Judy Mozen on Establishing her Company

Today we are talking to Judy Mozen, the President of Handcrafted Homes. Together, we talked about her introduction to construction, how she built her company from the ground up, and the struggles she faces as a woman in her field.

How did you get started?

It's probably the way a lot of women get started in this field, I ended up marrying a man who was an architect and builder. I do think the story of before we got married is very interesting. 

My first date with him, I was very excited. I was a school teacher and I said, “Oh, I'm gonna be going out with an architect. This is exciting.” We got in the car and he said, “Would you like to go see some of the work I'm doing? Some of the houses my partner and I are building?” and I said, “I'd love that.” 

I was honored, and we went over there one Saturday afternoon. The house was just being framed. For those of you in construction, you understand what I mean, but for the rest of the world, that means just the studs and beams were up. You could see through the house, there was no sheathing on the outside, no siding. There were these two windows facing the street where our car was parked in the front.

We walked inside, looked around, walked upstairs, and there were only those two windows. He told me, 'Well, this is the master bedroom' and I could see out the two windows that face the front of the house. Then I looked to the other wall, and I saw the backyard with just gorgeous trees and a beautiful view, but no windows. So I said to him, 'Aren't you going to put windows on this side?' 

He said, “Well, no, I can't have windows everywhere. I need to be able to have some walls for furniture and artwork.” I replied “Yes, but you're facing the street. And you've got this beautiful view in the back. Why wouldn't you put windows back there?”

Of course that didn't do much for the first date, kind of really made a mess out of everything. We ended up going ahead with the meal but I could tell he was upset. And he took me home and I thought, “Well, I'll never hear from this guy again. That was a stupid move on my part.” But I had a father in the military, and an older and younger brother, and I was always having to speak up to get heard.  

Then right about two weeks later, I got a phone call back from him. I was shocked. He said, “Would you like to go out again?” I said, “Well, yeah.” So we got in the car, and I was all “Where are we going?” And he said, “Well, I'd like to take you back over where I took you before.”

I said, “Well, I didn't do so well on that one.” He said, “I want you to see it.” We went over and to my great shock, he had changed the design. Those front windows were changed. There was now a beautiful window to the back. The house looked really pretty, and I was honored that someone would do that because of this person that had nothing to do with design. I was a political science, history and economics major. It was just a supreme compliment. 

We ended up getting married and forming a company together, just the two of us. We focused on building for a while until my designs ended up being published. There were a lot of magazines, I got a lot of phone calls, I guess it was too much for him. We ended up getting divorced. He signed over the company to me, left the state, and formed another company somewhere else. 

He's still a good friend, but it was an unusual beginning and difficult time when you consider that I was working with an architect and the competition as a woman was rough. There was obviously a problem being a woman in the profession that was going to speak up and speak her mind. So that was my first 10 years. 

Can you tell us more about the challenges of being a woman in construction?

Obviously, there’s still problems, but times have changed a lot. At first, it was things like being told, “Lady you can't do that.” That's the kind of thing I would get from subs. And I would say, “Yes, I can do that” and I would have to explain to them that I knew a lot about construction. I would have to say, “Yes, you can do that, I understand how you would do it. This is how I would do it.” A lot of times, it was just they didn't want to be told what I wanted. They just wanted to be stubborn and do something the way they'd always done it. 

I didn't have that kind of background. I lived all over the world with my father in the military, and I felt like if I had an idea, I wanted to implement it. They were used to doing the same thing, house to house to house, so I had some disagreement with the subs.

I had more trouble with some of the inspectors. It would be what we would consider today a definite violation of the Me Too movement. I actually had one electrical inspector tell me that if I would take a ride in his truck with him, he would pass my wiring. 

He was very forward and did it right there in the house. My plumber was around and saw it and came up to him and said, “Buddy, this is out of line", and got him out of there. Stuff like that, it was something I expected. But, I think some of the things that hurt the most was the immediate assumption that you couldn't do the work if you were a woman. 

What really amazes me about it is, the home is ours. Women own the home. You can look at statistics everywhere and see who makes decisions about the home. I've been just shocked over the years as NARI president and chairman of the board, when I would go to Harvard, to the joint housing center and hear them speak on the statistics, I would say "Are you kidding me? 9%? 9.9%? How can this be true?"

We're the ones that know and understand the home, and we've had it dictated to us by men. So I just made it my business to say "No, I think this works better. It's better to set the kitchen up this way." It takes a lot of strength to be able to do that. 

One of the things that can give you that strength is being educated. I think one of the things I get asked often is, what would I tell other women coming into the field? What can they do about some of these problems? 

If you are educated and you understand construction, they can argue with you to Doomsday, but if you're right, you're right. You can feel confident that you can get it done the way you expect. Education gives you a feeling of—I would say it's security, kind of like a security blanket. It also gives you a feeling of confidence, when you have studied and you understand the systems of housing, what's happening in the healthy home. You understand the details like what pitch of roof is supposed to have what kind of roofing on it. 

You feel confident that you can stand in a small group and talk about your profession. You know that what you're saying is right, and not feel like you're going to be challenged. I think that's the biggest thing I've talked to other women about, they're afraid that they don't know as much as maybe the male builder or the subtrade. That's where education comes in. Certifications are so important, pass those tests, get certified, then you know that you know it and that gives you a tremendous amount of confidence. 

