Business Women in the Painting Trade

History reveals that it’s been a male dominated world since the beginning of time (until recently anyway). Women had no voting rights, they could not apply for bank loans, they had no part in decision making and if they had jobs, it meant long hours with very little pay (which was always much less than a man’s pay). ‘Women in Business’ was rarely heard of prior to the 19th century. If a woman didn’t have a husband and didn’t want to be a burden on society, the only businesses open to them were either brothels, taverns or alehouses. There were only a few women in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s that did manage to become very successful; Coco Chanel being one.

Early in the 20th century though, feminism began to make a real change in the female working climate, especially during World War II which marked a time when they entered the American workforce in large numbers. From 1940 to 1945, the percentage of working women rose by almost 10% due to male military enlistment which left gaps in the workforce. As years passed, more and more women were becoming independent and building multimillion dollar businesses. They had a voice of their own and didn’t need to rely on ‘men’ anymore.

So the reason for this article!

A few months back I caught up with two lovely ladies (Wendy Adams and Fiona Sharp) at a Dulux Accredited Conference in Perth. After meeting with them both I thought it would be interesting to write about how they became ‘Business Owners’. Not to stop there, I thought I would enlist two more ladies (Bindi Cohen and Lauren Eaton) from the ‘Women of Dulux Accredited’ Facebook page. These are four fascinating stories of ‘Women in Business’.

“My business partner Karen and I started our business nearly 10 years ago (I am on the right). We were both good mates and had looked into starting a totally different business together. This fell through a few weeks before settlement and we were both at a loose end as we had left our current jobs. Karen was working for someone managing back end financial and I was working in the family business doing front end, managing staff and clients. This combination of our previous jobs came together giving us the basis to simply start a business.

Neither of us had been painters before but we were very keen renovators and ‘hands on’ with tools. We were painting the living room of Karen’s daughters’ home one time because we were out of work and didn’t want to get too bored. I then had a friend who asked if we would paint their unit before it sold for some cash. We said, ‘Why not?’ From there we had a couple of other people ask us to quote their properties and it just took off from there. the gardening side of our business wasn’t really worth it financially but the painting side was. Karen and I worked really hard on our knowledge of the painting industry, the products, and our skill, and was always asking questions as we wanted to improve (which is something we still do as you can never know it all.) It was through this hard work and determination that we became ‘Dulux Accredited’ in 2014. We have ceased with the gardening part and now concentrate only on painting. We haven’t any staff as we have plenty of work for the two of us and to be honest, we have always been nervous to expand as, ‘No one does the job the way you do’.

On our website we are proud to mention, ‘Being an all women team we not only introduce a fresh attitude; we take the same care and consideration on every job and show a keen dedication and respect to our customers. We listen to you to ensure your painting needs are met every time, on time.’

At this stage I don’t have a family, but Karen has a clan that are now much older and nearly all of them are living out of home. When the kids were younger we always had an attitude that family comes first. What’s the point in working for yourself if you cannot be there for your family?”

Bindi Cohen & Karen Thomas Melbourne Tisc Painting and Decorating www.tiscpainting.com.au

We widened the scope of work and became ‘TISC Painting and Gardening’. It was going very well but as the years went on we found that

“I began my career originally in ‘Rope Access’ with a federal maintenance company. It only involved a bit of painting but I enjoyed it so much I decided then, I wanted a job with a rope access painting company. While working for this new company I was also doing my own work on weekends, painting houses etc. This gradually gave me the urge to learn all the aspects of painting and to get more experience. Then one day my sons’ football coach asked me to quote a school that his father did the maintenance at. As I have always been ambitious and had a business before (in the food industry) it was always in the back of my mind to start a painting company. So when the quote was accepted and the job was completed I decided, since I had outlaid so much to set the business up, I would use the money and keep it going. This happened in 2017.

Right now I have three staff and also have subcontractors working for me. Earlier in the year I had seven but I re-assessed what was good for my company and scaled down in order to have high quality staff producing exceptional results.

