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'We don't have enough good labor force': homebuilder founder

Cindy Stumpo made her mark in a male dominated industry as the founder of C Stumpo Development, a custom homebuilder located in Newton, Massachusetts. Her company has been busy even during this time of economic uncertainty and record low unemployment.

“We've been jammed. We've been busy. We haven't stopped,” Stumpo told Yahoo Finance. “I’m not seeing a slowdown.”

Stumpo, who focuses on the high-end market of $5 million to $10 million homes, has been having a hard time finding skilled workers in the homebuilding industry.

“We don't have enough good labor force, nor females, nor males.” Stumpo said, adding that the industry has been facing a skills gap problem since 2008. “It's all stigma related here. If you know who your kid is, and your kid is not college material, why not alternative education? We don't even have to call it vocational school if that bothers some parents. If you know your kid's a tinkerer, send them off. Let them learn something they can do with their hands to make a living.”

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Stumpo, who has been in construction for more than three decades, said she was a C/D student in school. But today she runs a multimillion-dollar company. “Why? Because I learned a trade,” she said.

Stumpo calls herself a pioneer in the industry and hopes to see more women enter the field. “because we are so multitaskable. We can do everything. We can have two kids, one on our leg, one in our arms, and that's why I worked the 33 years.”

Pamela Mitchell is a producer at Yahoo Finance.

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