Is it really still a primarily male dominated field?

It is. I give speeches all over the United States, and the topic was diversity and inclusion. Bringing in people of color, different genders, and trying to erase that discrimination because we need more people for the workforce. If we're going to say "we've got to have white men", we're going to be narrowing our workforce. Diversity is one of the keys to it. 

My husband worked for me for five years before we got married. We found out he could handle the financial part while I'm on the field at the job sites. What's amazing is when we go in to meet people we come in as a man and a woman on the same team, and people like that. 

I gave a speech to women in residential construction a few years back and told them about one of my clients. After we got the job, I asked her and her husband, "Well, how did we get the job? What was it we did?" Because that's an important thing for us to learn. And she said, "You were the only one that looked me in the eyes." 

And then I said, "What are you saying?" And she said, "The other two men, when I would ask a question, they would answer my husband. He has a full time job, and I'm at home and I'm going to be running this site. If they can't look at me and answer the questions, then I don't want them." 

Were there other women around you who supported you through your journey?

Yes, and this may seem like a crazy answer, but a lot of it was my clients. I would get so much reinforcement from my clients and word of mouth recommendations from them, because they were just so proud in those early years, particularly, that they had a woman builder. Then when I became a remodeler, they had a woman remodeler and it made a big difference. 

I also feel like it's important to be part of associations and the nonprofit world and with that in mind, I am a member of Leadership Atlanta and have been since 1998. I’ve met other women there and I got mentors. I had women teaching me that were in totally different fields. But it's all the same when you're talking about "What am I going to face as a woman out in the world?" 

Having mentors that were older than myself made a big difference. One I think of in particular, her son was in school with my son. She was really, really involved in the business world and doing a beautiful job. She retired recently, still an outstanding leader. It was just helpful to have lunch with her now and then and to reinforce that, "Judy, you can get through this." 

I think associations and conventions where you can share problems, talk about it, and meet people is a big part of being in business as a woman. It gives you the feeling that, "I can do this and I can keep on going". I found that this summer, at the Women in Residential Construction conference. There were a couple of particular women that we talked about business problems with, and it was nice just to be able to sit down with other women and talk about it. Associations and mentors are just so important. 

I was on the board of Atlanta Technical College, where I got a chance to talk to other people on the board and meet instructors at the school. I got to talk to a lot of young students and I think that, as a woman, that makes the world around you more fulfilling. 

One of the most important things that has helped me as a woman in the industry has been my team. The guys I work with, the ladies that I work with, and my partner, and husband. I think that the team you're around is very important and can make a big difference and support you. 

Given that you work with your husband that must pose some potential challenges. You work all day and you go home, but the emotions are still there. How do you manage that? Do you separate your work from your personal life?

We do separate them, we do have a very strict rule that when we're home, we don't discuss work. But I will tell you a story that will help women understand. When we decided we wanted to get married, he'd been working for me for five years, and we went to a counselor and said, "We just, you know I had a marriage fail before that, and I didn't want to do it again." 

The counselor said, "Randy, can you handle that she's the boss during the day?" And he said, "Yes. She's always been the boss ever since I met her, I have no problem with that." Then there was this long silence. And the counselor turned around and looked at me and he said, "Judy, can you handle that you are not the boss at night?"

 That was the big question. I think that was everybody thinking about it. And I told him, yes, I didn't want to be the boss anymore at night that I was tired of making decisions all day long at night, I wanted a partner. That's the way we look at it. I am the boss. We've divided up our categories, he handles the finances. This is very unusual and most construction companies have a woman who works in the office, while the man is on the field.

But my husband handles the money, and meets the clients with the bills, and I'm the one on the job sites and we are strictly divided. It's his territory, the other’s mine. You have to have a clear division. You can't talk about it at night, and you have to remember that you are also romantic partners.

Have you ever worked with a difficult client?

I actually have, and I was so motivated by how difficult it was to work with this client that I took a class at Better Business Bureau in Atlanta called “How to Handle a Difficult Client”. It was a full day class, and it was one of the most important things I've ever done because I learned how to better manage client expectations. 

There's also a couple of good books out in the construction industry about how to manage client expectations. But I also think it's how you speak to them. Are you using pronouns in an accusatory way? Are you making it part of a team? Be very transparent, and make yourself a team with them so that if there's something going on, the team needs to solve it.

How do you show up as a leader, who happens to be a woman?

You know, the amazing thing is that there has been a misinterpretation over the years that the builder needs to look like a lumberjack, with a big flannel shirt on, big broad shoulders and wearing that tool belt. When I became NARI President, I said "Well, I'm going to change this interpretation." 

So the day that I gave my acceptance speech and the day that I was elected, I had a white suit on, skirt and jacket, and I had my pink suede tool belt. After I gave my speech, I walked up and down around where I was speaking to our delegates in our house of delegates meeting and let them know that a woman can do this too. I can wear high heels and I can stand there and I can tell somebody what to do.

Now granted, I don't usually wear high heels, but I can. Just because I wear heels and I might not be dressed in blue jeans that particular day does not mean that I can't be a builder and can't do a good job.

Thank you for sharing all these experiences.

Thank you, I appreciate the opportunity to speak to other women. Maybe it's not the biggest advice in the world, it's just what has worked for me.