In the winter of 1995, Amie Riggs Swarts’ father asked her to help out in the office of the family business, Riggs Construction & Design. At the time she had never thought the company would spark her interest, but today she says the time she spent there made her love it. 

“I had always appreciated the business, but being involved in it – even on that very small level – made me see the passion behind what my family had been doing for all those years,” says Riggs Swarts. “I realized that I had ideas for the business – ideas that my family valued and allowed me to implement.”

Despite her family ties, Riggs Swarts had to start at the bottom. “I began at Riggs as an office assistant and was being groomed to become office manager,” she says. “After all, in a construction company what else would a woman do? Or so I thought.”

She says she began to see homeowners’ need for help through the selections process, which is the time when cost overruns tend to happen and jobs typically get delayed. So she created a selections manager position. “It was a huge success for the company – both for client relations and satisfaction as well as for expediting jobs and keeping our production system moving smoothly,” she says. 

After that, Riggs Swarts’ presence in the family business continued to grow. Today she is vice president of the company, which had $2.8 million in revenue last year.

“As a woman in the construction industry, the greatest advantage I have is my ability to truly listen to the homeowners and understand what it is they’re trying to accomplish,” she says. “Women can relate to those issues differently than men and can be calming and nurturing throughout a construction process.”