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WOMEN IN CONSTRUCTION
Kim Larson leads All Elements Design.Manage.Build in Kelowna, B.C.
with her passion to transform dreams into bricks and mortar
Canadian Design and Construction Report special feature
Kim Larson's passion to transform dreams
into bricks and mortar attracted her to an ar-
chitectural career, then owning her own con-
struction company. She now directs All
Elements Design.Manage.Build in Kelowna,
B.C. Larson’s interest in design and construction
reached back to her childhood. She began
working in local design firms at the age of 14.
She completed her architectural technology
degree at the University of California, also
achieving an AutoCAD Technology certificate
and an interior design minor.
She says despite the fact women often
have the skills required for design – creativity
and attention to detail – there were few
women among her colleagues. “When I was
in school there were only three women in my
program,” she said. “Once I hit the workforce,
I saw very few in the field.”
She says she felt early on she had to prove
herself in the industry and a few comments fu-
eled her desire to do exactly that. “One instruc-
tor told me it was hard for women to succeed
in the industry and there was a contractor who
told me I was just a girl so didn’t know what I
was talking about.”
She has proven her knowledge and skill.
Larson worked in California, Vancouver and
Australia before returning to the Okanagan Val-
ley. Here she pursued her dream of starting her
own luxury residential construction company
and All Elements was born.
“I love the entire realm of building. That, and
the understanding things could be done differ-
ently is the reason for the company.”
Larson has sought to eliminate the difficul-
ties associated with custom home design, in-
cluding ineffective communication between
architects and construction companies and in-
efficient relationships within the design, con-
struction and client triangle.
She says in the early days the company con-
sisted of herself, her colleague Stephan Ams
and one tradesman. To get things done, Lar-
son worked hands-on, doing what needed to
be done. Now, the company is larger, employ-
ing between eight and 18. However, she re-
mains in close contact with individual projects
and clients.
48 – Summer 2014 — The Canadian Design and Construction Report