I am a single parent to two children ages thirteen and ten. It is challeng

ing juggling everything. Originally I thought having a business would give more time with the kids but it hasn’t turned out that way. However I do have the flexibility to take time off when I need to and as I work a lot at home, at least I am there with them. I have a nanny that comes three days a week to get them to school and to help with the washing. I also have an admin lady who I am trying to delegate a lot more work to, to free up some of my time at home.”

Lauren Eaton Sydney Sydney Rope Access Painters www.sydneyropeaccesspainters.com.au

“As a 16 year old girl in high school I had no idea what I wanted to do when I left school. One day I was asked by a friend of my mother’s if I’d like to be an apprentice painter. He had read in a Melbourne paper that a female had won an ‘Apprentice of the Year’ award. As he was in partnership, It took them a while to convince their wives that it would be a good idea to employ me. When you think back to 1986, it was a bold move to employ a girl as there were very few females in any trade, especially in a small country town in Victoria where males dominated all apprentices. So hats off to them for giving me a go. One of the

bosses (and his wife) comes to visit me every year and are super proud of what I’ve achieved.

My main reason for wanting to be a painter though was to prove to people I could do it. So many said, ‘It couldn’t be done’ and, ‘It’s too hard for a female’ and, ‘You won’t last’. I am proud to say that at the time, only one apprentice out of six had actually finished with my boss and I was to become their only second apprentice to complete their trade. Don’t get me wrong, it was very hard physically and being a sixteen year old girl, it did have its challenges. I like working with the boys (and men) which was another reason for me becoming a painter as I thought there would be less drama. You know where you stand with men, rather than working with ladies that can get ‘catty’ etc. Of course though, it was not all black and white as I found out when I started my own company in 2008 and found men can be a drama and ‘catty’ too, Ha! Ha! from the before and after process. A good paint job can make such a difference and I love seeing the clients’ happy face on completion.

I have a partner who is busy with their own work but sometimes helps me out with some office work, but basically I’m a solo managing director on the tools with no children to care for. I am my mother’s carer though who lives with us and requires to be driven to appointments and cook meals for, etc.

So it’s non-stop here at home and I must admit it can be a struggle to manage my business and personnel life. But I’m proud my four staff, three who have practically been with me from the start and couldn’t do it without. When I can’t be there I know they will look after the daily running of the jobs. I can count on them always being reliable and professional, and that’s why we have such a great reputation.”

90% of our work consists of new houses with a local builder. They are terrific to work for and have done so for the last twelve years while doing repaints in-between. The best part of my job is the satisfaction you get Fiona Sharp Cairns Look Sharp Painting & Decorating

office at home. We switched all the subbies to employees and I learnt how to use Microsoft Office, Excel and Quick-books; it was a very steep learning curve in bookkeeping with the applicable awards and payroll. It was tough losing my wage and the company car but we adjusted. It was a lot easier to manage the business from home and my family than it was when I was working as a rep.

“I met my husband Andrew in 1995. He had a painting business called ‘Scope Painting and Decorating’ and was working with a couple of painters. He gradually added to the team averaging about four to six painters. We bought a renovators delight house and moved in together with five children, my three and two of Andrews aged between eleven and fifteen.

At that time I was working full time as a Sales Representative for a hand tool company, this meant country trips, field days and trade nights so I wasn’t doing very much in the business.

In 1998 we had a surprise wedding at Andrew’s 40th party on a Saturday night but were back to work on the Monday as we had no time or money for a honeymoon. Andrew continued on his own with me helping occasionally with doing quotes on the computer and some invoicing.

In 2000, with the introduction of GST and struggling with full time work with anything up to six to seven kids at home, I joined the business full time working from an Our business grew and we changed our structure to a company. Our employees increased to twenty three over the coming years until we decided bigger wasn’t better, dropping back to around seven to eight. I was doing all the admin work, emailing quotes, invoices, financials, BAS, IAS, the ATO reports, all payroll, training and safety. I completed Certificate 4 in OH&S and worked on our policies etc, as well as putting together our SWMS.

