Chris Richards / arizona daily star

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For some like Beverly Dulaney, a career choice doesn't just seem fitting — it's practically predestined.

The daughter of real estate developers, the Scottsdale native recalls family dinner conversations that revolved around land use and design.

Her grandfather was a concrete contractor, and her father an engineer. Eventually, two of Dulaney's siblings followed similar paths — one now works as a general contractor and the other as a city of Flagstaff senior planning official. A third sibling teaches advanced middle school students.

In January — after 25-plus years working a variety of jobs in Arizona and New Mexico — Dulaney was hired as a site superintendent and project-manager assistant at Tucson Artisan Builders.

The small company was one of four builders recently selected by Rio Development Co. to work on the residential and commercial neighborhood on West Congress Street known as the Mercado District of Menlo Park.

When not calling in inspections or scheduling the myriad tasks particular to construction sites, the petite Dulaney can be found out in the field, tool belt in tow.

"I'm short, but I'm strong," she says in a defiant tone.

She is decidedly not a pushover.

In the fall of 2005, Dulaney was one of six women accepted into the inaugural class of the Southern Arizona Home Builders Association's Institute of Construction.

The program runs 40 hours a week for 50 weeks — 48 of which involve on-the-job training. During the program, students develop skills in six trades, including electricity, plumbing and framing.

"She had had some background in construction from her dad and others, but she had such a thirst for the field experience," said Les Wolf, the instructor and administrator of the Institute and the owner of L.G. Wolf Co., a general-contracting firm.

"This is a woman who, you had to hold her back. She was an aggressive learner," he added.

At a young age, Dulaney developed a strong interest in construction and construction materials.

But when she enrolled in the late '70s as a student at Northern Arizona University, she opted to study journalism.

An internship at a Cave Creek weekly turned into a full-time job at which Dulaney wrote human-interest pieces and covered planning and zoning.

In 1980, she married her husband, Dennis, a golf course superintendent. They have four children — Lura, 26; Cody, 23; Austin, 18; and Zane, 16.

After Lura was born in 1981, Dulaney quit her full-time position and continued to freelance as a writer and editor. From there, she held a variety of jobs, including an office job with a construction company in Page, and later helped a friend open a real estate business.

Along the way she took classes in adobe construction and cob building, a form of construction involving a mixture of mud, sand and straw.

In 2004, the family moved to Tucson when Dennis was offered a job at SaddleBrooke.

"I was thinking about getting back into the (construction) industry," Dulaney said. "I really didn't know how, as a woman, I would pursue it."

SAHBA's Institute of Construction was her opportunity.

Within a few months of graduating, she met Dante Archan-geli, founder and manager of Tucson Artisan Builders.

"Beverly was the first person who, with her educational background, seemed like it would be a good fit," he said. "I just think we've been really happy with her."

Dulaney is equally pleased.

"It's my first opportunity to do what I wanted to do," she said. "If I didn't end up pursuing my passion, I'd end up writing about it."