Ladies with hand skills: work that needs doing!

I am in a pissy mood today. The landlord of this rental we live in sent over a plumber to do some stuff. I'll spare you the rant.

Ladies with good hand skills might REALLY consider going into the small home repairs and maintence business. I think there needs to be more competition out there, so we can choose who we want to hire.

There's a SERIOUS niche here that needs filling!! I know I'm not the only one who has no one they want to call. I do my own work, because of this, just don't have time/give a damn to do this project, figured I'd get the landlord to do it, I do most of the work at this rental myself and never bother her about it. Now I remember why.

I'm in a very small town, which makes it hard, who else are you going to call? It costs a lot to get someone from the bigger town 40 miles away. This area has a lot of older women, who can't do small things by themselves, even things like move the furniture so it can be cleaned under, fix this drawer that won't open, change the door locks, etc. There is a niche for even a part time person who will do what needs doing, who is competent and willing to do good work. Consider your area, I bet this niche is there too!!

Pearl, so sorry you have this happening!  We had a underground pipe from the well into the house break underneath the concrete slab this summer.  It was a circus since we had to deal with the insurance company and the people they chose to use.  

It stinks when you have no choice. Maybe you can start biling the landlord for being your own repair person. Hope they at least got things fixed for you.

Great idea, Pearl.  There are so many handyman type jobs that woman can do. And too few men that want those kind of jobs.

I always thought that painting and wallpapering would be good trades for women.

There are a lot of little old ladies that would feel more comfortable calling a women to do things they can't do.  You know those silly little chores around the house.  A jammed drawer that won't shut.  A door that won't open.  I could name several more!

When we bought this house the old plumbing had blown out from freezing and neither of us were up to doing the work.  We hired someone local who's past reputation was great, more recently not so great.  He came and did half ass work while his ex wife 'covered' for him.  She was the one who did all the work in the crawl space that was barely twelve inches in places.  She came back and fixed his leaky joins and cleaned up his muddy messes.  I would hire her to do more work but she's not the one with the license.  We've since found someone else who is reliable and who does good work and is licensed.

Tina Hillel wrote: Maybe you can start billing the landlord for being your own repair person.

I do. She pays me without complaint. I just don't have time or energy for this right now. I hate spending energy I'm short on doing maintenance on a rental that has more issues than is worth coping with.

Anne Miller wrote:  There are so many handyman type jobs that woman can do. And too few men that want those kind of jobs.

I always thought that painting and wallpapering would be good trades for women.

There are a lot of little old ladies that would feel more comfortable calling a women to do things they can't do.  You know those silly little chores around the house.  A jammed drawer that won't shut.  A door that won't open.  I could name several more!

Exactly!  There's a big niche here for women, that few seem to be exploring....

Judith Browning wrote: She came back and fixed his leaky joins and cleaned up his muddy messes.  I would hire her to do more work but she's not the one with the license.

And that's exactly my point, she was paying attention and doing it well. She doesn't have to be a full plumber, with the complete training etc, to have been competent at what she did. There's a niche for competent. There's a lot of things that don't require full training, and lots of things that require no license. As well as good jobs in the stuff that does have those requirements.

I have thought for years that if I cared to do it I could run a business "Girls with Gloves" that would do whatever. I just am not at that point in my life right now, I have too much going on. I have got to get a house built so I can get out of this rental that I dislike, and be on my property that I love.

I forgot to mention that the 'plumbers helper' I mentioned above is also a carpenter/builder with a great reputation...her work with her ex was to try to keep him from losing his plumbers license.

No reason at all that women can't do the job's that are typically 'men's work' if that's what they want to do.  

My cousin was a diesel mechanic for many years...she loved big trucks

Judith Browning wrote:

No reason at all that women can't do the job's that are typically 'men's work' if that's what they want to do.  

I have done "men's work" for years That's always interesting.... I take a lot of crap from men for it.

The more I think on it, I think we need to redefine "potential job opportunities" to include a LOT of things women have always done if they are used to dealing with things in their own life, and make that a niche that women know exists as a paying skill set.  

You don't have to want to deal with diesels to do at home oil changes, and you don't have to be able to build a whole addition to put the trim back on that came off... There's a different level here that needs a word. Someone clever make up a word for this!! Home repairs lite, maybe?

You don't have to want to deal with diesels to do at home oil changes, and you don't have to be able to build a whole addition to put the trim back on that came off... There's a different level here that needs a word. Someone clever make up a word for this!!

Someone clever will find you a word I'm sure  
What comes to my mind is the very gender oriented 'handyman'...I'm not sure 'handywoman' would catch on?

