How I Became a Plumber

Driving through southeastern Wisconsin takes you to the heart of Milwaukee and its neighboring suburbs. These areas are speckled with charming older homes like the bungalows of the 1920s, the Tudors of the 1930s, and the minimal, traditional style from the 1940s and 50s.

It’s easy to see why a plumber specializing in older homes, like Jessie Cannizzaro, would have a vibrant, flourishing business here. Cannizzaro hadn’t intended to follow in her father’s footsteps. But plumbing was in her blood, and her hands craved to be worked. Like so many, it just took time for her to find her own path.

Introduction to the World of Plumbing

When Cannizzaro talks about how she started in plumbing, her smile widens. “My dad,” she says.

Her father, Tom Cannizzaro, was a plumber. On weekends and in the summer, Jessie went with her dad to job sites. She was in charge of handing him tools and holding the flashlight. (Jessie says, with a chuckle, her dad often complained she never held the light where he wanted it.) Even today, Tom maintains a passion for his work.

“He’s going to be 80 this year,” she says. “He still keeps his license so he can do repairs and do things for his friends.”

That passion rubbed off on her. Jessie’s eyes light up as she describes a pipe job they did for a hotel in Menomonee Falls, Wis. Every time she drives by it, she’s reminded of the first time he trusted her with a propane torch.

“Of course, I always joke when I tell people that story that OSHA [The Occupational Safety and Health Administration] would have had a fit if they would have seen it,” she says. “This is not what a seven-year-old should be doing.” But it gave her a taste for plumbing.

Initial Career Path

Like many kids trying to find themselves, Jessie Cannizzaro went a different path than her father. She was the first in her family to go to college, majoring in business. But while there, Tom suffered a stroke and lost some of his strength on his left side. This made it difficult for him to do things by himself, so she helped.

Cannizzaro shuttled between assisting her dad on the job and going to class. Back at his side, she realized she “enjoyed working with [her] hands a lot more than doing paperwork.”

So she decided to finish her business degree, then get her plumbing license. This “parallel path” led her to start her own plumbing business. Once Tom approached retirement, she worked for another plumbing company. After five-plus years of that, she knew it was time to go out on her own.

Gaining a Foothold in the Business

At first, money was tight. “I bought a used van out of Illinois because it was affordable, and started out of my spare bedroom in the basement and the garage,” she says. Cannizzaro worried her neighbors might freak out about her work truck going back and forth all day. Quite the contrary.

“Most of those people became clients — and still are our clients,” she says.

The business grew. “I was like, Oh my! I can’t keep up with all of this,” she says. “I had so much work coming in.” So Cannizzaro started hiring help. “And we’ve been growing ever since!” she says.

The reason for her success might be her customer service, the thoughtfulness she shows when working with her customers. But a bigger factor might be her deep appreciation for old plumbing. She loves helping her clients take care of their plumbing properly so they can avoid larger disasters — just like her dad did.

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