Plumbing has never been famous for gender balance. For generations, the familiar image of a plumber has been a man carrying a toolbox toward somebody’s mysteriously overflowing basement. Yet women have steadily been challenging that picture, building careers as plumbers, electricians, welders, carpenters, contractors, estimators and construction-business owners. Women account for roughly 11 percent of the overall U.S. construction workforce, while their representation in hands-on construction trades remains considerably smaller.
That gap is the idea behind The Eleven Percent, a series highlighting women succeeding in construction and the skilled trades. One especially interesting example is Jessie Cannizzaro, founder and master plumber at Milestone Plumbing in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. Cannizzaro did not simply enter an industry where women were uncommon. She earned advanced plumbing credentials, built a company from the ground up, trained apprentices and eventually became a prominent industry leader.
Her story is also refreshingly free of the usual “I always knew exactly what I wanted to do” mythology. In fact, she initially wanted almost nothing to do with becoming a plumber.
Who Is Jessie Cannizzaro?
Jessie Cannizzaro is the founder and owner of Milestone Plumbing, Inc., a plumbing contractor serving residential and commercial customers in southeastern Wisconsin. She holds a Wisconsin Master Plumber license and Cross Connection Control credentials, along with both a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
That combination is important. Plenty of entrepreneurs understand spreadsheets but would rather negotiate with a grizzly bear than crawl beneath a sink. Plenty of excellent tradespeople understand piping systems but have little interest in cash-flow projections or employee development. Cannizzaro developed expertise in both worlds.
Today, Milestone Plumbing has grown far beyond its original one-person operation. The company employs licensed plumbers, apprentices, pre-apprentices and administrative personnel, handling service, repair, remodeling and small commercial projects. Cannizzaro has also become active in organizations including Associated Builders and Contractors and NARI Milwaukee. In 2026, she serves as Midwest regional vice chair for ABC after previously chairing ABC of Wisconsin’s board.
A Plumbing Childhood That Wasn’t Supposed to Become a Career
Cannizzaro grew up around plumbing because her father, Tom Cannizzaro, was a master plumber. As a child, she occasionally accompanied him on jobs. According to accounts of her career, she learned to solder when she was only seven. Completed tasks might earn ice cream, while bigger projects occasionally produced the ultimate childhood compensation package: Nintendo games.
Still, familiarity did not initially create enthusiasm. Cannizzaro imagined a different future. She once planned to become a veterinarian and began college studying biology before deciding that path was not the right fit. She later moved into business studies.
The turning point came after her father suffered a stroke. Cannizzaro began helping with his plumbing company while attending school. Work she had once viewed as simply “Dad’s business” suddenly looked different. Plumbing required mechanical ability, mathematics, code knowledge, troubleshooting, customer communication and constant problem-solving.
More importantly, there was a visible result at the end of the day. Something had been broken or incomplete in the morning; by afternoon, it worked. Anyone who has spent three hours in a meeting discussing another meeting may understand the appeal.
Cannizzaro eventually entered a formal plumbing apprenticeship, became a journeyman and later earned master plumber status. Her path mirrors the traditional training model in the profession: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that plumbers commonly learn through four- or five-year apprenticeships combining paid field experience with technical instruction. Wisconsin’s registered plumbing apprenticeship similarly involves roughly five years of training.
Launching Milestone Plumbing
Cannizzaro had another goal besides mastering the trade: she wanted to own a business before turning 30.
In 2011, shortly before reaching that personal milestone, she launched Milestone Plumbing. The company name was deliberately chosen to represent that achievement rather than simply putting the Cannizzaro surname on a truck.
The timing was hardly ideal. The U.S. economy was still recovering from the Great Recession, financing a startup was difficult, and residential construction businesses were not exactly receiving congratulatory baskets of free money from banks.
Early financing became one of her challenges. Business-development assistance helped her prepare a formal business plan and connect with alternative financing resources. She began operations from her home’s basement and garage, initially working as a one-woman plumbing company. Over time came additional customers, employees, service vehicles and apprentices.
By 2019, industry reporting described Milestone as a company with about a dozen employees and a growing fleet, while a 2022 ServiceTitan interview described the operation as a team of approximately 15. More recent profiles describe an established staff encompassing multiple levels of the plumbing career ladder.
Building a Plumbing Business Around Trust
Being Memorable Wasn’t the Original Marketing Plan
When Cannizzaro started her plumbing business, she did not want gender to become its defining feature. She reportedly avoided overtly marketing Milestone as the stereotypical “female plumber” company and initially used the shortened name Jess in some business interactions because she knew customers could carry assumptions about who a plumber was supposed to be.
Then something interesting happened: being a woman in plumbing made the business memorable whether she promoted that fact or not.
But novelty might earn an initial phone call; it does not produce years of referrals. That requires competence.
Cannizzaro’s approach emphasized quality work, reliability, customer service and long-term relationships. She has repeatedly stressed the importance of doing what was promised, communicating with homeowners and treating customers with care. It sounds simple, but anyone who has spent a Tuesday afternoon wondering whether a contractor has vanished into another dimension knows that returning phone calls can practically qualify as a competitive advantage.
