About Hope Renovations
About Hope Renovations
We believe in change and opportunity,
and an equal right to both for women and seniors.
Our Vision
We envision a world where all women can support their families, and seniors can stay in their homes their whole lives.
Our Mission
At Hope Renovations, we inspire hope in women and older adults for a joyful and fulfilling future.
We do this by empowering women to pursue living-wage jobs in the construction trades via our hands-on training program, while our construction program provides repairs and renovations that enable older adults to stay in their homes as they age.


Our Values
Passion: Work with purpose. Create something you are proud of. End every day with knowledge of how you made a difference in your own life and the lives of others.
Equality: Treat all people with respect. Defend those who are different than you. Recognize and appreciate that all people have value, all people are worthy.
Tenacity: Act with confidence. Fully commit to your work, your customers and your team. Show grit in times of struggle. Don’t ever, ever give up.
Curiosity: Take every chance to try something new. Find the learning opportunity in every mistake. Seek to figure things out, and ask questions when you can’t.
Integrity: Be honest. Make ethical decisions and be accountable for your choices. Stand behind your work. Establish trust and protect it like treasure.
Our Story
Hope Renovations' roots go back to when I started doing my own home repairs. I was working in HR for Lowe's corporate headquarters, so I took advantage of our employee discount and started picking up power tools and getting my hands dirty in my off-time. And as a woman, something about doing it myself was particularly rewarding. However, as I expanded my hobby and began working on small renovations alongside contractors and tradespeople I began to wonder... where were all the women?
Fast forward ten years. I decided to leave the corporate world to pursue a Master of Social Work from UNC. While interning at a local homeless shelter, I met many women who were completely capable of doing this type of work. But when I would mention the trades as a potential career path, the answer I often got was, "Nobody ever taught me how to do that stuff. I always figured it was a man's job." The wheels started turning.
Finally, when I took a class in the business school that was focused on aging, things came together. I learned many of the surprising statistics about Aging-in-Place; like that it's the fastest growing segment of the construction industry, but it's also the one with the least capacity - in today's world, where big construction is booming (and small jobs take time away from big ones), there simply aren't enough people available to do the work.
So I figured it made a lot of sense to put them all together. Help women get the skills to enter into construction careers and get out of low-wage jobs, narrowing the gender pay gap in the process. Give seniors a dedicated workforce to complete the repairs and renovations they need to stay in their homes. And, as a bonus, develop a workforce that will help trades employers fill their jobs and get their work done, ultimately helping our economy. It's a win-win-win.
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Nora E. Spencer, MSW
Founder and CEO