Surveying Sites to Safety Boots: Sophie Perkins’ Construction journey as a Chartered Building Surveyor

This conversation with Sophie Perkins is more than a career story — it’s about driving change in the construction industry. From women’s safety gear and PPE to mentorship and representation.

We discuss the challenges and advancements in personal protective equipment (PPE) for women in the construction industry, and the need for better-fitting gear, and Sophie shares her journey in creating a line of female-specific work boots.

Her story highlights why representation matters and how women can not only thrive in construction careers but also help shape the industry for the future.

If you’re passionate about women in construction, interested in building surveying, or curious about the future of safety equipment and inclusivity in the workplace, this is an episode you won’t want to miss.

Key Takeaways

• She started her career in building control and transitioned to building surveying.
• Travel is a significant aspect of her job, with experiences in unique locations like the Falkland Islands.
• She highlights the need for more women in the construction industry and the importance of representation.
• She believes in being authentic and encourages others to embrace their individuality in the workplace.
• The development of specialized PPE for women in construction is a key focus for Sophie. 
• Sophie Perkins has developed a line of female-specific work boots to address the needs of women in construction.
• Balancing work and family life can be challenging, especially for working mothers.
• Sophie believes in the importance of finding a job that one loves and is passionate about.
• The construction industry offers diverse opportunities for women, and they should not hesitate to pursue them.
• Sophie encourages women to seek mentorship and support in their professional journeys.

 Follow me: 

Instagram: @lifeofafemaletradie_ 

Tiktok: @loaftpodcast

Facebook: Life Of A Female Tradie

Follow Guest: 

Instagram: @sophiethesurveyor

LinkdIn: Sophie Atkins

Link to the Sophie collection 

https://www.amblerssafety.com/collections/sophie-collection

Link to the directory of women’s ppe 

https://ppethatfits.com

Chapters

00:00 Sophie Perkins: Journey to Becoming a Chartered Surveyor

08:55 A Day in the Life of a Building Surveyor

11:38 The Importance of Safety and Support in Construction

12:46 Choosing the Right Employer: Culture and Safety

13:39 The Shortage of Building Surveyors and Career Opportunities

15:06 Navigating Safety Concerns as a Woman in Construction

15:21 Experiences of Women in a Male-Dominated Industry

17:38 The Evolution of PPE for Women in Construction

22:18 Creating a Line of Women’s Safety Footwear

27:23 The Journey of Developing Female-Specific PPE

33:33 The Importance of Specialized Workwear

35:34 Balancing Work and Family Life

37:44 Navigating Work-Life Balance as a Parent

40:12 The Role of Exercise in Daily Life

42:16 Mentorship and Its Impact

46:07 Quickfire Questions: Insights and Preferences

49:28 Future Aspirations in the Industry

53:54 Thank

Transcript

Sophie Perkins (00:10)

My name is Sophie Perkins and I'm an Associate Chartered Building Surveyor at Atkins Realis.

Laura (00:15)

Welcome, welcome to Life of a Female Tradie podcast Sophie. Thank you for coming on.

Sophie Perkins (00:20)

thanks for having me.

Laura (00:22)

let's start by learning a bit about you. Can you share with the listeners a little bit of your background and what inspired you to become a chartered surveyor?

Sophie Perkins (00:32)

Amazing. Okay, so I didn't know what a building surveyor was when I was younger. Many people probably don't, but I knew I wanted to work in construction and the built environment in some way. My passion when I was little was making dens. I just loved making dens, like Lego, but I really loved like amazing buildings, amazing spaces. Whether it was an historic building, I'd just be like, wow, I want to know more. Like, how does it work?

Laura (00:50)

⁓

Sophie Perkins (01:01)

Where's the history behind it? And I also love ultra modern buildings as well, like big glazed, like commercial structures in London and tall buildings in New York. I loved it all. And I wasn't put off by the fact that there wasn't any men, any women in it. Sorry, there's plenty of men in it. And I'm quite girly, as you can tell. So I don't look like someone who works in construction. And that was really hard at beginning. But essentially after a lot of work and

Laura (01:08)

yeah.

you

Sophie Perkins (01:30)

no's and being turned down, not even getting I managed to get an apprenticeship in building control. So I did my A levels, which weren't necessary for the job, but it gave me that time to mature a little bit before starting in the working I did quite well at school, but I didn't want to go to uni. I wanted to work. And I felt that construction is ⁓ an industry where you need to be learning on the tools as you go, really. So I was very lucky that

Laura (01:35)

Wow.

Okay.

Sophie Perkins (01:55)

Basically, I got the job in building control. Hopefully, most people listening know about what it is, but if you everyone knows about planning. Planning is, say for example, you have an extension and you get planning permission. Once you get that, we do the statutory side. The building control where we look at the plans and make sure they're compliant with the building regulations. Beyond the aesthetics, which you would look at, spatial aesthetics for planning, we look at the foundations,

drainage and structure. Fire is really important at the moment, particularly with the tragedy of Grenfell Tower. So yeah, and then we do all the inspections. So I got to, at the age of 18, look at lots and lots of different architects, surveyors, DIY people draw their plans. I'd look at all the drawings and vet them. But I also got to go on site every day, eight times a day, the big stuff, the small stuff.

and it was just awesome and it was such a great way to enter the industry. If anyone's thinking about a job, I mean, you're going to see everything, so you learn very, very quickly, which is really, really good. And that was with a local authority as well. But once I started to get through my qualifications, so I did an ONC and a HNC in the construction and the built environment, so that was four years. And it's a great qualification because we had loads of tradies on it.

All sorts people were site managers, civil engineers, people in highways. I was obviously in building control. So you got to mingle with everyone. So now throughout my professional career, I have studied with all sorts of people, which helps me rather than just surveyors, because that's a bit boring. And I learned I want to be a building surveyor at that point. So I realized, OK, that's where my passion is, because I know that a building surveyor gets to do a bit of everything.

Laura (03:23)

Yeah.

Sophie Perkins (03:32)

and I didn't just want to do the statutory side, which was building regs. I wanted to do something that involved me managing and being part of that creativity of the design and being on site, but living on site a little bit longer. Whereas obviously, throwing control, you'd be in and out of just the stages. So I managed to bridge across to building, surveying through local authority, social housing. Social housing, I think it's good for everyone to do some social housing experience. It wasn't for me forever.

Laura (03:44)

Okay.

Sophie Perkins (03:59)

But I did it for five years and it was like the front

line in that there's no time for too much planning and thought process. It's someone needs something, they need it now. So you have to resolve those issues as soon as possible because that's somebody's home. because it very fast paced, I got to make decisions from quite a junior stage of my career, which was great. So I learned.

Laura (04:11)

Yeah.

