2024 Women in Construction – Amanda Schauer – Gardner Builders

At any given time, Amanda Schauer is juggling multiple tasks.

It’s part of her job as a project executive with Gardner Builders. Schauer, who has more than 27 years of experience in the construction industry, balances both business development and project management duties.

Her current focus is in higher education and tenant improvement with developers and property managers in the Madison and Milwaukee markets.

“Early on I had wanted to become an architect and moved into the construction world in college when I decided to double major at Milwaukee School of Engineering,” Schauer said. “This industry is so diverse. The same degree can produce designers, installers, builders and sellers.”

With nearly three decades of experience, Schauer serves as a mentor at Gardner, where she helps those up and coming in the industry hone their craft.

“Amanda has stepped up to lead less-tenured project managers, has helped set standards across all projects with trade partners and constantly raises her hand to ask for more opportunities to lead,” said Kelly Sullivan, Milwaukee strategy and project development lead at Gardner Builders.

“Through her new role as project executive, Amanda will have the opportunity to lead other project managers through the process, hand in hand for the best outcome.”

“Mentors are a very important part in everyone’s life regardless of the industry in question,” added Schauer. “We all benefit on some level from talking to others about our experiences and hearing about what has brought people to their current place of employment. Most importantly a mentor is someone to listen and be a sounding board for both the good and bad things in life.”

Asked what she enjoys most about her job, Schauer replied: “I have found the most rewarding times are when you can directly see how the buildings and environments created impact the lives of building end users.”