Northern Dame Construction: Doris Coy started her business because of a bad boss, and now grosses more than $1 million a year.

When Doris Coy first got started in the construction business, she didn't have a lot of experience. But she did have the belief that she could do the job and had the patience to learn the topes along the way. And that persistence enabled her to build a business that today employs roughly 25 people and earns between $1 million and $2.5 million per year.

"My advice to any woman thinking about getting into the construction field is to just do it," said Coy, the president of Northern Dame Construction. "When I got into it, I wasn't really educated in the field But I made up my mind that I could do it, and I worked hard ... 16 to 18 hours a day. There were a lot of times I didn't get much sleep, but I learned how to do the job."

Coy started Northern Dame Construction in 1992 after working for another construction company. "I liked the business, but I worked for a very unpleasant woman," she said. "I was so nice compared to her that I thought, 'if she can do it, so can I.'"

Coy says that most people were happy to see her start her own traffic control business since there was only one other company providing flagging services at that time. "They were tickled to have someone else taking on the responsibility," said Coy. "Since then, we've graduated to providing excavating services and dirt work, and we've been doing that for about six years."

Today, Northern Dame Construction offers a wide variety of services from excavation and the building of subdivision roads, to waterline, septic and clearing services. They still offer traffic control and flagging services, and also do residential and commercial site development.

Recent projects have included dirt work on the Byers Lake Campground/ Parks Highway project, culvert work on the Wasilla Bumpus project, excavation work at the new Three Bears Market on the Palmer-Wasilla Highway, and traffic control projects throughout the state.

"What I like best about the business is that it changes every day," said Coy, whose company can employ anywhere from 15 to 60 employees in a given season. "I also like it because I get to work outside; I spend time in the office because I have to, but I try to get out as much as I can."

Though the work is hard, Coy believes that women can do a good job if they are willing to put in the time. "Because it is still a male-dominated field, women work harder at it," she explained. "They are really responsible. Unlike a lot of guys, they don't think that they can just go get another job somewhere else.

"I also think that women are more patient, which is a good quality to have as a flagger," she said, adding that almost all of the supervisors on the flagging side of her business are women. "But I do have women who drive my trucks and excavation equipment, and some of them are doing better than men who have been doing that job for a long time."

Though Coy plans to retire in another five years, she expects to see more women entering the field in the future. "Absolutely, there are more opportunities than there were before, and there's now more training being offered to women interested in getting into the field," she said. "In this business, women have really come a long way."

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