A new how-to course in Rutland, Vermont, taught by – and designed for – women, is teaching students how to tackle the basics of home repair.

When it comes to using tools, or doing basic plumbing or electrical work, Laura Budde said those were not skills her parents taught her.

“Even when I moved out to my own apartment, if I needed something, I would call my dad and he would come fix it,” she said. "So, I just never learned how to do any of these things.”

Budde signed up for a five-week basic home repair class offered by NeighborWorks of Western Vermont.   

The course is designed just for women, and Morgan Overable is the instructor. She supervises contractors on home building sites in Rutland for NeighborWorks, and has worked as a carpenter for nearly 20 years.

"[T]his class filled up in 48 hours and even now, we're sitting on a wait list of 25 or more ... Women want to know this information," she says. —

She says the idea for the class came to her after she noticed single women were buying houses she renovated.

She approached NeighborWorks about teaching a course specially designed for women that would cover simple carpentry skills and hand tools, and basic plumbing and electrical work.

The class, which is called, "We Can Fix It," runs for two hours on Tuesday evenings. Overable says she based her curriculum on a book especially written for women called Dare to Repair: A Do-it-Herself Guide to Fixing (Almost) Anything in the Home by Julie Sussman and Stephanie Glakas-Tenet.

Every student who takes the course gets a copy of it, plus a tool kit worth about $150. She says they include the basic hand tools that she says every woman should have and know how to use: There’s a tape measure, level, adjustable wrench, hammer, needle nose pliers, safety glasses, chanel lock pliers, calking gun and a few other items.

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