Page 14 - INSIGHT MAGAZINE Digital_Neat

MEMBER PROFILE

Sudden career changes sometimes
happen when you least expect
them but can often lead to new
and rewarding opportunities.
This is something Susan Carey knows
very well after shifting from a long-time
career in healthcare by stepping into the
construction industry as president of
BuildSafe Construction Safety Services.
“I never thought I would have my own
business and I certainly never thought
I’d find myself in construction,” she jokes,
taking a moment to chat in the boardroom
of the company’s new and larger digs on
Jamieson Parkway in Hespeler.
The Cambridge-based company, which
opened in 2002, provides a variety of
safety related services aimed at helping
construction employers and related
companies by offering site audits, health
and safety training, as well as consulting.
“We will go to client sites and view it
with a Ministry lens to make sure the
site is safety complaint and if not, we
can help,” says Susan, who along with
husband, Kevin, a long-time construction
consultant, purchased the business
five years ago after their two sons were
grown. “We bought BuildSafe at the
height of COVID-19 and at the time, I was
the only employee because Kevin was
still working his consulting contracts.
So, I would provide training during the
day and on my breaks, I’d answer the
phone messages and try to get some
bookkeeping done in the evenings.”
Despite the hard work, she says the
opportunity was something they couldn’t
pass up when company founders Lou
and Cindy LeBlanc decided to sell the
business since it melded nicely with
Susan's experience in healthcare and
‘You’ve always needed Kevin’s construction knowledge.
“I feel like I was so naive then which was
grit to be a business probably a blessing because it was just
so crazy, but it’s been a lot of fun in an
industry I absolutely love,” says Susan,
owner’ - Susan Carey who grew up in Flamborough and found
work in the records department of a 32-
bed hospital in Southwestern Ontario.

PHOTOS BY BRIAN RODNICK

14 Winter 2026 www.cambridgechamber.com