Michelle Mueller always brings a little extra to the job.

As a woman, she can’t help it.

“We bring a different perspective on things,” said Mueller, project manager for Sabatini Architects, designer of the Hobbs Taylor Lofts project at the corner of Eighth and New Hampshire streets in downtown Lawrence.

“We work for better communication. It’s our inclination to ask questions, and make sure we get the answers, and get everybody to the table and work things out. (The guys) in the trades, they find it a lot easier to just focus on their own things, but we’re much more relational, trying to be more inclusive.

“Maybe it’s the familial aspect.”

And Dean Davis welcomes the new perspective.

As general superintendent for Harris Construction Co. Inc., the project’s general contractor, Davis brings a long history of hands-on work and site management. And he’s never seen such a large contribution — and new perspectives — from women on a project.

Forty-five years ago, as a general laborer on the Palmateer Dam project near Lake of the Ozarks, Davis brushed steel, shoveled dirt and hauled materials alongside a couple hundred workers without ever seeing a single woman sporting a hard hat, work gloves or a clipboard.

Now he has six women checking in with him throughout each week — from the project engineers for electrical, mechanical and plumbing work to his very own project assistant, who ensures that all the coordinated pieces of the high-rising project stay on track.

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“It’s just a sign of the times,” Davis said, and he’s seen the payoff.

The women he’s working with — Mueller and Katie Wirth and Katie Nichols, of Sabatini Architects; Sarah Garcia, of Huxtable & Associates; Laura Blanchard, of Hoss & Brown Engineers; and Jamie Knippschild, of Harris — all bring a capable, educated, meticulous and committed approach to the project.

Just like he’d expect, but doesn’t always get, from men.

“Women are more poised to see that it’s done right, to see that something’s not falling through,” Davis said recently, reviewing project plans and coordinating operations from inside his construction trailer on the site. “Sometimes men — they get started on a job, and they want to see it get done as fast as possible.

“Women, I don’t know if they’re more aggressive, but they want to make sure it gets done right. I think it’s because it’s a new role for them, and they’re trying to compete in a man’s world.”

The National Association of Women in Construction expects women to continue making inroads on job sites like the one in Lawrence. The association predicts that 250,000 people will need to be trained in the construction industry during the next four years, to keep up with retirements of baby boomers and to satisfy expected growth in construction, said Nancy A. Eaton, association president.

“We need to go out there and get those replacements,” she said.

The Hobbs Taylor crew is busy doing its part.

Blanchard is no stranger to such projects, having already worked on commercial jobs throughout the region. But for others, the Hobbs Taylor Lofts offers an unprecedented chance to be a part of a prominent, groundbreaking effort that is transforming the downtown skyline.

Other project leaders see it as symbolic that the project — bringing upscale condos, office space and a street-level bank to the edge of downtown, rising four and five stories above New Hampshire Street — is being led by such a team of motivated women.

Then again, seeing women working throughout the job site has been a bit of a shock for the dozens of subcontractors busy on the job. Wes Harrison, an assistant superintendent for Harris, said that he didn’t have a problem with the gender differences, although he’s noticed a few changes around the site.

“Some people are still stuck in their old ways,” he said, as workers recently applied tar to the roof. “But you still deal with them in the same manner and same respects — other than you have to walk around and make sure everybody watches their language.”

Blanchard, now in her seventh year, doesn’t like to dwell on her gender on the job. She walks through the site with a sense of purpose, checking openings for plumbing and trading schedules with fellow project managers.

“I don’t think of being a woman,” she said. “Every project’s a challenge, whether you’re working with a male or a female. It’s all the same.”