A Maryland woman who found herself in over her head with a fixer-upper turned her frustration into a thriving business – and now teaches women home repair skills they never thought they would master. News4’s Susan Hogan reports.
A Maryland woman who found herself in over her head with a fixer-upper turned her frustration into a thriving business – and teaches women home repair skills they never thought they would master.
Tisha Grant’s journey started with trial and error after she got divorced and bought a home.
“I said, ‘I’m going to figure it out. I’m going to try and do some of this stuff myself,’” she said.
Grant watched countless tutorials and got to work.
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“I was literally in there hammering everything out, knocking down the walls, pulling out the carpet, because I didn’t have the money to pay,” she said.
She documented her journey on social media. Before she knew it, messages started pouring in.
“People kept asking me questions about, ‘Where did you learn this stuff? How did you learn this? Where can I learn this?’ And I realized there was a hole in the market. There was no place for women, women of color, to learn these types of skills,” she said.
Grant launched her company, The ContractHer, and bought herself a pink truck to make sure everyone knew she was driving the business.
She teaches three-day courses to mostly women. Students learn how to tackle home projects, from basic plumbing and electrical work to tiling and painting.
The goal is to give women the confidence and skills they need so they don’t feel dependent on someone else to do the job.
“My other goal is to learn more so I can keep my house up and keep money in my pocket,” student Veronica Moore said.
From self-doubt to self-made success, Grant said she’s living proof that with a little determination and the right tools, anything is possible.
“For most people, especially women, your home is going to be the single greatest investment that you ever have. Why shouldn’t we know how to protect it and upkeep it?” she said.
Learning the skills to tackle home projects can save homeowners thousands of dollars. The average home improvement project costs a little over $8,100 when professionally done, versus about $2,700 to do it yourself, the Census Bureau’s American Housing Survey says.
