This is Women in Construction week through Saturday. In reality, women work in construction every day, every week.

Women need to be more visible in the construction industry two local women say – and they have the experience to prove their love of the work. Sitting in an office is something both Betty Dollinger and Teresa Jensen hate.

Teresa was a Moorhead police officer for a decade before hitting the job site with her husband, Chris. They own Flyway Construction together and stay busy with framing.

She found the transition from police work to construction easy. “Even though job sites are almost all men, if you prove yourself physically you won’t have any problems,” Teresa says. She would really like to hire more women.

Their company started with deck building and now they have several job sites going at once. “It’s quite an adventure and the rewards are endless,” Teresa says.

“I loved every minute of being on the job site. The work, the physical labor, driving machinery, all of it. Now I can build stuff and enjoy the process,” she added.

“More power to women who do it. You’ll have tan lines, white hands and feet, and be fit,” Teresa said.

Was it hard having her husband as the boss when she first started? Oh, yes. Do men on job sites think they know more? Sometimes. Does it bother her? No.

She and Chris worked through it all and enjoy the jobs and each other. They also enjoy their two Chesapeake dogs and horse.

Flyway Construction in Moorhead completed 47 apartment building framings in Williston recently, and have work going in Valley City, Grand Forks and Fargo.

CSN Welding in Horace, N.D., has many job sites, too. Its business works at job sites, in the shop and in the field with portable equipment.

Betty says the company feels like family. “We’re a team,” she said on a day when she had to be inside doing computer work. Not something she likes to do.

Betty loves welding. She was one of the construction workers who welded plates for the1,600 pilings under the new Sanford Hospital.

As a student at North Dakota State College of Science, she studied microelectronics and welding and fabrication. The school had a day where students experimented in other academic areas. She tried welding.

The welding technologies instructor looked at her as she put her hands on a stick welder for the first time. “You should be a welder,” he said. She knew it, too.

She splits her time doing commercial and industrial work, spending time in the field or at a construction site, in the shop in Horace, sometimes in the office and in education.

Betty teaches welding to young girls, and sometimes boys, at the Inspire Innovation Lab in Moorhead. She teams with owner Carrie Leopold to show girls they can do anything they want to.

“Girls pay attention to details. One of the biggest things we do is teach kids not to be afraid of working with their hands. It doesn’t feel like a classroom,” Betty says.

On Wednesday, Betty taught a class with a St. Patrick’s Day theme at the Lab. The Lab connects educators, students and the community in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) through creativity, innovation and fun.

For Betty, welding combines all those elements.

Carrie calls Betty a role model and amazing. The Inspire Girls program is led by women from the community. “Women tend to be very good at detail. We want to show girls high paying careers and the diversity that is available to them,” she adds.

While Betty’s regular welding is for many different kinds of projects, she shows girls the art of welding.

Women in construction encourage girls and other women to think about the many career opportunities.

The National Association of Women in Construction has a local chapter, #246, chartered on June 3, 1978. The chapter participates in many activities including professional speakers, job site and business tours, community projects, educational seminars and trade shows. Members participate in local, regional and national meetings. The chapter builds membership by sharing the NAWIC experience with construction related businesses and associations in the area. For more information, contact nawicfm246@gmail.com.