Sophie Perkins (04:22)

and I got my degree at that point. So I did a degree in building surveying and I got the first somehow whilst working. But once I did that, there's quite a few girls who did it after, so I'm really proud that I put my hand out to the next person. Anyway, eventually I finished that and I left local authority. There wasn't any career progression and I went to a small consultancy in Bristol. It didn't really suit me. I realized that I'm more public sector facing rather than

like blue chip kind of banks and that kind of high end client. And I went to Atkins Realist and I've been there for nine years. I started non-chartered, got my chartership, got chartered senior principal and I'm delighted to recently been promoted to associate in the company, which I'm super proud of. I'm trying to break those glass ceilings for women in that job. I mean, there's...

Laura (04:48)

Yeah.

wow. Congrats. Yeah.

Sophie Perkins (05:10)

It's really diverse to be fair at the company, but in terms of building and surveying, not so much, and particularly in the senior roles. So I'm really delighted to have been supported to get to that place. And that's a very quick whistle stop tour of where I am now. So that's 17 years of working in our fantastic industry. I love it.

Laura (05:13)

Okay.

Wow.

Brilliant. And it's lovely to hear that the company you decide to stick with for that period of time is fairly diverse amongst the ranks. And now obviously you having been promoted to an associate even more so up the chain. So yeah, congratulations. That's brilliant. Fabulous. So what does a typical day look like for you? What do you get up to?

Sophie Perkins (05:53)

It's so diverse depending on the project. To give you a flavor, I could be working from home, which is great. Sometimes I could be working through a design phase of a project. ⁓ at my level, I'm kind of bringing the team together and making the big design decisions, but not necessarily doing the granular part of it, which sometimes I miss.

Laura (05:54)

Yeah.

Okay.

Sophie Perkins (06:17)

But I could also be on site all week. So coming up in August, we've got some residential halls of residence refurbishments for a university client. And obviously all the work has to take place within that very tight period where the students are away. They have to go in on in September. There's no negotiations. So if we work crazy hours, you know, so be it. So we want to be nice and organized. So I could potentially be on site every single day.

Laura (06:24)

Okay.

Yep.

Sophie Perkins (06:42)

So I could be managing all the site meetings, subcontractor meetings with our main contractors, also valuation the work. So if we get an application for payment from the contractor and they are saying 90 % of the work is complete, for example, I would then review if I feel that's correct or not. Yeah, and then surveys.

Laura (07:03)

Okay.

Sophie Perkins (07:08)

I could be doing lots of building surveys and building surveyor. So often people think of a building surveyor, and this is very much many surveys. What they do is they survey your home. So when you move out and you want to move into another property, often people will employ a building surveyor to carry out a building survey, which is a great idea. I don't do that kind of work in my day-to-day job because I do more commercial buildings, but I would do it for a commercial.

Laura (07:29)

Okay.

Sophie Perkins (07:34)

estate. So we do like asset management. So for example, it could be schools, we could be doing condition surveys for a portfolio of a client. And then we would advise where urgent works are needed, where medium term works are needed and long term kind of like a traffic light system, price it up. And then hopefully we'd win that work to deliver that scheme as well for the client. But we do everything and that's why I love it. Other days I could be doing project management.

Laura (07:54)

wow, okay.

Sophie Perkins (08:00)

I travel the world as well, so not in recent years, but pre-COVID I went to Azerbaijan to survey a school. I've also been to the Falkland Islands, which is an 18-hour flight. And you just, for me, in my job and where I work, I don't know what tomorrow will bring. It's so exciting. I could be doing something else completely different. And I love the big stuff. I love the small stuff. I love working with people.

Laura (08:07)

Wow. Okay.

Sophie Perkins (08:27)

So I love the site environment and meeting different people every day. No matter what they do, I'm just like, how did you get into that? Which is kind of what you do in your podcast, isn't it? I just think it's so interesting because I find that a lot of people have stumbled into it because I don't think careers advice at school is brilliant for our industry. So often people who would have probably gone in earlier if they'd known a bit more about their skills and the industry.

Laura (08:36)

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah!

Mm-hmm.

Sophie Perkins (08:55)

that could partner quite well. But anyway, yeah, so that's my day to day could be really varied. Yeah.

Laura (09:00)

Wow. was actually

going to ask you about the travel aspect involved in your role. Cause I have seen that you, I saw that you'd been to the Falklands and I was gonna ask it, where's been your favorite place that you've had to travel for work? Was it? Okay.

Sophie Perkins (09:08)

yeah. Yeah.

I think the Falkland Islands was incredible. Yeah,

it was so weird. It was like traveling to another planet, but also home comforts. So it's like so, so far away. It's so far away, but you'll have like a pub, like a British pub with flags and English money. because yeah, so but then I did like a Margaret Thatcher statue and stuff, but then

Laura (09:32)

What?

Okay.

Sophie Perkins (09:45)

then it's actually you think, no, this is really different. So for example, they have no native trees to the island because the wind is so strong. So then the British army tried to plant some trees and they're all like, like on an angle because they're just not made for that place. Their population, I think, is 2000 people, but they have their own educational estate, their own government, their own prison system, et cetera, et cetera. So it's kind of like going to a small village.

Laura (09:53)

Really?

Like this.

Wow.

Sophie Perkins (10:14)

But then it's all of the national, like it's run in like a, how you'd run England, for example, or Great Britain. But the wildlife is amazing. Like, I mean, it was like, hey, put your, there's some penguins. It's like, wow, a whale. It was just insane. ⁓ And in terms of like bringing it back to the job, you've got to think like how on earth, they don't have any trade out there, tradies. So if you want to do any building work,

Laura (10:22)

Okay.

⁓

Sophie Perkins (10:42)

particularly on a larger scale. Say you wanted to build a new school, well, who's going to do it? How are going to get the materials? They've got no materials over there, so everything needs to be shipped in. So you're kind of looking at modular solutions. And obviously, the conditions out there are really treacherous. So one moment it could be freezing cold and unbearable, and another moment it could be quite warm. So yeah, there's a lot to think about.

Laura (10:47)

Yeah.

⁓

Mmm.

Sophie Perkins (11:09)

painter and decorator, where do you get one? And where do you get the paint from? And like they don't have a DIY shop. And then when you get the paint, will it be suitable for a marine environment? So it just like really blew my mind, like from ⁓ a tourist perspective, because I was just like, wow, I need to come here again with my family, but also from a technical perspective and logistics. So do you bring up a big hulk ship over and have all the workers on there to live there?

Laura (11:13)

Yeah.

Wow.

Definitely.

