Ontario Construction News special feature
Kelly Mascioli has been running machines since she was 16 years old. Nearly 20 years later, she is positioned to assume the reins of the oldest company in Timmins.
“A lot of stress, but very exciting,” is how Mascioli describes her view from the top.
With her father trying to ease into retirement, Mascioli is being groomed to take over the family business. The daughter of Phil Mascioli, Kelly Mascioli is the fourth generation of her family to lead the company.
Mascioli Construction Co. Ltd. was started in 1912 by brothers Leo and Antonio Mascioli, only six years after the first prospectors started searching for gold in Timmins. Over the years, the brothers went from working in local mines, to building roads and sidewalks, and producing concrete pipes, blocks and patio slabs. Today, Mascioli Construction is a civil contractor, dealing primarily with road work, subdivision development, equipment rentals, and seasonal work.
“My dad hired me as a summer student”, Mascioli says. Her first jobs at the company were small jobs, like driving forklifts in the brickyard. “Whatever that needed to be done,” she says.
After a false start studying respiratory therapy at college at her mother’s insistence, Mascioli made the choice to pursue civil engineering and follow her father into the family business.
Mascioli graduated with a Civil Engineer Technologist diploma from Northern College in Timmins in 2011.
“I’m very happy with my decision”, she says. “I feel like I was made for this.”
Today, Mascioli is on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Mascioli is in charge of getting the guys going every day. She is on site every day making sure things go smoothly.
Mascioli Construction employs 20-25 people during the summer. In the off season there are about 10-15.
“I like that every day is a new day”, says Mascioli. “I’m not in a job where everything is the same over and over.”
“I also enjoy doing the work just like the guys. Going in the holes and digging and getting dirty”, she says.
Mascioli Construction trucks can be seen in Timmins all year round. Road reconstruction within the City keeps the company busy and in the public eye during construction season.
Snow removal is the company’s mainstay in the off season, with their main focus on Commercial properties. They also offer heavy equipment rentals including boom truck, bulldozer, excavator, forklift, front end loader, tandem, and water truck.
While Mascioli has a brother and a cousin working at the company, they haven’t shown much interest in management. “They are more on the job sites,” she says.
Mascioli admits it was hard getting into this field as a woman. She says at first the older workers didn’t think she belonged on the job.
“I think I’ve proven myself with them,” she says. “I’m willing and able to do my job.”
She does recommend this business to other women, but cautions: “You need kind of a bit of a thick skin to get started.”
“We are starting to prove more every year,” says Mascioli. “If you can stick through it I think it is definitely, definitely worth it.”
In 1994, the company added a new division: Mascioli Brickyard. Their products include house brick, interlocking pavers, patio slabs, garden walls, retaining walls, and cement blocks. They also supply an assortment of aggregates and bagged material.
The Brickyard has been booming in the last couple of years, says Mascioli. “It’s been amazing to be a part of it”.
“My salesmen and I work very well together,” she says. Mascioli Brickyard is the authorized dealer for Brown’s Concrete, Cultured Stone by Boral, Brooklin, Navascape, Arriscraft, Be.on Stone and Permacon.
The Brickyards side of the business fields most community donation requests, typically by donating a fire pit for a draw, a popular prize in Timmins.
“Giving back to the community is a huge thing here in Timmins,” says Mascioli.
Mascioli Construction regularly sponsors local sports teams and charities. “We love to give anything back to the community,” she says. Contributions include donating a garden wall to Threads for Life and providing a garden wall for the garden dedicated to Kyle Lecuyer at Golden Avenue Public School.
Mascioli also contributes her leadership skills to the construction sector through numerous committee commitments.
Mascioli represents the company at both the Timmins Construction Association and the Timmins Chamber of Commerce. Earlier this year Mascioli was elected Director on the Board of the Chamber.
Mascioli also serves on the Timmins Labour-Management Committee, through the Infrastructure Health and Safety Association. The committee regularly organizes safety conferences, where they stage safety scenarios and mock trials.
Last summer Mascioli was a leader in the establishment of Women in Engineering, a group of about 15-20 women who get together to support each other and share stories.
What is she most proud of? “Taking over from what my dad is doing is my major accomplishment,” she says.
“And being nominated for this is pretty huge,” she adds.
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