Epic home renovations by Australia’s top female designers

These are the women blitzing Australia’s home renovation market with their outside-of-the-box ideas.

BuildHer Collective founder and director Rebeka Morgan. Picture: supplied

“Mansplainers” take note: that woman in the kitchen may have built it.

And as severe labour shortages keep arm-wrestling the industry, building and construction leaders see International Women’s Day on Wednesday, March 8 as an opportunity to celebrate big wins while acknowledging persistent challenges.

Master Builders Australia (MBA) chief executive Denita Wawn concedes there’s work ahead attracting more women into trades, but also says the industry’s gender pay gap is declining faster than averages elsewhere.

“Women currently make up only 13.6 per cent of the industry’s total workforce,” Wawn says. “Three in 10 professionals working in the industry are women, but only 3.5 per cent are building trades and technicians. The industry is missing out on the skills and talents of half the population. Improving the attractiveness of the industry to women presents a massive opportunity to increase the pool of potential workers.”

As labour shortages keep hitting the industry, building and construction leaders see International Women’s Day as an opportunity to celebrate big wins while acknowledging persistent challenges.

Delivered through Master Builders, the Women Building Australia initiative – supported by a Federal Government grant – offers career expos, a female-led business register, business resilience training and a dedicated harassment and discrimination support line.

“There are more female trades and technicians in construction than ever before,” Wawn says, “and the number of females commencing a trade apprenticeship has more than doubled in the last five years. So it is moving in the right direction.”

IF SHE BUILDS IT, THEY WILL COME

The gateway for girls hasn’t changed since Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Women in 1792 – it’s always been education. “Thousands” of Australian women have already been through online building and design courses at BuildHer Collective, launched in 2018 by director and mum of seven Rebeka Morgan as a “safe space for women” who want to renovate, build and develop.

“Mansplainers” take note: that woman in the kitchen may have built it. Morelle House architect Taeler Jordan, of For The Love of Design (FTLO Design). Picture: Mark Cross

“The biggest thing about building and renovating is that it’s really lonely,” Morgan says.

“No one else cares. It’s kind of like having a newborn baby. No one actually cares unless they’ve got a newborn baby of that age … they don’t want to know the intimate details.”

Today the Collective supports two groups across the country: BuildHers wanting to get their own home right the first time and DevelopHers looking to make, shift or supplement their careers by renovating for profit. Greater awareness among women that they’re responsible for their financial future “has been huge”, Morgan says.

“Women now have an understanding that they need to fend for themselves,” she says.

Women are doing it for themselves. Picture: Spacecraft Media

“In order to be financially free and financially secure, they need to have a plan and an action in place that doesn’t involve relying on a man – and I think we’re seeing so much of that happen now. Our children (have) been raised with independence in mind and not relying on someone to look after you.

“Really people just want a hand up. It’s always going to be hard and scary. The first time you do anything it’s a bit hard and scary, but so worthwhile, and you just want someone to help you along that way.”

Light and bright. Picture: supplied

SAY IT LOUD, SAY IT PROUD

Talking numbers is “super taboo” – but it’s just another false wall Morgan casually demolishes without a backward glance.

“You can’t talk about how much things cost or what profit you made on a project in a normal space or forum, but … we can discuss that and collectively learn and get better through each of our mistakes and wins,” she says.

Hard and scary but so worthwhile.

Morgan believes many women are still too afraid to tell others what they want to do.

“I was afraid when I started too,” she says.

“It’s really hard to say, ‘I’m a builder, I’m a developer’. Even now, it’s like, ‘Oh no, a developer is someone who builds high rises’.

“No, not really. A developer is someone who makes money from renovating and building for profit.

“It’s just that we’ve got these weird stereotypes in our brain about what a builder looks like.”

THE JUGGLING ACT

Take For the Love of Design’s (FTLO Design’s) Taeler Jordan, for example. Juggling a toddler, university commitments and pregnancy, then soon-to-be-registered architect Jordan had earlier declared her bold ambitions at a DevelopHer event: undertaking her first solo development.

The dated, dark, utterly unlikeable 1970s brick home in a semi-rural part of Melbourne was in desperate need of transformation. Jordan chose to unify the original home with clean, stark lines in the extension, the sleek cladding creating a now-and-then visual and material narrative.

The BuildHer Collective works across the country.

“I love the linear look and clean, simple finished edges of the Axon Smooth Cladding,” Jordan says. “I wanted the aesthetic of the charred black cladding, but also being in a Bushfire Management Overlay (BMO) region, it was critically important to select a product that was rated to be compliant against bushfire attacks.”

Jordan even managed to remain unfazed when a brick wall started to collapse.

“Demolition of the existing windows revealed that none of the brick ties were installed correctly,” she says. “The existing brick walls … were not structurally stable. I had to redesign the exterior of the building. Most people would find this stressful and disappointing. But I love … problem-solving my way out of issues that arise on site.”

Originally published as Epic home renovations by Australia’s top female designers