Sophie Perkins (11:38)

to then do the work or whatever you need doing. was just insane. It was just so brilliant. But yeah, I don't usually travel that far, but I would say as a building surveyor in the type of role I do, you are going to be driving a lot. Don't think you're going to be 10 minutes down the road in all your local areas. That is possible in smaller firms, but for me, I could be in Birmingham one day, Cardiff another day, London another day. can be lot of travel.

Laura (11:38)

Mm.

Okay.

Sophie Perkins (12:04)

But you're looked after and safety is so important and I really value the company because of that because like if you are traveling a long day and like people listening may be doing that for their job, you can stay in a hotel if it's too far and stuff like you're not expected to drive all the way back. I'm not going to do a good job if I'm really exhausted, if I've got up at 4 a.m. to get somewhere. So there's definitely a good balance and we are supported. But yes, we do travel quite a lot. So wherever the exciting work is, we're all for it.

Laura (12:14)

Mm.

Yeah.

Gotcha.

So I guess it obviously pays off to do your due diligence in choosing a company you wish to work for once you are qualified or are out of education, I guess.

Sophie Perkins (12:46)

Definitely. Yeah, I think I don't like to badmouth other companies, but I do think that there are companies that safety is not as important and safety. When I say safety, that's the big topic. But in terms of like the welfare of the people delivering the work, I really valued that where I was looking for an employer somewhere that I felt happy and I could be me and be myself as well.

Laura (12:51)

No.

Yeah.

Sophie Perkins (13:12)

and not try and fit into a box. The work culture of you're supported. Yeah, sometimes it's long hours, but we are in it together as a team. It's not like, ⁓ the juniors can deal with it or whatever. We do it all together and we're quite a big team. I looked for places where there quite a few surveyors together because basically there's a huge shortage of building surveyors

Laura (13:39)

⁓

Sophie Perkins (13:39)

huge shortage

of chartered surveyors. A large proportion of building surveyors are looking to retire in the next five to 10 years. So we need more building surveyors and a lot of people come into it later in life. I mean, I did like a part-time course, so I didn't come into it later in life, but I certainly studied on a part-time level. So there was ex-builders, bricklayers, someone was in broadcasting and...

and came across a building survey and thought I want to do that when I got a masters and someone else got a degree. So yeah, a lot of people come to it later in life and but equally because there is a lack of surveyors, you can be quite picky with where you go because there's not enough people to the job. So therefore people are going to try and do their best to encourage you to join them. They're going to hopefully provide a good working environment, good

Laura (14:11)

Wow.

Okay.

Sophie Perkins (14:32)

Work-life balance is a tough one for construction. We work hard, right? Everyone works so, hard. Brexit and everything as well, with such a lack of workers delivering the work. But yeah, where possible, I think it's just getting that support and knowing if you don't feel safe that you're supported to step back and say, I don't feel safe here. It could be that you're visiting a property on your own and just suddenly doesn't feel right and it's like being supported to...

Laura (14:37)

Absolutely.

different now.

Mmm.

Sophie Perkins (15:01)

say, I don't feel safe and I'm not going to go in or whatever it is, particularly as a woman.

Laura (15:05)

Yeah.

what has your experience been like as a woman in such a typically male dominated field? Because obviously we all know construction as a whole is very male dominated. So what has your experience been like?

Sophie Perkins (15:21)

It's been a roller coaster. I think my love for the job and confidence has got me through it, but it shouldn't be like that. I should not have to be a confident young person when I started. So I basically did like drama and stuff at school. And it sounds like a silly qualification to lend yourself to construction, but as a girl in construction, I needed that to make me feel like I could either be confident or kind of like play the role that I needed to, to like blend in.

Laura (15:28)

Mmm.

Okay.

Yeah. ⁓

Sophie Perkins (15:50)

Like when I started, I was not myself. I tried to dress like the guys. And that's like okay if that's how you want to dress. But for me, I think I was on a bit of a journey to like, who am I? And I think like being afraid to be myself. So for me, it was like, I am just really girly. I like like nail varnish and like, I know it sounds silly, but I was like, I would never paint my nails, whatever.

Laura (15:54)

Okay.

Sophie Perkins (16:18)

But I know for other people it's like not hiding your tattoos or whatever it is that makes you you. Your hair colour or whatever it is. I'm always encouraging people to be themselves because you'll do such a better job if you're you. No one can be as good as being you as yourself if you know what mean. So basically when I started everyone was really kind but I was the only girl. Studying as well was the same experience so it was really tough.

Laura (16:22)

Yeah.

100%.

Love that.

Sophie Perkins (16:46)

So where I studied as well at college, it was a newly built construction and technology wing, whereas construction engineering, more technical courses. They also had the trade courses, but they had like another wing as well. used to like work together. So we would do all our technical designing and they would build it when it was great. But there were like no female toilets. Like they'd only built male toilets and disabled within a newly built college. yeah, I was just like.

Laura (16:51)

wow.

Cool.

What? That's crazy!

Sophie Perkins (17:13)

So you can imagine I could have just walked straight in, turned around and walked straight out and I think that's what a lot of women do. But yeah, long story short, they did then turn the first floor into female and then the ground and the second into male so I could go down to the first floor. But in terms of my experience as a woman, it was tough. I just cracked on. I don't know how I just got on with it and you just crack on and then eventually I am where I am now and I'm like, I...

Laura (17:17)

Yeah!

Okay.

Sophie Perkins (17:38)

So social media is great. I know loads of amazing women in the industry. I've found some amazing role models that have inspired me and have given me the inspiration that I can do it and that there is possibilities. And I love that. But yeah, at the beginning I was, I was just so lost. Like I didn't know of any other women. So I just kind of cracked on, worked really hard. The guys were great. They welcomed

I laugh at now because I must have just been so weird to them. Not only that, but I was obviously 18 and all the guys near retirement, so it must have been like having a granddaughter on site. was like hands out your pockets, all that, by the foundations and that, just like back to basics. But then I learned, so it was great. I had the opportunity to learn. A lot of people don't. They get a degree. They're in the mid-20s, then they enter the industry, and they need to work. They're earning quite high wages. They don't have time to shadow.

Laura (18:11)

All right.

Aww.

Okay.

Yeah.

Sophie Perkins (18:33)

I think the shadowing is really important to learn and like because I was so junior like yeah just tell me like if there's something I'm doing wrong you can just be like by the way don't do that it's a bit awkward when you're more a older yeah but yeah everyone's really nice the other really big thing which we'll make one to in a minute is the PPE so personal protective equipment I just felt like a complete clown like I

Laura (18:45)

It's a older. Yeah.

Yeah.

Sophie Perkins (19:00)

nothing fits me and I'm actually 5 foot 10 so I'm not small. Oh are you? We don't know because you're sitting down. Okay, so you might relate to this. So I think people are like, you're either a bloke or you're a small woman. And I'm like, well I'm a woman so my body is different but I'm tall so I was often, not always, but taller than the guys. So it's not that the trousers didn't fit in length but they didn't fit me. Like they were really loose on my legs so I'm like tall with slim legs.

