Balancing a busy career and family life is possible with the right support from your employer, project surveyor Billie Kelleher tells Nadine Buddoo.
Billie Kelleher’s career in quantity surveying has not followed the traditional route.
Currently a project surveyor at Ashe Construction, she has 13 years of experience in the construction industry.
However, instead of pursuing formal education immediately after leaving school, she gained practical experience in the sector. She later achieved an NVQ level 6 in construction with her previous employer, before it unexpectedly went into administration.
She joined Ashe in June last year and has not looked back since.
“I was on maternity leave when my old company asked me to go back early,” she says. “After just three months, the company ceased trading, but, luckily, I found my job at Ashe.
“I love it at Ashe. The team is so friendly and everyone’s got your back. They’re lovely people to work with.”
She adds that the company has played a pivotal role in supporting her personal career development.
“Ashe is supportive and very happy to help you achieve your career targets,” she says. “I’m currently working on my Chartered Institute of Building review. There are three sections, and I’ve completed the first one towards my full membership already.
“[Ashe is] so supportive in career development, which is very important to someone like me.”
Career journey
Before starting her career, Kelleher considered going to college to get further qualifications, but she says “starting a family got in the way”.
Now with three young daughters, Kelleher and her husband juggle childcare and full-time work.
“But Ashe is very family-friendly, and really good if you need to attend an event at school,” she says. “I love Christmas, because in our industry, we get a whole fortnight off, and this gives me quality time with the family.”
Kelleher is also helping to inspire the next generation, showing her daughters, aged three, six and nine, that construction careers are not just for men.
“The girls love it when I get back from work and tell them that I’ve been working with big diggers,” she says. “They’re very impressed and love all the photos and videos I take.
“It also shows them that you can do anything you want for your job. I hope I’m a good role model.”
Kelleher acknowledges that while her career journey has been hard work, she has proved that “you can be a woman, run a family, work full-time, have a job like being a quantity surveyor, and be good at it”.
