While growing up, she never felt that there were specific gender roles assigned to her. Her playground was the many rooftops her grandmother fixed and building sites became her jungle gyms.
So, it was natural when Nicolene de Bruin, CEO of Sky Maintenance, quite literally built a passion for construction and maintenance, despite the misogynistic stereotypes that women are not to venture into what is considered a male-dominated field.
An inherited entrepreneurial skill
Her passion for construction was fuelled by her grandmother’s need to run a household and earn an income. While she was fixing cupboards at home, her grandmother, fondly referred to as “Tannie Anna Dak” was attending to rooftops in a skirt. In 1962, the matriarch started False Bay Roofing, one of the first women-owned roofing businesses in the area, as well as the oldest. This during a time when most women were housewives and expected to raise children.
The company’s establishment came about when Tannie Anna Dak’s husband passed away unexpectedly, leaving her with four children to feed. Dire circumstances inspired her to build on the knowledge she had garnered from her husband’s tiling manufacturing business. Following a fight with a roofer about his work, she decided, enough with these men, she was going to start her own roofing business. This is how Tannie Anna Dak bulldozed her way into the local construction industry, paving the way for Nicolene to follow in the family business.
Climbing the ladder of success
After school, Nicolene worked for the family business until she eventually started her own maintenance company, Sky Maintenance Group.
Nicolene reckons women should not be afraid of opting for this industry. “Construction and maintenance is for everybody, and if anything, women can do the job better as we have a better eye than men,” she quips.
She loves working at heights – she ran around on the top of roofs as a child, five stories being the highest she has experienced. “I always enjoyed fixing stuff and it’s also about the interesting problems to solve. And, of course, helping customers is another passion of mine.”
Woman in a man’s world
Nicolene says the statistics of women in the construction industry is still frighteningly low, despite her grandmother paving the way for many women in the basin 40 years ago.
“About 5% of the women in the industry will be the most representative. Even with a structural engineer, it is mostly men. You will not find a woman on a building site. Women in the industry are sacred because it is still an extremely male-dominated and sexist industry,” she explains. “A building site is still a very primitive place to be. You still have women being whistled at, being called at and being disrespected and that is considered normal on a building site. Guys making very bad remarks and being vulgar is still normal on a building site.”
This, according to Nicolene, all plays a role in a woman’s decision to venture into the construction field or not, which she regards as “sad”, because she believes there will be fewer problems on site if a woman was in charge. “Women also have a more aesthetic eye, they can be practical, but they tend to see more the visual side of things.”
Nicolene shares that she would love to use a woman sub-contractor. “I would prefer it actually, however, there are none in the industry.”
A gap in the market
“When you work with your hands and have practical experience, you always have work. If the economy tanks, you lose your job, but it does not take a lot of money to start a small business and earn an income,” she reckons.
While a woman may think she is not strong enough, Nicolene says the industry is not based on the “myth”. “You do not need strength. My grandmother was not strong, but she still carried tiles. She just took half of them and took her time to carry them.”
In Nicolene’s opinion the strength difference should not be an issue. “It does not make a difference. As a woman that wants to go into the industry, you will have to fight the stereotype and it is more difficult, but you can do it.”
It is this attitude that has put Nicolene in good stead and has proven that as a woman, you do not have to be afraid of a male-dominated industry. “I have had my own business for more than ten years but I still come to a client’s house, and they tell me straight up: ‘But you can’t know anything because you are a woman.’ And a lot of the time it is a woman with that kind of thinking. And only until more women enter the industry, it is not going to change. But if you do not try, you will not know,” she states confidently.
Try something new
She encourages women to enter the industry because more women are needed. “If someone wants to go into the industry, they can contact me, and I am more than willing to teach them some maintenance skills to start their own thing. “There are many estate agents that are looking for small contractors to do small maintenance work on rental units. It is not viable for a big company to do that because they do not really make money out of it. But if it’s you and an assistant, that’s perfect to start,” said Nicolene, who has operated her business with an assistant handing her the tools, while she did the physical work for the first three to four years of the two decades dedicated to this trade.
This entrepreneur is willing to teach women how to use some of the basic tools and fix things around the house such as a cupboard on a Saturday morning. And in so doing, boosting their confidence to tackle maintenance work in and around the house.
. For those wanting to get their friends together and learn how to put those tools to work, email Nicolene at info@skymaintenance.co.za.
