Tasmania is leading the pack in attracting female apprentices into construction, but much more work is needed to meet the state's construction targets.

Master Builders Tasmania chief executive officer, Matthew Pollock said the figure was a new high for Tasmania and compared with the national average of just 7.1 per cent.

"It shows that there's still more to do, obviously, and of course, we will be working hard to increase that number," Mr Pollock said.

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Recruiting more apprentices to don the "high vis" in the building and construction industry, and then keeping them, was vital if the state wanted to reach its ambitious goals in building homes and infrastructure, he said.

"Construction has been suffering from skill shortages for quite some time now and they've been more acute as the level of activity is increased."

"In order for us to have the workforce to build the pipeline ahead of us - the 30,000 homes and $16.5 billion dollars worth of infrastructure - we need to grow the construction workforce by 25% by 2025."

Among those stepping up to this challenge was Rebecca Vanderburg, a 4th-year carpenter and joiner apprentice, who originally didn't see the trades as a viable career option.

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"I just wanted to make spaces that made people happy. That was my dream. And I started drawing furniture when I was like 11 years old," she said.

"Everyone was saying go to university, that's what they were pushing you at school to do. And doing a trade - especially for a woman - was not even a thought. Like they made it feel like it was a downgrade," she said.

"So that was sort of a big leap for me to go into a trade without any support from my family or friends or anything like that - it was kind of me just taking a leap of faith and having a go."

After starting university in Canberra studying design arts with a major in fine furniture, she found out about apprenticeships after moving from Canberra to Tasmania.

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"I was doing a couple of jobs and one of the blokes that worked there said 'you should really look into this', and that's what pushed me to apply for an apprenticeship."

She said the dearth of women entering trades is partly about perceptions that construction is a "bloke's" domain.

"They don't see a lot of women on worksites, so they don't think about it as being something that they can do."

She said she has been to local schools to encourage youngsters to take up apprenticeships. Her advice?

"Have a go. At least doing work experience when you're at school is great."

The building industry has been under pressure recently, with the rising cost of supplies like timber and steel blamed for cutting profit margins and forcing some builders into the red.

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