The Costco Connection - February 2016

Fix it like a girl

Handywoman Jo Ellen Soesbee empowers women with DIY

By Michele Wojciechowski

AFTER WORKING FOR more than 20 years as a secretary, Costco member Jo Ellen Soesbee of Pasadena, Maryland, took a college class in 2002 that changed her career path and her life in ways she never could have imagined.

Assigned to write a business plan for class, Soesbee, now 58, crafted one about a handyman business and included all the services she thought clients should get but often didn’t, such as handling small projects, cleanup after the work is completed and basic courteousness.

A lightbulb went off. Soesbee hadn’t even touched a hammer or a saw before then, but she and her then-husband, Russell, used that business plan to start her first company, Reliable Repairs, in 2004. By 2008, she had eight retired contractors working with her, doing home repairs.

Soesbee had found her passion—home improvement—and with it a way for her to inspire and motivate other women.

A female contractor?

In 2012, after Soesbee and her husband split up, she closed Reliable Repairs and founded ToolBox TomGirl ( toolboxtomgirl.com), a home improvement company. In addition to doing repair and remodeling projects, Soesbee’s business (made up of men and women) provides facility maintenance for six local companies in Maryland.

While she and her company will do the smaller
jobs that larger contractors don’t want to do—like
backsplashes, painting, minor drywall repair,
replacing or fixing doorknobs, hanging shelves and
the like—ToolBox TomGirl also does major home
remodeling, including kitchens and bathrooms,
shed assembly, decks and carports.
Soesbee admits that while finding her passion
for home improvement has been great, it hasn’t been
easy. “Being a woman in construction is a challenge.
I have guys who won’t talk to me,” she says. “As
opposed to getting defensive, I often laugh it off.”
That’s exactly what she did recently when she
arrived at a client’s store to assess some plumbing
work. While she was checking it out, she received a call
from the company for whom she was providing the
service. “Jo Ellen, I want you to know what this guy at
Home
improvement
do’s and
don’ts

JO ELLEN SOESBEE has a few tips for the potential DIY-er.

• Read about or take classes in home improvement, available at community colleges or hardware stores. Soesbee’s favorite magazines are The Family Handyman Magazine (the familyhandyman.com) and Qualified Remodeler ( qualifiedremodeler.com).

• Purchase basic tools: a hammer, pliers, level, tape measure, stud finder, a set of wrenches and a set of screwdrivers. Test the hammer’s weight; women’s hammers usually weigh 13 to 16 ounces.

• Build confidence with easy projects like drywall repair, changing a doorknob or installing a backsplash. Don’t start with floor or wall tile—it’s much harder than you think.

• Leave the electricity to a professional electrician.

• Make sure you have all the tools and supplies you need before starting a job. Watch You Tube videos, making sure they include all the steps necessary to complete the project.