Laura (19:02)

Are you? Same as me? Yeah, yeah. I know I'm quite small.

Yeah.

Sophie Perkins (19:29)

but I got hips and then like super tight my hips. was like, either they don't fit my waist or, and they fit my legs, but all I have like really baggy trousers and then it's just really uncomfortable when you're trying to climb a ladder or whatever. But yeah, beyond that, so PPE is just such a big issue and it just made me feel like an idiot because I just didn't fit in. I didn't look right. And then like the footwear was like the biggest thing.

Laura (19:30)

Yep.

Yeah.

Sophie Perkins (19:55)

that

either didn't have anything for me or they had like a clog or like just weird shoes. Now this, we're going back 17 years, so it's not that long, but like it was different then. So just with some sheer passion of like, no other woman should go through this. Like I've got to do something about it. And know, shouting about it and a column in the local newspaper. Twitter was huge then to like share issues and like a short succinct message

Laura (19:59)

⁓ no, don't. Okay.

Yeah.

Yes.

Yeah.

Sophie Perkins (20:24)

So yeah, Twitter really helped. But yeah, anyway, I got listened to by Ambler Safety, which is a European safety footwear company. They actually like gave me a chance because I think other companies were like, well, you know, we're here for profit. There's not many women. We're not going to make any money. But actually, Ambler saw something and they actually already had like quite a small women's collection at the time. And they, worked together. We made Sophie shoe.

Laura (20:33)

Amazing.

Yes!

Sophie Perkins (20:52)

And it did great.

It did really well. And they were like, right, so we've got something here. And yeah, the collection's now like over 15 shoes within the collection. Yeah, because there's so many different trades and so many different professional roles. You could be in rail, you could be a scaffolder and you both need different shoes. You could be an archaeologist and you need like waterproof deep wellies or you could be a roofer and you need lightweight.

Laura (21:01)

Wow, 15. Goodness me.

Gotcha. Yeah.

Sophie Perkins (21:21)

but really grippy shoes with a toe cap and steel sole. So you don't want a big boot. There's just so many different boots that we need for our job. I'm picking on painting and decorating because I know that's what you do. But you don't want a big rigaboot, I guess. You don't want something really heavy. Waterproof might not be necessary if you're doing indoor decorating. If you're doing outdoor, you might want lightweight but not a big heavy boot kind of thing. You could be working in an airport.

Laura (21:23)

Okay.

Yeah.

That's me. No.

Sophie Perkins (21:51)

and you don't want metal in your shoe. So there were so many different shoes. I was like, we need this, we need this, we need this. And we just kind of developed it. But yeah, so he's going back to your question. I've kind of waffled on about my experience as a woman. That's a big part of my story is being a woman and PPE and the journey that I went on that really changed everything for me and I hope for other women where.

Laura (21:51)

Yeah. Yeah.

Incredible.

That's all right.

Sophie Perkins (22:18)

they felt that they fitted in. Because if I came on my first day and they had ⁓ footwear for me, I probably wouldn't have felt so unwelcome because they would have made me feel like I'm part of the industry. Yeah, they've done great. And there are so many women that people don't know about that aren't hitting the statistics or whatever they are. Women want to do DIY. Women want to invest in developed property. They might not be doing it as their main job. So I don't know if they're missing in the figures or whatever, but women want safety shoes.

Laura (22:25)

Yeah.

Absolutely.

Yeah, we want to be considered. You know, we are growing as part of this industry. So, yeah, please do consider us when you're thinking of PPE or facilities. mean, they're basics, right? They're basics that. Yeah, I'm sure anybody, male person or a person coming onto a new site.

Sophie Perkins (22:48)

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, you think it's basic, yeah.

Laura (23:13)

the first things they are told to do is bring a high vis, boots and potentially a hard hat depending on what type of site it is. So if that is the minimal expectation for a female as well, going onto a site, are we, why is there still such little amount of female specific PPE available? Do you know what I mean?

Sophie Perkins (23:39)

Yeah,

And I think so many women either don't know about it or they're just suffering. They're like, ⁓ my boots are awful. They don't fit me. And I just, yeah, like I did when I was young, I just cracked on, you know, just get on with the job and you worry about it later. But yeah, they're absolutely, says, so there's a website called ppethatfits.com And it was developed by the president at the time of the Chartered Institute of Building, CIOB, Sandy Reese-Jones.

Laura (23:45)

Yeah!

Yeah.

That's it. That's it.

mm.

Okay.

Sophie Perkins (24:07)

And there's little

group of us that all helped provide, we're like a group of people who had tried and tested PPE and said, yeah, that's cool. That's good for women. Cause people say they got women's stuff. It might be a bit rubbish. I've tried on women's, this unisex really, whatever. So yeah, the boldest brass network, another network, if you've got LinkedIn to join. If you are someone who's maybe on your own self-employed and you're like, I don't know where to start with female PPE.

Laura (24:20)

Yeah.

Mm.

Sophie Perkins (24:36)

I've just listened to this and actually there is stuff for me. I would probably go on that website. Obviously, Angular Safety, the Sophie collection is the boots that I've developed, but there is so many great things out there. It's just we don't really know about it or where to get it. And if you're working for like a tier one contractor, quite often they've got their own supplier and it's like a bottleneck with only the products that that supplier has. So you might be missing out on some really great PPE for you. ⁓ A brand, in terms of clothing,

Laura (24:44)

course.

Yeah.

Mm.

Sophie Perkins (25:05)

If you're wearing high vis, it's probably Leo and Polestar. Leo Workwear and Polestar are pretty good. But if you're wearing work wear, which is more what I wear, I wear the high vis jacket, but I'm more wearing work wear trousers, top, jacket, whatever, is Hard Yucca. It's an Australian brand. I love it. It's really stretchy. I don't know if you've come across it before.

Laura (25:11)

Okay.

Yeah.

Okay. I

haven't, but I know that the Aussies do a lot of good female work wear. Yeah, they are really good at that. Yeah.

Sophie Perkins (25:32)

That good?

Yeah.

Yeah, and they do shorts as well. Depending on if your site allows you to wear shorts. I've got a pair. Yeah, Hard Yaka, Helihansen, Caterpillar, and Dickies. I found that female workwear is great. Really good. Yeah. yeah, I'll do some notes. Because it just saves people. These days we buy everything online, don't we? So you don't get to go to a shop and try things on. Like when I started...

Laura (25:39)

⁓ okay.

Okay.

Yeah? I'll have to put all these in a list at the bottom of the show notes so people can find them all. Absolutely.

