If you would have told 18-year-old Allie that in ten years she would be working toward her plumberʼs license, not only would I have laughed in your face, but I would have also had you committed to an asylum. But here I am!
My friends call me Allie, and I work for Mr. Plumber/Mr. AC in San Antonio, Texas. Operations and business management brought me to Mr. Plumber Plumbing Co. I studied theater, English and mathematics at New York University. In the past ten years, I have focused on growing small businesses in many industries. But it wasn’t until arriving at Mr. Plumber that I realized the desperate state of the trades in the United States. Fewer individuals are choosing trades and are, instead, opting for professional jobs that require a college education. Women comprise a mere 1.5% of all plumbers and pipe fitters, according to the US Department of Labor. So, as the number of people in trades diminishes, the number of women in trades plummets! Every day I worked I wanted to learn more about plumbing. So I started going out on calls with the plumbers and learning how to fix many of the issues found in my own home. My path toward becoming a plumber had begun.
This blog will follow my path towards reaching my ultimate goal of becoming a licensed Responsible Master Plumber. Along the way, I will focus on do-it-yourself projects (trust me, plumbers want you to learn how to do the simple stuff for yourself), women in trades (which will highlight women working in plumbing today and include my efforts to spread the word to future generations) and plumbing history (the origins of the plumbing luxuries we enjoy today).
Now, for the most important element…YOU! I need your help. I want to know what you want to know. I want to know what you need to know about your home, plumbing and the trades. Let’s learn and explore this fantastic world of plumbing together.