A 'jack of all trades'  or a 'jill of all trades'

No inspiration here....

Was thinking on this as I cleaned the chicken coop...
I think I'll spin off a secondary thread: What do women do all the time that people would pay for? Trying to skip obvious ones, looking more for skills that something like an older woman would pay for...
And here it is!
Things most women do easily that can be paying work

I liked “Girls With Gloves”. Very clever. 😄

You do have to be careful with the wording though, if you don’t want to constantly deflect all the jocularity that comes of automatically assuming the “oldest profession.” Too bad we think that way, but we do. Women haven’t historically done handyman work because men wanted to do it and to be competent at it, fill a need, support their families... that sort of thing is rather out of fashion at the moment—frowned upon actually, in many cases. Too bad, because everyone suffers when half the human race feels (and acts) as though their contributions are unneeded... as though they have no obligation and no hope of even wanting to be needed. But I’m getting too philosophical. Look up Jordan Peterson (men) on YouTube if you’re interested in a well-thought-out analysis as to why things may have come to this pass.

Yes, ladies can certainly do the repairs. Sadly regulations, lawyers, a litigious society, the tax man... it all requires that you don’t just hang up a sign and go to work. Licensing, bonding, insurance, tax number... LLC Protect yourself and your home and family before you take that first job. It’s not enough to be able to do a good job. Should be, but it isn’t.

I love plumbing!  It's like a big adventure looking for treasure in the hidden parts of the home where no one goes.

I do all the plumbing in the house and am teaching my friend how to change her facet for a Christmas Present.  The only problem is she thinks it's going to be difficult and will probably be disappointed when she discovers how easy it is.

I like the definition here for Girl Friday

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Girl%20Friday

Extra bonus, I can't think of ways to twist the meaning offhand.😀


Edit to add link

Tina Hillel wrote:I like the definition here for Girl Friday

Urban Dictionary Link wrote: a girl who does most of the leg work on a project, but never takes (or gets) credit.

Oh, I dislike THAT part.... We need to take credit for what we do!!
The world wouldn't run well without us.

I'm the plumber in our household.  I'm a lady.  :)

I'm the plumber in mine too.
What a plumber got called for was I told the landlady the water heater needs flushing out, it makes horrible noises at night, but that new Pergo floor you put in just before we got here, that you are so pleased with (that we hate, but that's a different issue) is installed in such a way that it will take damage if the water heater drips even a little bit when it's flushed. I don't want to be the one who ruins the floor, I'm putting a lot of work into NOT ruining that floor, what should I do? She sent a plumber, who said all water heaters make horrible noises in the night (really? like it sounds like people with prybars are removing the garage door quality noises?) and that as far as protecting the Pergo, "there's nothing I can do about that" um. put a drip tray or something under it?
I just don't want to mess with it this week, and it's getting really rowdy in the night. But I don't want to see the new floors get damaged either.

Last time we got him in for a leak, he did this and that, and after he left I gave up and fixed it. Sigh. I don't want to spend half my day dealing with this place, when I need the time to deal with OUR house. Which is being designed right, so there AREN'T problems like this. Water heaters get a drain by them, and not placed where they will damage stuff easily. Pipes are designed to be easily accessible and easy to repair. I hate bad design, and I hate putting time and energy into dealing with it. This house is nothing but bad design, and it burns a lot of energy to deal with it as is. Personally, I don't like that someone cut oversized holes for the pipes up from the crawlspace, then didn't flash them, then put cabinets over it, which have space under them. Can you say mouse freeway? And there's nothing I can do to stop it. I've spent many hours doing all kinds of creative things, and the mice still run across the stove...

end rant
I need to find something positive to think about.

Pearl Sutton wrote:IShe sent a plumber, who said all water heaters make horrible noises in the night (really? like it sounds like people with prybars are removing the garage door quality noises?)  

Um, my electric hot water heater is right next to my bedroom, and I have NEVER heard a sound from that thing. It's nearly 20 years old, too...

Personally, I don't like that someone cut oversized holes for the pipes up from the crawlspace, then didn't flash them, then put cabinets over it, which have space under them. Can you say mouse freeway? And there's nothing I can do to stop it.  

foamy mouse blocker

Mike Barkley wrote:
foamy mouse blocker

Did that. Did many other things. I think the walls behind/under the cabinet are not closed in either. The countertop is bolted on well, and I'm NOT going to gut this place. I'm working on getting us out!!

Pearl Sutton wrote:

Tina Hillel wrote:I like the definition here for Girl Friday

Urban Dictionary Link wrote: a girl who does most of the leg work on a project, but never takes (or gets) credit.

Oh, I dislike THAT part.... We need to take credit for what we do!!
The world wouldn't run well without us.