Yeah

Sophie Perkins (26:04)

you went to the PPE shop and obviously my first day went terribly and they were like, we haven't got anything for you. But yeah, these days you kind of have to like hit and miss online a little bit about what's going to fit you. But yeah, my vision is that we have tall, petite curve. Like we need all the different shapes because we, us women are so different to men. I think the guys, they all want stretchy waistbands as well from the feedback that I've got. And obviously what neurodiversity and disabilities and

Laura (26:06)

Yeah.

Yeah. ⁓

Absolutely, yeah.

Yeah.

Sophie Perkins (26:33)

There are so many different nuances to what different people need for PPE. It's called personal for a reason, personal protective equipment. So there's a long way to go, but we're getting somewhere. And for ladies who are looking for PPE, PPEthatfits.com is a great one-stop shop. It's got a directory of all the different websites. It just makes it easier. And it obviously is non-biased. There's loads of different ones on there. It's not like it's directing you to just one footwear brand, for example. And there is some good stuff out there.

Laura (26:42)

Definitely.

Okay.

Okay.

Sophie Perkins (27:03)

Yeah, and that really

Laura (27:03)

Awesome.

Sophie Perkins (27:04)

transformed my experience once I had PPE that fitted. It's still in trial and error sometimes, like things, it just, I was like, oh, I can be me. And that was amazing. And generally I've had a really good experience generally. I've had the odd bad experiences of women, but generally really good. And people are kind, generally.

Laura (27:10)

Mm-hmm

Yeah.

That's amazing.

Okay.

Amazing. Amazing. Yeah, you're very lucky. Very lucky. So we've obviously just touched on Ambler safety and your boots. Let's continue on that path whilst we're on it. Tell us more about your range of boots that you've created with Ambler safety.

Sophie Perkins (27:35)

Yes!

Okay, so, right, I've got a few here. I've got four with me. So this is the, it's got a bit of, it's been on site. This is the Sophie. this is where I began. So for me, it was the shoe for everything. So obviously if you are going into like deep muddy sites, obviously you're not gonna wear more like, this is like a broke trainer kind of look. But it's lightweight, it's slip resistant, oil resistant, it's got the toe cap, it's got the steel sole.

Laura (28:04)

Okay.

Sophie Perkins (28:11)

but it's grippy. you can do all sorts of like, tradie jobs with this kind of shoe, but you're also protected. And I love it as well for like, professional look. If you've got like, black trousers on like a suit, it kind of looks like just a brogue kind of thing. And that's what the guys had from Building Control and I was really jealous. So yeah, that was the Sophie. It's a European bestseller. It's brilliant. I love it. And then we went on to the Lydia.

Laura (28:18)

Yep.

Yes.

Wow.

Sophie Perkins (28:41)

So I was like, right, we need ankle protection now. We need one that goes six inches off the ground. We kept similar to the Sophie design, but obviously it goes up the ankle and it's got a zip, which I love. So you get your perfect fit and then all you have to do is zip it on and off. Anyone who goes on site in the winter is absolutely freezing. I have not got the patience to untie laces when I can't feel my hands.

Laura (28:53)

Aw, wicked. On the inside, yeah.

Brilliant.

Yeah.

Sophie Perkins (29:08)

So yeah, I just think the zips brilliant. I really love this. And that was the beginning two. And then kind of like the middle of the collection, we've got the Kira. So we're going into the waterproof level ones now. The Kira comes in two colors. So a lot of them come in two colors. And where possible, I try and get the shoes down to a size two and up to a size nine, because there's people with those needs. But you're always going to get a three to eight.

Laura (29:21)

Okay.

wow. Yeah. Yep.

Sophie Perkins (29:35)

often a 6.5 seems to really popular, so we've been kind of doing half sizes. But yeah, this is the Kira. It's just your standard black boot. A lot of women, I get a real mix. I get people who want fashion designs. I haven't got the Mimi with me, but it's like a lush gray, like husky dog kind of color. And then the inner is like a really beautiful blue. Just like a little hint of color I quite like. I don't like loads of it. A lot of...

Laura (29:37)

Okay.

Hmm.

Ooh.

Okay.

Yes.

Sophie Perkins (30:03)

girls want something they can wear on site and then onto the evening if you're going off to the pub, you're going to play darts, whatever you're doing. But then other women, especially when they're, the women who wear high vis all the way top to toe like rail, highways, that kind of stuff, they want to look exactly like the men. They just want it to fit them. No, yeah, so it's really hard to cater for everyone. they want, well, this is not, this is a generalization, but they're like, they don't want

Laura (30:20)

They don't wanna stick out. They don't wanna, yeah, I get that.

Yeah.

Sophie Perkins (30:31)

anything, any color or anything, they just want the black boot, but the black boot that fits on a women's last, so a last is what is used to create the shape of the shoe and men and women have different feet, so if you have it on a male last, it's just not going to fit you, you're going to really have sore feet probably by the end of the day. And then this is my little sports mode one. This is the Eleanor. And this one I've

Laura (30:50)

Okay.

I like that. Yeah.

Sophie Perkins (30:57)

recently done a video on my Instagram that kind of talks through the technical detail of it. But it's quite good for like if you're striking the back of your foot quite a lot. So it's got this extra rubber going around here. It's crazy horse leather. So it's got quite a nice detail here. This is what I said about the pop of the color. So when you've got your shoe on, you just see a tiny bit. It's got the reflector as well. But we do have a couple that

Laura (31:07)

Alright.

Yeah, I like the orange. Yeah.

Okay.

Sophie Perkins (31:25)

go even higher up the leg. And yeah, we've also just released, and it's through a different brand, is the first female safety wellington in the world. There was not a single safety wellington, welly boot, whatever you call them, for women until a couple of months ago. So yeah, really, really good stuff. And I named the boots after women who inspire me.

Laura (31:34)

Ooh.

Goodness me.

Sophie Perkins (31:51)

The Kira is named after a mum of five who joined surveying later in life. And I was just like, that's just so amazing to get the courage to get back and study and join the working world of building and surveying. And then Eleanor is named after, she's now an associate project manager, Eleanor Dyer. And again, she like super inspired me. We studied together. I just think she's amazing.

Yeah, we've got Mary. So the Mary boots is, I haven't got the boot with me right now, but it's like a sand color, a like a military color. And it was just so her, so she's a plaster. Obviously, being on your podcast, if you've heard it, she's just like such a character. I love her. And we just felt that she was the right person for that shoe. And we were so grateful that she's allowed us to go and visit her in her studio.

Laura (32:20)

Yep.

Yeah.

Yep.

