As an empty nester looking for a gig in 1982, Sheila Hoffman wasn’t planning on working construction. But when she learned that a Baltimore guardrail company was about to close, putting a good friend and a few other folks out of work, the news rocked her.
Keep in mind that this was the 1980s when 2 percent of construction industry employees were women.
Sheila took a ride with her knowledgeable friend, surveyed various guardrail projects and decided, “I can do that.”
So she did it. She took money out of her retirement fund, hired her friend and a few others familiar with guardrail construction, and she founded Guardrails, etc., Inc.
Of course, she was new to winning construction contracts and installing steel guardrails, wood guardrails, steel bridge railings and crash attenuators. And she certainly didn’t anticipate that Bethlehem Steel, located in nearby Baltimore County, would not sell steel to a woman.
None of that deterred Sheila. Instead, she found Highway Safety, a steel producer in Connecticut, would not only sell Sheila steel, but gave her an open line of credit.
“We’re still buying steel from them,” says Marnie Hoffman, Sheila’s daughter.
Several years later, Sheila wanted to expand her business outside of Maryland, so she went before a certification board. Sheila said she presented Guardrails, etc. Inc. as a woman-owned minority business. But a member of the certification board responded, “When we think of a minority, we don’t think of some Jew woman.”
“Well, she read them the riot act!” Marnie says, quoting her mother, who politely declined to comment. “[Sheila said] This is my business, I paid for 100 percent of it myself. I run this business every day, dealing with banks, bonding companies and managing my employees.” Sheila returned to the office, sure she’d failed. But later that day, the board called to tell her she’d been certified. Marnie Hoffman took over her mother’s business eight years ago. Occasionally, she said she still runs into gender bias.
“When I go to a job site with a [male] estimator, they always look at him and talk to him, not me,” she says. “I’m always considered the second person until I introduce myself as the president of the firm.”
Marnie now employs 52 people, working sites in Maryland, Delaware, Washington, D.C., and Virginia. She and her team currently run five crews a day, right now mostly in Maryland, and there can be seven to eight people on a crew. She gets to the office early to begin working with the operations manager, superintendent and foreman.
“They get the crews together and dispatch them, but if any employees are late, I call them,” she says. “I have every employee’s contact information on my phone.”
The average employee has worked at Guardrails, etc. for more than a decade, some more than 20 years. “I enjoy the people, especially my relationships with the employees. It’s gratifying to know our work supports many families,” Marnie says.
Marnie, 50, a graduate of Pikesville High School, is the mother of two teen daughters, Maggie and Mackenzie. “I’m a divorced mother,” she says, “and I’ve learned I can run this company and be a compassionate mom.”
She does it all by following Sheila’s example. “If you have a passion, a desire to do something, know that you can do it,” Marnie says. “My mother showed me it doesn’t matter what others think. There are opportunities if you put in the work. And it’s fun.”
Peter Arnold is an Olney, Md.-based freelance writer.
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