Yeah, that part, just no. 🙄 I was too focused on capable of almost anything and could be counted on parts.

The update on the plumber nonsense:
He came, flushed the tank, it didn't need it, so he replaced an element and it's quiet now. So much for "all water heaters make noise all night..."
Good outcome, but total irritation from the plumber.
Get certified if you are looking for a career!! :) The competition is easy to beat!

Judith Browning wrote:I forgot to mention that the 'plumbers helper' I mentioned above is also a carpenter/builder with a great reputation...her work with her ex was to try to keep him from losing his plumbers license.

No reason at all that women can't do the job's that are typically 'men's work' if that's what they want to do.  

My cousin was a diesel mechanic for many years...she loved big trucks

One of my sisters was an electrician -- she was one of the first two licensed journeywomen electricians in Oregon.  She stopped when she got married, so she could raise and homeschool their daughters, but still has the skills.

I think the handyman thing is a great idea.  We had a good, reliable handyman in Oregon, a friend from church who survives by working odd jobs mostly under the table.  Here in Kentucky we are still finding the people we need -- did find a good plumber, thankfully, as the house needed a bunch of work when we moved in.  I need an electrician soon, and there are all kinds of other jobs that need to be done.  I can do the small things, but won't touch electrical stuff.

Kathleen

Judith Browning wrote:

You don't have to want to deal with diesels to do at home oil changes, and you don't have to be able to build a whole addition to put the trim back on that came off... There's a different level here that needs a word. Someone clever make up a word for this!!

Someone clever will find you a word I'm sure  
What comes to my mind is the very gender oriented 'handyman'...I'm not sure 'handywoman' would catch on?

A 'jack of all trades'  or a 'jill of all trades'

No inspiration here....

I'm not sure why the "man/men" can't be replaced by "person". If handyperson or businessperson are not good, enough, ask yourself why not.

Skip the gender reference altogether, and call them a "household technician" or "repair technician".

Mike Barkley wrote:

Personally, I don't like that someone cut oversized holes for the pipes up from the crawlspace, then didn't flash them, then put cabinets over it, which have space under them. Can you say mouse freeway? And there's nothing I can do to stop it.  

foamy mouse blocker

Sadly, my experience has been that the mice eat this, too, lol!

I think a good female handyman would have a definite niche.  There are a lot of older gals living alone who would be more comfortable with an woman they don't know working in the house rather than a guy they don't know.

I've heard 'Jill of all trades' used as a term for the female equivalent of a handyman going back to the 70's at least.  It works.  It is immediately apparent that this is a gal who has fix-it skills.

When I hear the term 'handyman' I do assume it's a guy, because most handymen are male.  I may be politically incorrect, but if I call a plumber or auto mechanic I am a little surprised if they turn out to be female.  Realistically, most jobs can be done by either sex, (even with something that requires a lot of muscle, you can put 2 or 3 people on it.  Even with all of the brouhaha over the last several decades, many jobs are still mainly the realm of a single sex.   It turns out this is often because the other sex just is less interested in doing the job.  My son is working on a PHD and did a study on why there aren't more women in the math related fields.  He tells me that it turns out that the gals who are really good at math tend to be even better at language skills and move into better paying, non-math fields.  (Not so much prejudice, etc keeping them out, they just have better options).

One of the problems with language is that a word often has multiple meanings, sub-meanings, etc.  As I understand it, a horse is technically an adult male, while a mare is a female.  Even so, when we refer to 'horses' we are usually not just talking about the males, we use the 'male' term as a general description for the species.  Same thing with the word 'hawk', only in that case, the hawk is the word for a female of the species.  (I think it's generally whichever one is larger, but it's not real consistent).  People get wound up about terms like 'mankind', which is generally a generic word.  We could, I guess, go to 'personkind', but it's an extra syllable and a little clumsy.  Probably not going to happen.  Handyman works to describe a woman handyman, but 'Jill of all trades' emphasises her gender, which will probably give her an edge in some markets.

I am fully in favor of people knowing how to do things.  I know a young man who told me 'I don't need to know anything about cars, I make money so I can hire someone else to do that work".  Knowing how doesn't mean you have to do the job.  You are still free to hire someone, but it leaves you an option the willfully ignorant don't have.  Options are always a good thing.  It also allows you to more easily see when you are dealing with a rip-off artist or someone who is simply incompetent.