Sophie Perkins (32:46)

see her wearing the boot. But yeah, we've got loads in the collection. basically it reflects how amazing all the different women are in the trade and that yes, we all need different shoes. Plumber needs something different to scaffold a electrician, painter decorator. And like me, like I don't actually do the physical.

Laura (32:50)

Yeah.

Sophie Perkins (33:07)

trade work, but I still need to be super safe on site and I have very different needs to potentially what I need at the site I'm on. And as a surveyor, we go on every site, you see. So I might need one boot for that client, one boot for that one. It really is so varied.

Laura (33:15)

Definitely. Yeah.

I bet the boot of your car is just full of boots, isn't it? Different types.

Sophie Perkins (33:26)

Yeah, yeah, it's really bad. Yeah, I'm

like hard hats and then I'm like mustn't leave it in the boot. It's really not safe. And yeah, yeah, I have so much different PPE and work wear as well. I was saying earlier that I love really, and pockets, like why don't they put pockets in women's clothes? I have to wear like a little bum bag. But anyway, the work wear I go for has like loads of pockets because I've got all my kit.

Laura (33:32)

Ha ha.

Yeah.

Exactly.

Sophie Perkins (33:50)

And I do get really, I'm obviously not like I said, like doing a trade job, but I get dirty, we're like crawling through holes, looking in loft voids, cupboards on our knees, measuring, down. You know, we need really good work where it's durable, that isn't going to rip and I can have loads of pockets. Just really comfy.

Laura (33:56)

Mmm.

Definitely. Definitely. Yeah,

I love that. I love that you've considered what each particular trade needs out of their boot, out of their footwear. I love that because typically it's just a generic work boot, isn't it? So the fact that you've, yeah, that's it. Steel toe caps, that's the one.

Sophie Perkins (34:16)

Yeah.

Yeah, let's get your safety boot. Yeah, that's it. Yeah. Yeah.

Laura (34:31)

But yeah,

I love that, I love that. That's brilliant. So we'll definitely add the link to your boots at the end of the show notes for this. Incredible. For sure. Yeah, definitely. Because it is such a struggle. It's a main sticking point, I believe, for all of us females in any trade. It's a conversation that I see on social media, especially in particular Facebook groups on a weekly, monthly basis. Where'd you get your work?

Sophie Perkins (34:39)

thank you so much, I appreciate that.

Laura (34:59)

trousers from, where do get your shoes from? Because I can't fit around the hips, I can't get it around the bum and they're too long because I've got short legs, you know. So the fact that people like yourselves are committing themselves to creating a specific line in whatever it may be, trousers or boots, it's an epic step forward for us all. So love that.

Sophie Perkins (35:01)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Oh, thank you. Yeah, there's some

great stuff happening out there. Not just me, there's some really great stuff. And if there's something you can't get, it's you, whoever's listening. You've got to make something. Yeah. Be inspired to go and develop your own collection.

Laura (35:27)

Sure

There you go.

There you go, amazing, amazing. coming back to yourself, how do you manage your work and personal life? I know you said that it can be a bit of a mixed line sometimes, but obviously you've told me you've just come back off holiday. So you had a nice little break, have you?

Sophie Perkins (35:54)

Yeah,

Definitely, yeah. It's hard, yeah. I've got a rule now. So I've been in Crete. I came back in the early hours of this morning. And I've got this rule where I always book off annually after a holiday to just decompress, get all the washing done. Otherwise you kind of then don't feel relaxed. The holiday was so relaxing. The travel was not. So it's just awful in like delayed flights and small, hot airports. Work-life balance, yeah, really hard.

Laura (36:02)

Wow.

Yes.

Sophie Perkins (36:22)

really hard to get it right. So something I haven't said is I'm a mum of three as well. So I'm busy. I'm really busy. I've got a four year old, a three year old and a one year old. So I came back from Matleave in April this year from my third child. we kind of packed it in quite quickly. It just happened that way. I'm very grateful that we've got three beautiful children, but I really love my job as well. And I have no intention of not.

Laura (36:27)

you, wow.

Goodness me.

Yeah.

Sophie Perkins (36:49)

like giving up my job, which I know is a pressure for particularly women. And I've basically been supported by my employer, which is really good. Another advertisement for building surveying is that it has been a job that I've been able to balance with being a parent as well. But every day is different. I can't always get it right, but I try and have some kind of formula like these are my office days.

Laura (36:53)

It can be, yeah.

Okay.

Sophie Perkins (37:16)

I try and stick to site days these days and I try and protect Tuesdays for working from home where possible, but it does flex. But in the job I do, I can kind of project where I'm going to be. So when I was in building control, I didn't know where I was going to go the next day. It's whoever rings and says I my footings looked at, for example. Whereas I've been able to be a little bit more proactive so I can organize the site meetings for a whole construction program. Obviously, there's last minute call outs and crack on.

Laura (37:21)

Okay.

Mm.

Sophie Perkins (37:44)

really, really supportive husband and we've kind of just juggled life together a bit and I think it's not just me, it's like the foundations of a great family network around me that have helped, great nursery as well. Of course, a fortune. ⁓ But yeah, work-life balance. And sometimes a job just needs to be done, unfortunately. So...

Laura (37:58)

Wow.

Sophie Perkins (38:09)

For me, it might be that I put the kids to bed and then unfortunately I log back on. That is a bit different post-COVID, I think, because years ago I'd just leave my laptop at work, I'd finish for the day and that's it. Whereas now it's like we all just carry on working a little bit. And I know for those who are self-employed, there is no end to the day. You've to get your invoices out, you've got to pay your suppliers, et cetera. And so I really, really respect anyone who's doing it on their own because I have got the benefit of

Laura (38:18)

Yeah.

this is it, yeah.

Sophie Perkins (38:36)

a bigger company so I can take annual leave and there's someone to cover for me and that's amazing. in short, it is quite a juggle but I think because I found a job I really, really love, I don't mind sometimes those extra hours and when I have a quiet day, I try and have a good lunch break and I encourage the juniors who are doing that quite a large scale survey program at the moment and sometimes it can be really long days if there's travel and some inspections can take longer than others.

Laura (38:55)

Yeah.

Sophie Perkins (39:06)

Now and again they'll call me and say, I've had the morning cancelled and I'm like, take it, relax, have that time. And I know that they'll give back 110 % throughout that program. I think take the moments when you can. But yeah, some days it is a little bit longer and I just try and make it work. I would say finally about myself, sometimes I can procrastinate. You know, when there's that task that needs to be done and you just don't want to do it because you're like, ⁓ like.

Laura (39:11)

yeah.

Yep.

Definitely.

