Co.’s achievements in the residential sector, some question whether anything similar can be achieved on the commercial side.

Cowen, who works as an estimating coordinator for Goodfellow Bros., thinks the leadership and communication aspect of the Neil Kelly Co. experience could potentially translate.

“Recognizing and valuing the leadership styles of both men and women would be a huge stepping-stone in that,” she said. “Women have a more collaborative and diplomatic approach to leadership, and we can facilitate positive changes in the industry.”

Rinehart and others agree.

“I think that women are inherently good at things like multitasking and communicating and problem-solving in a proactive, professional way,” Rinehart said. “Men can be too, but in construction it’s one of the last industries that has a lot of holdover traits that aren’t always seen as collaborative.”

Walsh Construction project manager Meghan Herteg is in charge of Home Forward‘s Grand Avenue Apartments affordable housing project in Northeast Portland. Herteg, who earned a degree in architecture before switching to construction management, said the field of architecture could possibly be a catalyst for desired changes in the industry.

“When I was getting my degree, a third of the class was female,” she said. “The other piece of that is more recently I’ve talked to architecture students, and it’s about 50-50 – so even in the last decade it’s changed and there are more women going into architecture than ever.”

Federal statistics bear this out. In 1999, slightly more than 14 percent of architects were women. By 2018, that figure had risen to 29.7 percent.

By contrast, 2018 figures show that just 7.7 percent of construction managers were women, up from 5.9 percent in 2003.

Many observers remain optimistic about the potential to grow those numbers.

“There are a lot of similarities between residential and commercial,” said Afton Walsh, a senior project manager with Walsh Construction. “In the work we do, we found, especially in the last 10 years, a lot of our clients are also women, as well as a lot of the designers we work with.”

Walsh said there are practical reasons – primarily family and children – that make recruitment of women more difficult.

“Construction is not a very flexible job,” she said. “So that’s part of it, to train that maybe we need more flexibility.”

Kay Ewalt, president of NAWIC’s Eugene chapter and an inspector for FEI in Eugene, believes an unapologetic approach is needed.

“If we really want to empower women and prove they can work in the field, we have to quit coddling the women who don’t belong,” she said. “This goes across the board, male or female, but we are coddling our younger generation.”

The inherent demands of the industry place women at a disadvantage, Ewalt said. But in the end the purpose of her work with NAWIC is to provide options.

“The whole point of the industry is to get the education out there, whether it’s males or females,” she said. “We’ve come so far, really. We just need to get the word out that the construction industry is ready for women.”

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Prosper Portland Chairman Tom Kelly and Commissioner Mark Edlen took part in their final meeting Wednesday after announcing they would step down from the board.

Kelly joined the board in January 2014, and had served as chairman since July 2014. Edlen joined the board in summer 2014.

The board will next meet Aug. 9. Mayor Ted Wheeler is likely to appoint replacements for Kelly and Edlen before then, spokesman Michael Cox said.

Kelly said he’s proud of his role in shepherding plans for Northwest Portland’s U.S. Postal Service site and Broadway Corridor, the Zidell properties in the South Waterfront District and four projects led by Prosper Portland in Lents, a Southeast Portland neighborhood where the agency has focused attention.

“I enjoyed most the fact the agency was going through a time of transformation – basically a transformation from an urban renewal agency to an economic development agency,” Kelly said. “There’s still five years or so of significant funding for urban renewal. After that, unless there’s new districts opened up, which could happen, the agency is going to be funded in a different way.”

Prosper Portland, formerly known as the Portland Development Commission, is at work on a long-term business plan to be presented to the City Council in the fall.

Kelly also oversaw the hiring of Executive Director Kimberly Branam to replace Patrick Quinton last summer.

“I’m really proud of having hired her,” Kelly said. “I’m proud of the fact that I got the new mayor and the old mayor to agree on her, and she’s just doing a great job.”

Kelly, 66, serves as president of Neil Kelly Inc., a Portland-based residential remodeling firm founded by his father. The firm has 210 employees and offices in five cities. Kelly said he’s looking forward to reducing his role at the company and expects his son, Garret, who leads the company’s service division and serves as a project manager, to take over.

Kelly was recently named chairman of Oregon Business Alliance for Climate, a new organization.

“Our goal is to get some carbon legislation passed in Oregon,” he said.
Mark Edlen, co-founder of Gerding Edlen, is one of Portland’s most prominent developers. The company announced in February that Edlen would step back from a day-to-day role at the firm, but remain chairman.

Gerding Edlen played a major role in redeveloping the Pearl District, and now has a significant presence in California and Boston.

Edlen could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Branam, in a prepared statement, said Kelly and Edlen had “led us to address the agency’s long–term future, ensure equitable outcomes, incorporate sustainable practices and deepen our relationships within communities.”

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