I wish I could always give my business to women

[bitesthedust]

I’m doing some works in my house - getting quotes.

Contractor 1 - male - came in, took photos and measurements, said job would be done in 2 weeks and never sent me a quote

Contractor 2 - male, came in, same as above, sent me an extortionate quote I nearly had a heart attack and gave up on the project

Contractor 3 - male - after appt and address confirmed, instead of coming himself, he sent two mates, who had a look around, discussed with each other in a foreign language and then gave me a quote 6k cheaper than contractor 2 and two weeks to get the job done

Contractor 4 - male, came in, took measurements, explained everything, job would take 2.5 weeks and sent quote £200 cheaper than contractor 3 but can only start in one week’s time

At this point I nearly cave in but still had my very last contractor to check

Contractor 5 - female - came in, took pictures, took notes, advised me on colour, gave me ideas, showed me pictures - can start straight away, job will get done in 5 days AND is £700 cheaper than contractor 4.

OMG
Were the males taking the f* piss? Overcharging because I have no man at home talking to them and clearly not very savvy on all this?

Anyone ever experienced anything similar?

Lowest quote may not be a realistic quote. OP should have an idea how much her project should cost. To have top and bottom quotes so far apart is a bit concerning, but not enough detail to say for sure.

In addition, sexism in the industry may be forcing the female contractor to undercut male contractors just to get work and accepting this lower price as your due is perpetuating this inequality which could end up forcing her to leave the industry.

As a feminist, I’d want to ensure I’m paying her a fair price for her work.

It's up to the contractor to set a fair price for herself. All the client can do is get a range of quotes and pick one.

I've put contracts out to tender and received massively different estimates. The price quoted depends on so many factors - eg whether it's a big firm with an office to maintain or a sole trader, what hours they want to work, their level of experience - as well as the amount of profit they want to make from the job.

If she does that, she won’t get enough work because of sexism.
How is it you don’t understand this?

How do you think the gender pay gap exists in the self employed sector?
Women are put under economic duress to offer and accept lower prices just to get a foot in the door.

A client can actually do a bottoms up costing and agree on a higher estimate. That is if they are interested in being fair and reversing historic inequalities woth a bit of direct feminist action.

But if they are selfish and wish to participate in the economic duress of women in trades then they can tell themselves there is nothing they can do and laugh all the way to the bank.

Me too. I’ve done all kinds of contracts. It’s not unusual too that for a high value contract, I’d get a low ball offer that was unrealistically low and was purely to try and win the contract with an eye to plead for amendments to increase the costs down the line.

It’s too much of a coincidence that the estimates OP got were in that exact price to source order.

Bit of a reach, there.

Funny is that I’m a foreigner immigrant from a 3rd world country however I would never speak in my own language with people from my country in front of others who can’t understand but should be part of the conversation - nevermind a potential client

By the way, I’m also brown and have curly hair👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾

I didn’t have any idea how much this project would cost but after getting quotes and researching a bit, I believe that the fcontractor I chose has realistic quotes - the work is basic tbh

She has been in business for over 10 years and does many other unrelated things as self employed so it is not her main job

We will see and I shall give updates

I felt exactly the same way, but I live in a small town and in 30 years never came across a female in the building trade.

This changed last year when I found a local female painter and decorator who had been in the trade for 30 years.

I employed her to redecorate my staircase walls. I was very pleased with the finish. However I was less than impressed that she dripped pale coloured paint onto my dark stair carpet at many places all over the stairs and landings; also where she had done bits of sanding and scraping she had not hoovered up after herself, which every male decorator that I have ever employed has always done.

My other gripe was that she repeatedly chatted at me about her cat and other personal matters unrelated to the job, but because I was paying her by the hour all the time she was chatting i was paying her and also she was keeping me from my work (I work from home).

Sorry to say I would never have her back again and so it's back to male decorators for me.

If you live in the London area you could always look into Task Her.
I heard about it on the Parenting Hell podcast I was listening to yesterday.

I first worked on site in 1992 as a setting out Engineer, only female not admin. I was told never to admit if I could touch type because I'd be in the typing pool if any clerical woman at all went sick.
Every bloke on site told me if they'd ever experienced any kind of role done by a woman.
Surveyor once on a bridge
A plumber working with her dad
A QS on a housing project
And my completely different job and ability was judged by that

So depressingly few.
It's got better, so much better. But I've basically had a love/hate revolving door career dipping in and out.

If your plumber is shit, he's shit, other better plumbers are available. And everyone's anecdote stops there.
Sadly we're still at the level that if your woman plumber was shit, than a woman electrician/plaster/fitter is 'contaminated' by a one rotten apple in a small barrel.
Everytime I go back into engineering I get a total emotional buzz from how much I love it, then the gender grind just wears me out.

Please report back, I really hope she's amazing. And any Devon/Cornwall border woman trades - get in touch, I've got a project coming up and you can have the radio loud and I won't judge your jam/cream on scone spreading

Good points, EngineerThat. I remember when I was the only woman doing a techie job, one of my colleagues said 'It must be hard for you - if us blokes mess up a job, it's because we messed up. If you mess up a job, it's because women can't do the job.'
He had nailed it, and I told him I was going to nominate him for the Nobel Prize for Feminism

Hope, clearly this wasn't directed at YOU, it's a secret amongst all lesbians, similarly to how.we get a new microwave when we come out.

😂

A microwave? is that all you got? I got a top-of-the-range 9L Dual Air Fryer, 3L+6L XL Capacity Dual Zone Digital Air Fryer. And a gold star

What, no Subaru??