Sophie Perkins (39:35)

it's too hard

or my brain's not ready for this intense activity. So sometimes I'm my own worst enemy and when I'm working late, I'm like, well, I could have probably got it done, but instead I worked in my inbox and did a less high priority task. So it's that self motivation, I think. And yeah, maybe it's like the late nights and I'm up in the night with a baby at the moment. So it's hard, but I don't know. So I just get up the next day and...

Laura (39:52)

Definitely.

pleasure.

Sophie Perkins (40:02)

I'm happy, I'm enjoying it, I like my job. I try and eat well and exercise and give myself the fuel that I need to do quite an intense phase of my life right now. So

Laura (40:12)

Yeah.

Sophie Perkins (40:13)

So really do look after yourself. My thing is running. I just put on my shoes, get into nature. I do want to get into the gym soon as well. I'll do a bit of strength and conditioning and that. yeah, just weirdly is relaxing. I know I'm not, I could have a nap or I could go on a run. You'd think that that would make me feel better, but actually it just somehow recharges yeah, yeah, look after yourself.

Laura (40:15)

Definitely.

Yeah.

I think

definitely, definitely agree. I think the exercise, yes, some people may look at it as, ⁓ I haven't got the strength or the energy after a full day. But honestly, if you just push yourself to get there, take the journey in your car or your van to just get to the gym. And as soon as you start working out,

Sophie Perkins (40:52)

Yeah.

Laura (40:57)

you're gonna feel so much better. It releases so many happy hormones in your body that it will clear your mind and reset it. So if you're considering getting back into exercise as an element of work-life balance, do it, just do it. That's what I'm saying. Yeah.

Sophie Perkins (40:59)

Yeah.

yeah, yeah.

100%. Find that thing that you enjoy.

it's someone, she took the stuff and it was netball, she used to do netball at school, joined a netball club. And that was her thing. Obviously we've had the lionesses smashing it at the moment. you know, if some people are like, oh, I tried exercise and didn't like it. Maybe it just wasn't the one that you liked. And the same with healthy eating. Just find that balance of what you like. It might be that you tried one.

Laura (41:22)

brilliant!

yes.

Absolutely!

Sophie Perkins (41:43)

nutrition program and it just wasn't for you. yeah, like now I just, love food so much, but it's not like I nourish myself. Like I eat a lot, but it's just good stuff. And obviously a little treat once a day, but yeah. No, definitely not. No.

Laura (41:50)

Yeah, yeah. You've got to, because you can't cut all the treats out because then you're gonna want them all. It's

gotta be a fine balance, a sustainable balance, hasn't it? For sure. So I did wanna ask you actually, because I saw on your Instagram that I'm hoping I get this right, you used to do a bit of mentoring in schools. Is that right?

Sophie Perkins (42:00)

Yeah.

Definitely, definitely, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, I do. So currently, I've been doing the Women Like Me program. So that's with university levels. And again, I'm like, oh, I wish I had that when I was younger. I could have done with a mentor. now that's why I do it, because I'm like, I can help that person. But I actually also have my own mentor, which I've never had before. But it was offered as part of Women in Property membership. And I was like, oh, yeah, I'd love one. And my goal was to get to associate.

Laura (42:17)

yeah?

wow.

Absolutely.

Okay.

Sophie Perkins (42:46)

and I was mentored by someone who is at a director level and mentoring is really important and I do think it makes a difference and it doesn't have to be forever, it can be a short thing or a long thing. The most recent person that I mentored was a girl called Jessica Barker and she was a first year student at University of West of England at the time when we started our journey together and she had entered the industry later so she

had had lots of different experience in the working world but wanted to go into building and surveying and I was just like, this girl's great. And she had it all. was just the mentoring relationship was more guiding herself to realize how amazing she is and what is possible and that affirmation that, you know, I am someone in the industry and I recognize that she genuinely is someone that we would employ. And I know it sounds silly, but at those early stages, you haven't got this

Laura (43:19)

Okay.

Yeah.

Sophie Perkins (43:43)

experience and qualification to fall back on and be like, I am good. You've got to just have this dream and belief in yourself. And so it was just kind of showing her that and she was shortlisted for an award. And now she's she's done a placement, she did a summer placement with us. She's absolutely bloody brilliant. And then she's just done a whole year placement. So it's like a three year degree that you can do a year in industry, you're encouraged to do it because it's work experience. And it's like I said earlier, it's the kind of job you need to just

Laura (43:49)

Yeah.

Wow.

Okay.

Sophie Perkins (44:13)

get on site really and get involved. So she's just finished that I believe and then she's also been offered a graduate role with another team within our business. She's just an example of someone who's done so well and she had, like I said, she had it all and just being that mentor is just having the time for that person and I'm a person who works in the industry who understands how it works, I understand all the different types of surveying and.

Laura (44:14)

Absolutely.

Okay.

Sophie Perkins (44:41)

opportunities that I can kind of guide that passion. But really the mentoring is more supporting someone to find the answers to their own questions and listening to that person. yeah, in the past I've done years ago, I did one with sort of students at ⁓ high school who were not achieving what they should be achieving for whatever reason they may have had.

Laura (44:45)

Yeah. ⁓

Yep.

Okay, yeah.

Sophie Perkins (45:08)

quite a difficult time at school or had behavioural issues, whatever. And that was more just being that person in the working world, again, to listen, talk and just help them believe in themselves. Just having that, I'm not their teacher or whatever. So yeah, I've done quite a few different mentoring opportunities. And like I said, I finally got my own mentor. So yeah, just reach out to someone if that's something that you're considering. And often,

Laura (45:18)

Yeah.

Love that. Yeah.

Sophie Perkins (45:37)

different schemes have their own mentoring programs, so there may be ones available. I feel like CITB do. But if not, social media is a good place to start.

Laura (45:40)

Okay.

Sure is, yeah, definitely, so nearing the end of our conversation, I like to do a bit of a quick fire question round. So it's just a bit of fun, yeah. If you wanna elaborate on any of your answers, please feel free. But yeah, here we go. So.

Sophie Perkins (45:57)

Okay! Here we go!

Okay.

Laura (46:08)

⁓ laser scanner or measuring tape.

Sophie Perkins (46:10)

Both, both. Depends what it is. I have both. Measure and tape. I go for it, yeah.

Laura (46:12)

Hahaha

Okay, cool.

A weekend break or a beach holiday?

Sophie Perkins (46:22)

These are hard, both. I'll go with a beach holiday because I've just come back from a beach holiday. Beach holiday with good childcare and good food.

Laura (46:23)

Hahaha

Awesome. Yay.

Perfect.

Cats or dogs?

Sophie Perkins (46:33)

Oh, it's so tough. I'm a dog girl now, but I was a cat girl originally. I've got like a cat dog. She's a dashound. My husband liked big dogs. I had cats. I was like, never getting a dog. We met in the middle. We got a dashound. And the love story never ended. She's amazing. Now I love dogs. I just think they're brilliant.

