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An amazing woman!

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An amazing woman!

Postby mailee » 09 Apr 2015, 20:32

Today I have been out fitting some pieces I made at a terraced cottage. One of the units is the tall corner cabinet I posted on here recently and as usual I was expecting problems with non square corners and had taken some trim strips to account for this. So I was astounded when it fitted perfectly into the corner which was completely square from top to bottom! :o Talking to the lady customer about this she informed me that she had done all of the walls, plastering, plumbing, and tiling! In fact she was a very capable trades person. I also had a boiler cabinet to fit in the kitchen and this was also the same with everything fitting in exactly! I have to say that the quality of this woman's work was better than I had seen from so called experts! I am sure my jaw dropped when she also told me she had tiled the roof, replaced some of the trusses and fitted new guttering! All in all she was a very knowledgeable woman. i got the boiler cabinet fitted, the corner cabinet in the bathroom and a door and frame on the landing today but will be returning in the morning to fit a small loft hatch and three small shaker doors to a cupboard. I will then take some photos of the work. I am however pleased to say she drew the line at fine woodwork as she said this was just beyond her, lucky for me or I wouldn't have got the work. :lol: My mate who was helping with the lifting said that's just the sort of woman he could do with. :lol:
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Re: An amazing woman!

Postby StevieB » 09 Apr 2015, 21:10

I don't mean to be rude, but if it was a bloke you were doing the work for would you have put up the same post with the title 'An amazing man!'? Is it the fact that everything was plumb that has astounded you, or the fact that it was done by a female? Fair play if the former, but if the latter then I fail to see why gender should determine someones skill at building. You may remember Alf from UKWorkshop a while ago. Alf was actually short for Alice Frampton but everyone assumed Alf was the name of a bloke. She wrote some excellent articles and was a mine of information on tools and hand tools in particular. Didn't half cause a stir when people found out Alf was a female called Alice and I never really understood why - females make up 50% of the population and there is very little they cannot do that men can, and much they do do men don't, can't or won't!

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Re: An amazing woman!

Postby Rob » 09 Apr 2015, 21:49

I think Mailee's text is balanced and respectful. I also think the fact the work was performed by a woman is unusual. The fact a woman is capable of producing quality work isn't the issue. The fact her gender is female isn't the issue. What's rare and therefore worthy of note is the fact that a woman is doing this kind of work because lets be just basic and honest, it's fairly unusual. It's not gender stereotyping in any way, just worthy of remark because it's out of the norm.
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Re: An amazing woman!

Postby mailee » 09 Apr 2015, 22:42

Yes Rob is correct. This woman is actually a teacher so this is not her employment. I had to admire her attention to detail and the fact that she had taken the time to ensure her work was first class and not just near enough. ;)
P.S. It was certainly a revelation even if it was a man as I have seen tradesmen's work that isn't half as good in the past.
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Re: An amazing woman!

Postby StevieB » 09 Apr 2015, 23:50

Fair play to you then! Wish someone with her skills had done my house - I am really struggling to tile a wall in the downstairs toilet at the moment it is that bowed :?

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Re: An amazing woman!

Postby Rod » 10 Apr 2015, 09:22

My elder daughter is pretty good at DIY - just as well as her husband is useless at anything practical and has a tendency to break anything he comes into contact with - microwaves, ovens etc etc!

My younger daughter recently employed a lady tiler who did an excellent job especially as she had to work round a crappy job left by a male plumber.

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Re: An amazing woman!

Postby Rob » 10 Apr 2015, 09:46

I think that on the odd occasion that women do enter the trades professionally they bring the "womans touch" to their work. They have all the necessary traits to make an excellent professional, attention to detail, an eye for design and often advanced social skills and an ability to actually converse with the client! With the possible exception of less physical strength for heavy lifting, they are ideally suited to parts of the trade and I think its a shame more don't enter. Were they to do so we might see a little less "builders bum" and a little more plumb!
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Re: An amazing woman!

Postby stephen.wood125 » 10 Apr 2015, 10:07

I think whoever plastered my house used the back of their hand!

It's a great lesson in working with complex angles when making built-ins!

It's actually at the point where I am going to have a room that was plastered 4 years ago, totally stripped and re-done.

:eusa-clap:
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Re: An amazing woman!

Postby Charlotte » 11 Apr 2015, 21:13

This is obviously something close to my heart, as some of you know, I work as a boat sparky. Women in trades are few and far between and it is a great shame that there is not more encouragement from a younger age. I know 3 other sparkies, 2 domestic, the other took her marine ticket with me and we were the first two to qualify. I know a tiler and a couple of decorators. All of us are "career changers" and I'm the only one without a degree. None of us took an apprenticeship/nvq training, none of use advertise and we all book up months in advance.

I have been working in a yard recently with an otherwise male workforce and I confess, i can't wait to be back in my van next week, despite the longer days travelling to jobs and not having power on site. I am probably slower than the guys, I'm also probably neater and more accurate. I think much further ahead, in part because I have to, where they can wiggle something into place, I'm off looking for a 6' iron bar! I think the other side of that though is a diligence....sometimes I feel under confident having not done a traditional training, I guess I overcompensate for it, although to be honest, my jobs tend to go according to plan, because I plan for it to go wrong in the first place and make sure I have back up plans in place. The "banter" of guys though....it's as repetitive as the crap radio!
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