Sisters share success as skilled trades classmates

Insulator program kickstarts career for close-knit pair

There was never a doubt that Breanne and Kehli Warrington would follow the same career path. Separated by a year and a half, the sisters and Insulator grads (class of '25) are often mistaken for twins. They rely on each other.

“We’ve been through a lot together and we’ve been each other’s constant,” says Kehli (above left), the elder sibling. “We take turns with who is having the bad day [and] we know how to deal with each other when things get like that.”

Now in their early 20s, the sisters grew up on a farm near Barrhead, about 120 kilometres northwest of Edmonton. They both loved working with their hands. After high school, they explored the world of trades through entry-level odd jobs, where they heard about a company that was looking for insulating apprentices.

Insulating, they learned, is not stuffing puffy pink panels behind drywall, as is commonly supposed.

Insulators craft custom industrial jackets made of materials like foamglass, polystyrene and polyurethane. These jackets prevent changes in temperature or leakage of sound from pipes, vessels and exchangers for industries including construction, manufacturing and processing plants. Once in place, they’re covered with cladding usually cut from sheet metal.

The Warringtons began their careers at an industrial plant near Conklin. Insulating is not a compulsory trade, which means you don’t legally require formal training to work on a job site. But they quickly ran into the limits of a life in the trades with no training, and enrolled at NAIT. They wound up excelling in ways they never expected – and, of course, doing so together.

A challenge for mind and body

The sisters stood out from the beginning for Fred Savoie (Insulator ’92), program instructor and chair.

“We recognized early that they had exemplary hand skills,” he says. “They were hard workers, dedicated to their craft.”

They were also dedicated to each other, Savoie adds. “They worked together, studied together – almost like they were striving to outdo each other, in a friendly way.”

That support contributed to their success. Invariably, skilled trades programs challenge the mind as much as the body.

“Information overload was real,” says Breanne of the program’s seven-week periods. “And the pace – you have to do it so fast.”

But in addition to that mutual support, the Warringtons found a community among their cohort at NAIT.

“Being surrounded by so many other insulators was awesome,” says Breanne. “At NAIT, we met so many insulators who took pride in their work and are very passionate – especially women.”

A job for everybody

Savoie estimates that a typical class in the program is around 25% women. Also, half of its instructors are women.

This places Insulator far ahead of most other trades, which have struggled to attract women. StatsCan data shows that almost 92% of all trades workers across the country were men in 2023.

“Insulating is a job for everybody,” says Savoie.

According to insulators, it’s also creative. It demands dexterity, strong knowledge of geometry, and a creative mind.

“You need some math but you’ve got to have an artist’s brain,” says Breanne. 

Finding peers of the same gender made a real difference for the Warringtons. It’s even why they entered the program together.

“We’ve met tons of women who have only worked with men in the trades,” says Breanne. “We work together as a way of making sure we always have someone else who will understand what being in the trades as a woman is like.”

The approach has served them well. In fact, Savoie and the other instructors asked them during their final semester to represent NAIT at Skills Canada Alberta, the annual trades competition that took place in Edmonton in May. Kehli finished third overall, just behind the first runner-up, Breanne.

Just getting started

Now that each have a journeyperson certificate in insulation, the sisters are living together in Sherwood Park, accumulating experience in their field, and thinking about what would look best on their resumés next to that first skilled trades ticket.

Though she’s not yet sure which discipline is next, Kehli plans to be certified in one more trade – at least.

“Eventually I want to build my own house and acreage without needing to hire 200 people to do it,” she says.

Breanne also plans to pursue another certification and maybe start her own contracting business.

Savoie won’t be surprised in either case. He sees what they’ve learned in the classroom and in competition as just the begin for the Warrington sisters.

“They are very crafty, smart, intelligent, diligent,” he says. “I can see them going very far.

“They can be anything.”