A south London based tradeswoman is revolutionising and taking the trades industry by storm by offering price busting quotes.
Lauren Wood, 30, from Croydon, has been painting and decorating for 15 years and is offering customers a quote of £100 to paint any room.
She specialises in 3D feature walls, laminate flooring, painting, decorating and general DIY jobs like putting up shelves, doors and TV brackets.
Also known as @visionsbylaul on Instagram, she also does garden work, mostly in the summer.
However, Lauren feels there are times when she faces sexism.
She said: “There are times when I put myself forward for a job ad and haven’t gotten a response. I know it is because I am a woman.”
Fellow tradesperson Dean Burch, 42, of BB interiors based in Hampshire, was frustrated with Lauren’s pricing.
Dean, who has been a painter and decorator for 27 years, claimed that charging £100 for a room is impossible to do.
He explained that a room cannot be painted in a day because of drying time, cleaning up, the undercoat and the topcoat.
Lauren explained that she offers people that can’t afford to redecorate their house the £100 offer as a start-up fee because she knows people are struggling financially.
She said regardless of a person’s income, they should be able to enjoy the home they live in.
Lauren’s single mother inspired her to get into this line of work as she grew up watching her repair a lot of things in the house.
She wanted to change that perspective of a handy person being predominately a man’s job.
However, 12 years ago, after she completed college, Lauren began working in a respite home for children with complex needs.
She did not go down that career path at college because she was constantly told that it was a man’s job.
Finally this year, after years of painting and decorating alongside her main job, she quit her job in January to work in trade full time.
Unfortunately for her, her first experience would have her swindled by a fellow tradesman.
The man in question posted on social media that he needed someone to assist him on jobs.
Everything went well at first and then he suddenly stopped contacting her.
The tradesman said he was having problems paying the remainder of money he owed her and to this day, she is still contacting him for payment.
Lauren pointed out that this was a common issue in the trade.
Learning from that misfortune, Lauren continues to remain focused on the positive side of why she does her job.
A client highly recommended her after Lauren decorated her daughter’s room.
Single mother Tameka said: “Lauren’s prices were more beneficial to me than others that had quoted me. I don’t know how I could have done it without Lauren.”
Being a woman in the trades industry has its benefits too, as Lauren often receives compliments, particularly from female customers.
She recalled renovating a kitchen for two ladies in Brixton and them being relieved that she was a woman.
They told her as a women, they knew she would pay attention to detail, which is why they were happy to see her.
Lauren added a lot of the feedback she hears is they feel safer with a woman.
When asked where she saw herself in the next ten years, she said she would love to have a business that is all women based.
All images courtesy of Lauren through Instagram
