From Admin to Director – Women in Trades with Kerry Black of Firstcall Trade Services

In this episode of Scale HER Up – The Female Entrepreneur Show, I’m joined by Kerry Black, Director at Firstcall Trade Services, an all-trades contractor based in Edinburgh. Firstcall employs joiners, plumbers, electricians, decorators and more – around 46 operatives plus an office team – providing a one-stop shop for repairs and maintenance for housing associations, councils, insurers and letting agents.

Kerry shares how she joined Firstcall in 2015 as a part-time administrator while studying criminology at university, discovered she loved construction and working with trades, and steadily grew into operations manager and then director. She talks about what hooked her early on: transforming people’s homes, building relationships with clients and being part of a well-run, people-focused business.

We dive into Firstcall’s decision to have the majority of their workforce directly employed rather than relying heavily on subcontractors. Kerry explains why control, accountability and service quality matter so much to them, how strong client relationships have been built over years, and how a small pool of trusted subcontractors is used carefully without compromising standards.

Kerry is very open about being a woman in the trades. She describes walking onto building sites early on and feeling the unspoken “what’s that wee girl doing here?” reaction, and the satisfaction of then winning tenders and delivering contracts. She shares how the business has shifted from having no tradeswomen to now employing women on site as well as in the office, and why she’s proud Firstcall is becoming more female-represented – not just because she is there, but because they deliberately hire and develop talented women.

We also talk about career, motherhood and support. Kerry fell pregnant with her first child in her third year at university, at 21, while working part-time at Firstcall. She describes the fear and uncertainty of becoming a mum at that stage, juggling assignments and a newborn (including submitting coursework with her waters broken and taking her baby to lectures), and how she now looks back with pride at what she achieved.

She pays tribute to the support around her: a very hands-on, encouraging boss in Firstcall’s MD Paul; a husband with his own demanding career as a professional boxer; and a close, hardworking family, including a mum who raised three children alone and grandparents who were always in her corner. Kerry talks about how that foundation of belief and encouragement has shaped the way she now leads and supports her own team.

We finish by exploring how she thinks about growth, culture and recruitment. Firstcall wants to keep growing but not at the expense of quality or atmosphere. Kerry shares how they focus on staff retention, regular appraisals, honest conversations and a family feel in the office. She is realistic about recruitment – not everyone is a fit, you only really know once someone is in the business – and explains how past hiring mistakes have helped her develop red flags and non-negotiables.

Kerry’s message to other women is clear: don’t be scared – just do it. If you are being offered a senior role, it’s because people already see your capability. Take the opportunity, back yourself, and remember that you can always adjust later – but you will never know what you’re capable of if you don’t try.

In this episode, we cover:

1. What Firstcall Trade Services does as an all-trades contractor in Edinburgh
2. Why they employ most trades directly instead of relying heavily on subcontractors
3. The importance of control, accountability and long-term client relationships
4. Kerry’s journey from part-time admin while studying criminology to operations manager and director
5. Becoming pregnant in her third year at university, juggling studies, work and a newborn
6. Taking her baby to lectures, finishing her degree and seeing her son at her graduation
7. Growing confidence by learning on the job – including pricing, quantities and tendering
8. Walking onto male-dominated sites and proving her capability through results
9. How Firstcall has increased the number of women in both office and operational roles
10. The “family feel” at work: strong bonds, banter and people she sees as friends for life
11. The role of mentorship from her MD and the impact of a supportive male leader
12. Recruitment realities: people who come and go, red flags and what a good team fit looks like
13. Balancing business growth with service quality and reputation
14. Kerry’s advice to women considering senior roles or leadership: don’t be scared, say yes, and trust that you can grow into it