As Jessie Cannizzaro approached her 30th birthday, she drew up a business plan, attended a 12-week entrepreneur training program at the University of Wisconsin Small Business Development Center, secured a loan and was ready to leave behind her full-time plumbing job and open her own business, which, considering the number of candles soon to be on her cake, she wanted to name Milestone Plumbing.

Primed with years of on-the-job plumbing experience, with many of those years spent alongside her father who ran his own shop, and having no less than an MBA, she sat down with her parents and announced her big plans.

“Honestly, they weren’t so excited about the idea,” Cannizzaro says. “My dad, in particular, thought it was terrible idea and tried to talk me out of it, namely, because he didn’t think the world was ready for a woman plumber, plus, at that point in time we were also in the middle of a economic turndown.”

Her father’s objection were more than a little surprising since, after all, she grew up in a family plumbing business with her dad in the field and her mother keeping the books. Cannizzaro learned to solder at 7 and tagged along with her father during high school summers and weekends whenever he needed an extra pair of hands, nabbing a Nintendo game or ice cream as a reward.

But she stuck to her ambitions and opened Milestone in 2011 out of her garage in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin with two weeks to spare before the Big 3-0.

While the name marked one milestone in her life, Cannizzaro also wanted a company name that wasn’t tied to herself. And when she started out, she went by just “Jess.”

“I figured if a potential customer didn’t trust having a female plumber, it still gave me the opportunity to get my foot in the door to show them that I’m a licensed tradesperson, and I do know what I’m talking about,” Cannizzaro adds. “But it turned out that there wasn’t pushback from prospective clients. Instead, communities throughout our area have really embraced us and the business has thrived.”

A Growing Business

What started out as a one-woman shop was about to hire its 18th employee when we visited the office earlier this year. Milestone provides residential and small commercial plumbing and remodeling services throughout the Milwaukee, Waukesha and Ozaukee counties in Southeastern Wisconsin.

From the start, she’s always surrounded herself with help, even getting her then-boyfriend-now-husband to help haul a bathtub up to a second floor. Along the way, the master plumber with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business was in the field for a decade or so after she started Milestone, squirming around crawlspaces even as she was pregnant with her first child, working pretty much straight up until delivery day.

“When it was just me I did miss the camaraderie of working with others and having people to talk to,” Cannizzaro adds. “So I knew from the start that I wasn’t going to be solo, and it was only natural to start growing a team. Having our people is essential to what makes Milestone work. I love the team that I work with and am blessed that they have entrusted me to help lead us. We are a family that looks out for one another and helps each other strive to be their best.”

The company tagline? “Quality Conscious, Customer Focused ... Every Job, Every Day.” 

“We’re a small, but growing plumbing, service, repair and remodeling company,” Cannizzaro adds. “Collectively, we all believe in delivering that same superior level of customer service and realize that the success of the team and company is not just about the bottom line.”

Besides running the business, Cannizzaro serves on various boards and committees, promoting the trades whenever she can. She advocates for multiple organizations that encourage high school students to enter the trades. She also created an activity book to introduce elementary-aged kids to the joys of being a plumber.

“Jessie is awesome,” says Jon Hirsch, director of business development for Auer Steel & Heating Supply Co., Milwaukee, who himself is very active in promoting the trades, which we wrote about in our March issue (tinyurl.com/mssm2aav). “Our industry is blessed to have an inspirational business owner and leader like Jessie to help inspire the next generation. It’s even more wonderful that Jessie is a woman in the trades. Sadly, the trades is such a male-dominated profession. I first met Jessie at a board meeting for the state of Wisconsin PHCC chapter. Since our first meeting, it’s been fun to realize how our circles of influence cross as it relates to promoting professional trade careers. Jessie is a difference maker!”

There any number of differences we could write about that Jessie is making, namely the teamwork  approach to Milestone. But since Jon mentioned it, let’s start by talking about how Milestone is preparing the next generation.

Next Generation

No surprise that Milestone is struggling alongside every other PHCPPro with the industry’s labor shortage.

“When it comes to hiring skilled people, the big problem is everyone is hiring,” Cannizzaro explains. “We’re all after the small pool of talent and that pool just isn’t very large.”

As a result for a number of years now, Milestone is trying its best to recruit at least one would-be tech into its own pre-apprentice training program. The idea is to put these rookies through the paces from anywhere from nine months to a year.

“It’s a period for us and them to test the waters,” Cannizzaro adds. “Kind of a ‘try it before you buy it.’ Because while we certainly want to hire, and I know that the trades are a great career, this industry isn’t always the right choice for everyone involved.” 