Laura (46:38)

Okay. Have you?

⁓

awesome, Early rise or late finish?

Sophie Perkins (46:57)

⁓ Depends on the day, but I'm trying to be, I think early rise is more productive for me. Early bird catches the worm.

Laura (47:02)

That's the one Steel toe or composite toe?

Sophie Perkins (47:05)

Steel. I like both though, I have both in the collection, but yeah, steel.

Laura (47:08)

Okay, there we

go.

And finally, urban projects or rural developments.

Sophie Perkins (47:15)

Urban, definitely urban. Yeah, I do like a cheeky rural in the mix, but I like the way that the urban developments interconnect with the rest of the urban built environment around it, which is really exciting. it's the same with the rural ones as well. Obviously, there's lots of factors involved. But yeah, I think the fun of my job is that we have every single discipline within our consultancy. And so it's just like,

Laura (47:16)

Okay. Yeah?

Okay. Yeah.

Sophie Perkins (47:45)

so exciting like I'll bid on a job and we've got like 20 different disciplines as part of that story. If you want an urban building for example you've got the engineers, mechanical, electrical, public health, civil, structural, geotechnical, acousticians, ecologists, archaeologists, building surveyors. The list goes on and on and on and I just love it. I just think wow like all of us.

Laura (47:50)

Wow.

Goodness me.

Sophie Perkins (48:13)

make these buildings amazing. Coming back from a holiday in Crete, lovely, but their infrastructure is nothing compared to what we have over here. And as much as these rules and regulations are really hard sometimes, I understand because it's transferred into a great built environment where possible. And particularly if you've got disabilities, we've got a pram, so we don't have a wheelchair, but I completely respect people who are going around in a wheelchair. And I'm like, if I can't get down here in my pram.

You can't get down there if you're in a wheelchair or you have poor mobility or whatever. I'm just like, it's definitely not perfect in the UK, but it's much more considered. And going abroad, was like this, like a death trap. I go around with this pram, like, ooh. So yeah, anyway, I digress there, but urban environment presents a lot of opportunities for problem solving, which I love problem solving.

Laura (48:43)

Yeah.

my god. That's all right.

Okay, I like to end the episode with three particular questions if you could do, I'm obviously gonna word this slightly different for but if you could do another role in the construction industry, whether it be on the tools or like yourself, what would it be and why?

Sophie Perkins (49:29)

Can I do two? I think, so if in another life I was on the tools, I think I'd be a stonemason. I did a little course in it and we did like a conservation course. So we did like stonemasonry and lime plastering and that. And it just really helped me understand the construction techniques of actually doing it rather than just the drawings and putting lime plastering. What does that mean? And...

Laura (49:29)

Sure, crack on.

Cool.

Yeah.

Sophie Perkins (49:54)

I always, that's one thing that I love my job and I've got lots of experience, but I haven't been on the tools. And that's one thing on my little CV that I think when you're on site, if you've been on the tools, you get that extra bit of respect. So it's like that little itch I want to scratch one day. And then another job in the consulting, like professional side would be project manager.

Laura (50:11)

Okay.

Sophie Perkins (50:23)

I always consider like, would I be better in that role? Because I kind of understand all the different disciplines, but I just don't think I can ever leave the technical side that I do now. I just, I love it too much, but project management is super exciting. And I do think in another life, potentially I could project manage like a really high value project, like a big nuclear site or HS2 or something like huge.

Laura (50:31)

Yep.

Ooh, wow.

Sophie Perkins (50:51)

no, for now I'm really happy where I am, but I'm looking forward to hopefully a fruitful career ahead.

Laura (50:55)

Awesome.

Well, it sounds like you're on the way to it. So definitely awesome. Cool. So who do think I should have on the show next?

Sophie Perkins (51:01)

thank you.

⁓ there's too many good ones.

Laura (51:09)

Yeah.

Sophie Perkins (51:10)

I Jess the plumber, I don't know if you've come across her. So I came across Jess, plumbing Jess, Jessica Rose. I think she's breaking barriers in the industry. So she's still in training, I believe, but she's come into it slightly later. And I think...

Laura (51:28)

Okay.

Sophie Perkins (51:32)

that's given her the gratitude for the job. Because often if you do it straight from school, it's like, yeah, I'm a plumber, whatever. But I she worked really hard to get there. I relate to her experience. But when you're quite junior in the job, it's like you worked so hard to prove that you can do it. And she definitely has done that. Like she really does put herself out there and is willing to learn. she's also like

like me, like quite girly and is not afraid to be that. And I think that's quite inspiring because it doesn't feel natural, I'd say, in the job. I've always like tried to not be too girly and just I don't know why, but yeah, I think I'm learning what I've just seen her just rock into the industry. Big hair doesn't, you makeup's fine or whatever. And yeah, I came across her through social media and I, yeah, I think she's great. But there's a long list.

Laura (52:03)

Yes.

Yeah.

There is a long list.

I know there is. Yeah. It's getting old of them. Yeah, definitely. I've got a good amount lined up. It's always nice when people approach me as well. I've had a couple of say to me, are you looking for this type of tradie? I'd love to be part of the show, ⁓ which is really nice, really Yeah.

Sophie Perkins (52:30)

Yeah, there's a long list of great people. So yeah, I look forward to hearing who you get on the show next.

Laura (52:54)

So one final thing, where can the listeners find you on social media, ⁓ et cetera?

Sophie Perkins (53:01)

Oh, amazing, thank you for asking. So my social media handle is Sophie the Surveyor. So it's nice and easy to remember, at Sophie the Surveyor. I'm on Instagram, I'm Sophie Perkins on LinkedIn, if anyone likes LinkedIn for work stuff.

I hope that I've inspired people to just go for it, believe in yourself, be yourself in your job and love what you do. And if you don't quite, then perhaps...

move across a bit and there are some amazing jobs in the industry. Please don't leave, just find something else there. Yeah, thanks so much for having me today and listening to my story.

Laura (53:34)

Absolutely.

You're welcome. Thank you for coming on the show. It's been great, great speaking with you. So yeah, hope to continue our conversations in the future and see where you are with things. So thank you very much.

Sophie Perkins (53:49)

Definitely.

Thank you.

Laura (53:50)

Thank for listening to this episode, really hope you enjoyed it just want to share with you that Sophie has been kind enough to provide you with a discount code for your first purchase at amblersafety.com. So if you search amblersafety.com and then look for the Sophie collection, once you've chosen your brand new boots, go to the checkout and apply the code SOPHIE20.

That's S-O-P-H-I-E-2-0. SOPHIE20 to get 20 % off your first purchase at amblersafety.com. Thanks guys, see you next time.