"Her" Home Improvement
While I know this from personal experience, it may come as a shock to some men out there that women are playing an increasing role in Home Improvement — and not just selecting materials and designing, but also in actually doing the work. Those men who would be surprised by this have never met my wife — who is quite handy and involved in all phases of our home improvement projects… (Now, if I could only get her to write for this blog).
In fact, the Home Improvement Institute’s Home Page includes a link to buy a 127-page special report entitled The Role of Women in Home Improvement. That special report is $895. Since I don’t have that kind of spare change, I thought I’d look up online and see if anyone has any good information from it. Turns out, ToolGirl wrote on the topic back in November. She writes,
“Spending decisions made by the female HOH (head of household) account for 36.7% of all of the money spent on home improvement products. Whereas male HOHs only account for 25.5% of the cash spent. “
Of course, I’m not sure who accounts for the other 38%. Maybe it’s both of them deciding together. Or, maybe its their friends or family making decisions for them. Anyhow, her blog goes on to say that not only are women spending more of the money, they’re doing more of the projects. This has given rise to whole new product lines, including such great things as Pink Hammers. Some of these products are even marketed to support a good cause. The site I linked to here donates 10% of their profits to Breast Cancer Research.
What do you think? What role does the woman in your life play in your home improvements? If you *are* the woman in your life, let us guys know what you think. So far on our basement, Kim helped waterproof the block wall and build and install framing. I suspect she’ll continue to design and build on all of our future projects.
January 16th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
My wife has been willing to help and has helped with some things…unfortunately, though, with her pregnant the last 7.5 months, she really hasn’t helped that much over that period. But she’s always willing to learn.
January 17th, 2008 at 6:47 am
I have found that the general assumption is that women are not handy. Throughout our whole home inspection and “talking with contractors” process, the men have often asked me “is your husband handy”? Such an insult. I had to make the floor guy tell ME how to do the floor repairs. He just assumed I wasn’t wired that way. Such an insult.
My husband hates doing home repairs, but is cool with them for the moment as we’re saving lots of money. I will do what I’m capable of (painting, floor prep/repairs, wood refinishing, furniture repairs, vacumn cleaner repairs, caulking, etc.). I’m also the estimate gatherer, contractor interviewer, project researcher, site supervisor, work scheduler, supply procurement administrator, and other assorted things.
One quick story. When our handyman was remedying some active knot and tube wiring, he enlisted my 10 year old daughter to help fish the new wiring. It was one of my proudest Mama moments….that kid will never go hungry!
January 17th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Aileen,
I think its good that women are getting more involved and breaking the stereotype. My wife sort of rolled her eyes when I told her about the pink hammers. Not that she doesn’t like pink, but she doesn’t think that home improvement tools are really a fashion statement either.
Awesome about your 10-year old helping with home improvement. It turns out that women tend to buy houses of their own earlier than men - so I think women actually *doing* much of the handywork is going to increase.
January 17th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
If home improvement tools were to make a fashion statement, the Wonder Bar I got for Christmas wouldn’t even be able to be donated to charity as a “new or lightly used” item. I beat the HELL out of my tools…when I get to use them.
January 17th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
I’m sure I could just go look this up… but what *is* a “wonder bar” ?