The pre-apprentices will likely spend their days in the warehouse, running parts and riding along to jobsites.

“This is an expense for us since we’ll send the pre-apprentice and an experienced tech to, say, a drain cleaning job,” she explains, “when all we need to do to get the job done is send the experienced tech.”

Once the pre-apprentice is ready for more, they can stay onboard and Milestone will get them enrolled in a full apprenticeship program, which in Wisconsin lasts for five years.

Cannizzaro, for her part, is doing plenty of find her next pre-apprentice as well as spread the word about a career in the trades and that a four-year college degree isn’t the only path to a successful life.

She’s currently president-elect of the Associated Builders and Contractors of Wisconsin, and was a past competitor (and winner) of the ABC Wisconsin’s Plumbing Skills Competition. She serves on the competition committee and volunteers her time every year to encourage area apprentices to showcase their talents and go on to represent Wisconsin at the national level. (We should also note that she won ABC Wisconsin’s Apprentice of the Year award for all trades in 2009.)

She’s also been an active member of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry for the past seven years and served as president, treasurer and board member. In particular, she has served on the NARI Milwaukee Government Affairs Committee and NARI Milwaukee Workforce Development Committee while volunteering time to go into schools and meet one-on-one with students to answer questions and promote careers in the trades. 

Milestone team members also routinely go out to high schools for some hands-on plumbing training.

“It’s great to have a business in the trades,” Cannizzaro adds. “But if we’re just focusing on our day jobs, we’re not going to move the needle. If you love the trades, find a school you can help sponsor and mentor the kids. If each of us takes the time to give back, even if it’s just a little bit of your time, we can fix the skilled labor shortage. Unless we can make it a priority, nothing is ever going to change.”

And let’s not forget that 32-page activity book that gets handed out when techs are at service calls to households with children. Plus, Cannizzaro hands it out during talks at grade schools to promote the trades.

“Research is coming out that many kids decide before high school what they want to go into,” Cannizzaro explains. “I see this as a way to try to positively impact our community, help provide a solid future for kids and get more women in the trades.”

Teamwork

With a growing headcount, Milestone’s team is a little more unusual than most we’ve met. 

“Some of the relationships amongst our team go back eight years,” Cannizzaro explains. “And some are with people I’ve known since before Milestone was even started.”

Cannizzaro, for example, was an apprentice to one of her lead plumbers who works for her now. And she sat in apprenticeship class with yet another one of her plumbers.

“We all believe in delivering that same superior level of customer service and realize that the success of the team and company is not just about the bottom line,” Cannizzaro adds.

While our visit was relatively short, we could easily pick up on the solidarity. Take a look at the company’s Facebook page, and you can see plenty of the celebrations be it birthdays or employment anniversaries.

And once we picked a copy of the Milestone activity book we couldn’t but notice the recipe for egg bites that Cannizzaro’s husband makes for the crew every Friday. (And we do mean “crew” since the recipe starts with cracking 18 eggs.)

“Bigger companies may have an HR department that helps improve company culture and make sure people feel appreciated for how hard they work,” Cannizzaro explains. “But with small plumbing shops, that’s not always been front of mind. So I view Milestone as an opportunity to change that. A happier team is a better team. Plus, they’re going to stay longer because they don’t feel like they’re a disposable resource.”

One interesting way to encapsulate the teamwork approach is to look at the way Milestone handled its hiring decisions. We say “handled” because, well, the labor shortage.

Instead of the traditional individual job interview, Milestone would bring in a group of applicants at the same time to hear a presentation by a few Milestone team members.

OK, if that doesn’t sound strange enough, this next part definitely will. The candidates then took part in a group discussion on a topic, typically, a magazine article that they all received beforehand that, for example, might discuss the importance of customer service.

At this point, the Milestone team could get an idea of who each person is. Do they, for example, not only ask questions, but interact with others who relate a different approach? What kind of attitude do they present? Did they even read the article?

Finally, one other aspect is important to note: Before the interview, none of the candidates knew this would be a group exercise. Most undoubtedly thought they were heading into just another job interview.

Following this gauntlet, candidates then got a chance to talk with, say, a veteran tech for a tech job. Then and only then, finalists got individual interviews with Cannizzaro and others.

“Because we receive a limited number of applicants these last few years,” Cannizzaro says, “we’ve gone back to the more traditional interviewing process. But we still use a ‘group approach’ since several Milestone team members, ranging from entry-level to managment, interview everyone when they come in. This is a very team-oriented company. We wouldn’t be where we are without being team-oriented.”