At the time I was doing the books for three other businesses for a few years as well. Andrew was doing all the actual quoting, running the jobs and the guys and he would tell me what to invoice etc. I learnt a little over the years about painting and what products to use where and a little about quoting just from writing up the quotes and talking to Andrew. Andrew’s two sons Travis and Shaun worked for us on and off. He had always wanted Travis to take over the business when he retired and had started taking him out when he was quoting but Travis wasn’t really interested at that time.

Andrew’s death from a heart attack in October 2017 was very unexpected and I was not prepared for it; none of us were. We were busy at the time and had a big job that had to be finished in just over a week, so we had to keep going. Travis stepped up and took on Andrew’s role and with the help of all our guys we completed it on time. It was very difficult to deal with his death and all the legalities that go with that and deal with the business as well. In some ways it was helpful in keeping me busy but it was stressful at the same time.

I was very fortunate to have a lot of love and support from our children, family and friends. So many offered help; our builders, Dulux and Craig Lallard from Dulux Accredited. I was working thirty hours a week for Andrew’s son-in-law’s electrical business at the time as well, so I had two lots of payroll and bookkeeping to get done every week. I continued doing that until May 2018 when we hired a lady to take over from me in the electrical business so I could focus on Scope Painting. It was another couple of months while I trained her though before I could fully focus on Scope.

The first quote we had to do from plans was awful. I knew very little and Travis even less and after a few phone calls we managed to get it together and it was not surprising we didn’t win it. So after that I did an ‘Advanced Estimating Course’ with Jim Baker and I wouldn’t say I’m a pro at it but I am winning quotes and doing well with the jobs. Although I distinctly remember freaking out when I won the first one and wondered if I was too cheap! It turned out I was on the money and that gave me a huge boost of confidence. So I am doing all quoting off plans, sometimes with Travis’ help as he is the painter and sometimes I just don’t know how long it takes to paint some things.

I’m doing all the admin work, safety, teaching Travis about managing a business and employees and I’m currently learning to use a take-off software program. Travis does all the quoting of repaints, runs the guys and the job sites and he is now the face of ‘Scope Painting’ now to our clients. This last financial year has been pretty tough for us. We have both had a lot to learn about quoting and have made a few mistakes, but we’ve learned from those and haven’t repeated them as yet.

I really didn’t appreciate the depth of knowledge and experience that Andrew had and Travis and I have both wished he had taught us more. I wanted to continue the business as Andrew’s legacy and Travis wanted the same thing. Travis is my succession plan, though I’m still working on what that looks like. Our children are now aged from 31 to 40, so even though it’s just me and my dog at home now, I’m often called upon to do the drop off and pick up at school with our six grandchildren or on occasions to look after them. I’m still finishing the renovation of my current home along with trying to manage 2500m2 block that is all garden. Some days it’s hard and I ask myself ‘Am I doing the right thing for me?’

Painting was never my passion, but on most days I’m proud of myself for doing this.”

Adelaide Wendy Adams Scope Painting and Decorating www.scopepainting.com.au

The great, Tom Jones made famous the song ‘It’s a Man’s Man’s World’ in 1967. It’s about how man made the car, the plane, the train, the electric light, boats for the water and also that man was the one that made the money. After singing the praises of mans’ achievement, he follows with the meaningful words of, ‘but it wouldn’t mean nothing without a women or a girl’. Well ladies speaking for myself (and hopefully all men), I am sorry it took 40,000 years for you to be recognised. You are truly a great force in this world and I am thankful you have brought us men into line and to our senses. You can all be proud to and sing out loud ‘Helen Reddy’s’ 1972’s hit song, ‘I am woman’.

(PS. I would like to sincerely thank all these ladies for letting me share their stories on how they made a success in business, especially to Wendy who was thrown in the deep end from the unfortunate passing away of her husband Andrew.)

Jim Baker MyTools4Business