Taylar MacLean learned to swing a hammer at her dad’s construction business when she was a young girl. Today, she owns MacLean Gutters. (Submitted photo)

BY SHERI TRUSTY

VERMILION – When Taylar MacLean was about ten, she began helping her father remodel the houses he would buy and flip through his construction company. He taught her to grab a hammer, punch it through a wall, and rip everything out. He was teaching her practical skills that would one day help her be independent.

Today, MacLean is the sole owner of MacLean Gutters, which sells residential and commercial gutters. She founded the business in 2020 but has been installing gutters for about ten years. Yet, the sight of a woman on a gutter job still shocks some customers.

“It’s always different, but I still sometimes hear, ‘You’re going to do the work?’” she said. “They think I can’t get up a ladder.”

MacLean’s father continued to teach her new skills as she grew.

“I learned a little bit of everything – flooring, bathrooms, painting. I was around it my whole life,” she said. “He wanted to teach me all this stuff so I could do it myself when he wasn’t around.”

MacLean sells and installs five and six-inch seamless gutters in many colors, gutter guards, soffit, and fascia. She and her employees also offer gutter cleaning.

“A lot of builders don’t have the machine to offer seamless gutters. If they are not seamless, they don’t look as nice, and they leak,” she said.

MacLean grew into the independent woman her father hoped she would become.

“I like being able to boss the boys around,” she said, laughing.

In all seriousness, she enjoys the freedom that comes with owning a small business.

“I like knowing my next job is up to me,” she said. “I’m not depending on somebody else to give me a job or a paycheck. I like being independent.”

MacLean Gutters is based in Vermilion but services communities across Northwest Ohio. For more information, call 440-320-3510 or visit the MacLean Gutters Facebook page.