Teri Koski’s dream is to go across the country fixing up run down houses and giving them away for free to those in need.

While Koski isn’t doing that just yet, she has founded Fix It Sister Spokane LLC, providing handywoman services to the Spokane area, after a 25-year career in social work.

After she received nearly $100,000 in student loans forgiveness in February for her years of work in public service, a path was cleared for Koski to pursue her two-decades-long hobby of home repair as a business.

While she isn’t flipping dilapidated homes and giving them away, she is using her handywoman skills to help the community with smaller to midsize home repairs from installing shelving, to flooring and ceiling fans.

“I had this career path all lined out, and I didn’t realize how much of it revolved around a student loan payment until it was gone,” says Koski. “A friend of mine said, ‘You love fixing up your house, why not do that?’ There aren’t enough people in the trades right now.”

Since opening her handywoman business in August, Koski has purchased a former Embassy Suites shuttle van to carry her tools and equipment, and has served about a dozen customers, mostly women and people from the LGBTQ community who have responded positively to her.

A few such projects include a bathroom refresh in which Koski installed a new sink, new toilet, and new flooring; removing and installing hosing in a clothes dryer unit; removing a mounted air conditioning unit from a wall and patching up the area; and a few painting projects.

“They were like, oh my gosh, that’s so phenomenal that you’re from the community and you’re out serving people and we just feel so comfortable,” she says.

As Koski gains new clients and builds her company, she says she hopes to earn about $90,000 a year. During her career in social services, Koski focused on assisting the elderly and people with disabilities; she hopes to continue helping these populations through her handywork, as well as other communities such as blue-collar workers and people from the LGBTQ community.

“I’d love for this to be the type of company that women (and) members of the queer community can work with me and feel good, not have any fears of being judged, made fun of, or talked down to,” says Koski.

During the last five years, the number of tradeswomen increased by almost one-third. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, in 2021, the number of women working in trade occupations reached its highest level up to then, at more than 314,000.

Even so, an estimated 25% of the construction workforce will reach retirement age in the next 10 years. As reported in the Journal, two programs established in Spokane last year to address the skilled labor shortage and attract more students into the trades are experiencing steady growth. The Spokane Home Builders Association launched Frame your Future, and the Inland Northwest chapter of The Associated General Contractors of America started Trade Up 2 Construction.

Koski is a licensed, insured, and bonded contractor who says she grew up helping her dad fix things around the house. When she purchased her 1904 home in North Spokane almost a decade ago, she became a “weekend warrior,” teaching herself how to do certain jobs. She’s also taken courses with the Washington state Department of Labor and Industries and has more scheduled, such as how to handle asbestos and lead paint. She has also taken other courses offered by local businesses such as Woodcraft of Spokane, in Spokane Valley, which teaches courses ranging from shop safety, cabinet making, and how to use a router and bandsaw.

“I follow ‘This Old House’ religiously,” says Koski. “I love watching (Tom Silva) work. He teaches you the right way to do things, which I’m a fan of.”

Pricing per hour can range from $50 to $100 depending on the project, but Koski says she encourages people to call and request a bid, as a project that takes only 15 minutes doesn’t justify a full-hour charge. For larger bids, Koski says she charges based on the project itself.

“I encourage people to call and talk with me,” she says. “It can be jobs anywhere from 15 minutes to three months.”

Over the years, Koski has remodeled almost every room in her two-story home, including new tile and flooring in her bathroom, rot repair on the exterior of her home, and new gates and fencing surrounding the property. Her most recent project was a complete remodel of her kitchen, which included new flooring, updated cabinetry, new counters, new updated windows, and the widening and relocation of the kitchen doorway to allow for a better flow into the living room, she says. During the process, Koski says she wanted to make better use of the space and had to plan around two water lines and a waste pipe when reconfiguring for an updated stove, new windows, and cabinets.

Initially, Koski says she had requested bids from local contractors, but they were out of her price range, which lead her to self-teaching.

“So, I just figured out the process for putting in kitchen cabinets, for laying flooring, for installing new windows, painting, installing a ceiling fan, and anything else that needed revamping,” she says.

Koski says Fix It Sister “does a little bit of everything” in regard to home repair services that also include new flooring, installing shelving, towel racks, and furniture assembly. Koski says that, as someone who worked with the elderly and disabled people for over 20 years, her main goal is to help as much as possible, and she has even taken on small jobs she normally wouldn’t do, like cleaning out gutters for an 85-year-old woman undergoing cancer treatment who didn’t feel comfortable having a male on her property.

“I’m a person who intrinsically just likes to help,” she says. “That’s why I was in social services. I still want to help people.”