A young gal can do most of the things a guy can do.  I have decided the term 'the weaker sex' is more aptly aimed at the 40+ year old mothers.  Eventually, if we live long enough, all of us, (male or female) get to the point where we are no longer able to do the heavy labor.  Some people get there sooner than others, often because of damage to their bodies from work or accidents.  From what I've seen, women who have born several children, (pregnancies are very hard on the body) often have more health problems as they grow older than their male counterparts. I view their condition kind of like I view a fireman's burn scars or a veteran's prosthetics.  These are all damage they received to their bodies doing difficult, dirty jobs serving others.

Mick Fisch wrote:

A young gal can do most of the things a guy can do.  I have decided the term 'the weaker sex' is more aptly aimed at the 40+ year old mothers.  Eventually, if we live long enough, all of us, (male or female) get to the point where we are no longer able to do the heavy labor.  Some people get there sooner than others, often because of damage to their bodies from work or accidents.  From what I've seen, women who have born several children, (pregnancies are very hard on the body) often have more health problems as they grow older than their male counterparts. I view their condition kind of like I view a fireman's burn scars or a veteran's prosthetics.  These are all damage they received to their bodies doing difficult, dirty jobs serving others.

Nah!  It's not age or number of children.  I'm 65 and had three children.  I can work rings around the younger generation.  And that includes heavy labor like moving rocks.  I've been blessed with fortunate genes.

Ruth Meyers wrote:

Nah!  It's not age or number of children.  I'm 65 and had three children.  I can work rings around the younger generation.  And that includes heavy labor like moving rocks.  I've been blessed with fortunate genes.

Ruth, you truly are blessed and I'm glad to see that acknowledged and respected. I am built fine boned with small hands and there are many tools that I physically cannot grip safely enough to use. I do not have broad enough shoulders to get the leverage that many other people the same height as me can get. Despite that, I do what I can. It took me a while to convince hubby that just because he could use brawn to do something, didn't make it better than my suggestion which used brains to compensate for a lack of brawn. It simply had never occurred to him to bother, even though he's a really smart guy. Now that he's over 65 and slowing down a bit, his appreciation for my point of view has improved.

As for the principle of teaching both sexes practical life skills and getting rid of the North American love affair with "white collar jobs" and denigration of "blue collar jobs", both would be a big hit with me. Being an out-lier on the wimpy side of things, I recognize that there will always be jobs that statistically are more suitable for a particular sex of human being, but I'm equally aware (particularly when hubby needs me to stick my skinny arm in a crack to loosen an electric wire so he doesn't have to make the hole in the wall twice the size) that there are huge overlaps when a specific human and a specific job are in question.

An excellent program I saw a video on was an organization which ran classes in an Arab country specifically teaching married women home plumbing repairs. As a group, they did great. In the country they were in, a woman was not allowed to let a male repair person into their home if their husband was not present. By teaching women these skills, they became a more valuable member of their home and their extended family.

Here in Canada there's been a push to get more women into "trades" courses in Community Colleges. These are generally 2-3 year programs which grant a diploma. Unfortunately, students often need apprenticeships which in male dominated fields, may be harder to get. We've made "paper" progress in limiting sexual harassment, but it is definitely not dead, and as mentioned above, isn't isolated to men hassling women. We need to keep working on teaching *all* people "civilized" behavior, and respecting *all* people regardless of their strengths or weaknesses. Teaching our children to respect everyone, even if they don't "like" them, or don't have things in common with them, would go a long way to improving life.

That's actually something my husband tried to convince me to do when I stayed home. I was too afraid of all those people who refuse to be happy no matter what to consider it. I would certainly prefer to hire a woman. When we had our wood stove being installed I was home with our daughter and 2 men. That's a scary thing for a woman to deal with. Plus the whole talking down to me thing.

Right now I'm doing a little DIY on the house.  We had some professionals in to solve the reason why the wall was cracking, but I didn't want to pay them to do all the cosmetic stuff.

It's a huge job repairing and updating the room.  When you look at the whole job, it's tremendous.  We got to dismantle the old, repair, plaster, patch the walls, paint, install trim, and update the switches and plugs.  I don't know many if any people in my real-world daily life who would be willing to do this.  They just work harder to earn money and hire a team to do the work.

But break it down into steps, there is no one step that is difficult.  No one step is a lot of work.  The steps are tiny.  Do each step individually as well as possible, and the next step flows.

There are two things I love about doing the work myself.
1. No strangers in the house
2. I can take the time to do it right and re-do it again if it isn't right.  

I wouldn't want to do this every day, but knowing that I can do it myself is so satisfying!  If I can do this, anyone can do this.  

Army veteran 67n.
FAA Licensed A&P air frame and power plant mechanic. I'm in North San Diego County.
Looking to work at a remote airport where open minded folks would allow a permaculture enviroment to flourish, to possibly reversing any old decontamination land. Like very soon.