Problem-Solving Beats Being the Lowest Bidder
One project frequently associated with Milestone demonstrates this philosophy. During work on an upscale Milwaukee condominium, the company encountered unusual wall-mounted plumbing fixtures that presented installation problems. Rather than declaring the design impossible, the team worked with engineering expertise to identify a solution.
That willingness to solve difficult problems helped build the kind of contractor relationship Cannizzaro values: being introduced not merely as a plumber, but as my plumber.
For a service contractor, that distinction is valuable. Competing solely on price creates a race toward thinner margins. Competing on trust, expertise and problem-solving creates repeat customers.
Why the “Eleven Percent” Still Matters
Cannizzaro’s career has unfolded against a persistent demographic imbalance. Women have increased their presence across construction, yet field trades remain overwhelmingly male. Research on the construction workforce has repeatedly found that the percentage of women actually working in skilled craft positions is far below women’s share of the overall construction industry.
That distinction matters. A statistic saying women make up around 11 percent of construction workers includes administrative, professional, legal, sales and management roles. Studies focusing specifically on craft occupations have put female representation below four percent in recent years.
For plumbing, that means women entering the occupation may still find themselves as the only woman in a class, company or jobsite crew.
Cannizzaro has acknowledged occasions when people underestimated her or when she felt she needed to demonstrate her knowledge before receiving the same confidence automatically given to someone else. Her response has generally centered on competence rather than confrontation: know the trade, perform the work well and allow the results to dismantle the stereotype.
Modern Plumbing Is More Technical Than Many People Realize
Another misconception Cannizzaro regularly challenges is the idea that plumbing is basically a person with a wrench wrestling rusty pipes all day.
Modern plumbers work with sophisticated water-heating systems, smart leak detection, automatic shutoff technology, digital controls, water-treatment systems and increasingly advanced fixtures. Material changes have also transformed the physical work. PVC, PEX and other modern products have replaced heavy traditional piping in many applications, while powered pressing and cutting tools reduce repetitive strain and speed installation.
The profession still requires physical ability. Plumbers climb ladders, work in confined spaces, carry tools and sometimes move heavy fixtures. But smart technique and proper equipment matter as much as brute strength. The Bureau of Labor Statistics also emphasizes troubleshooting, mechanical ability, communication and dexterity alongside physical strength.
In other words, plumbing is a thinking trade. Water may always obey gravity, but unfortunately remodels, customers and 80-year-old houses have not agreed to do the same.
Training the Next Generation of Plumbers
Perhaps the most significant part of Cannizzaro’s story is what happened after she became successful.
She began investing heavily in apprenticeship and trade education.
Milestone Plumbing has regularly brought apprentices into the company, while Cannizzaro has taught and supported plumbing education and participated in state-level workforce and apprenticeship activities. ABC reports that her company has brought new plumbing apprentices into its training pipeline each year since 2014.
That matters because plumbing faces the same retirement and recruiting pressures affecting many skilled trades. BLS projects about 44,000 openings annually for plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters over the 2024-2034 decade, largely because existing workers will leave the occupation or retire. The occupation’s 2024 median annual wage was $62,970, with experienced workers potentially earning substantially more.
For students who enjoy hands-on problem-solving, an apprenticeship offers an alternative to the traditional college-first path. Apprentices generally earn wages while learning rather than paying tuition for four years before discovering whether they enjoy the occupation.
Cannizzaro does not argue that college is badshe has two business degrees herself. Her broader message is that education should match the career. A university degree is one useful route. An apprenticeship is another.
Starting the Conversation Before High School
Cannizzaro also believes exposure to skilled trades should begin much earlier than the typical high-school career fair.
One of her more unusual outreach projects has been a plumbing-themed children’s coloring book featuring a girl who wants to become a plumber. The idea seems playful, but it addresses a serious issue: children form assumptions about which careers “belong” to men or women long before they fill out their first job application.
If children repeatedly see men portrayed as builders, mechanics and plumbers while women appear only in other occupations, career expectations begin forming almost automatically.
Putting a girl with plumbing tools in a coloring book is not going to solve America’s workforce shortage by next Tuesday. But it normalizes the possibility.
Cannizzaro has also visited schools and spoken with students about apprenticeships and skilled-trade careers. Her message is particularly credible because she has experienced both the university and apprenticeship paths.
From Plumbing Contractor to Industry Leader
Cannizzaro’s influence eventually expanded beyond running Milestone Plumbing.
She has served in leadership roles with NARI Milwaukee and Associated Builders and Contractors of Wisconsin, contributed to Wisconsin apprenticeship and plumbing committees, and participated in efforts to strengthen trade education. In 2024 she chaired the ABC of Wisconsin Board of Directors, and she subsequently moved into national ABC leadership as Midwest region vice chair.
The progression is noteworthy. She went from helping in a family plumbing operation to completing an apprenticeship, becoming a master plumber, launching a one-person company, employing and training others, and helping influence workforce development at an industry level.
That is a substantially bigger definition of “plumber” than fixing a faucet.
Lessons Contractors Can Learn From Jessie Cannizzaro
Technical Skill and Business Skill Need Each Other
A contractor can be brilliant with tools and still fail because pricing, hiring, scheduling or cash flow are poorly managed. Conversely, excellent marketing cannot rescue consistently mediocre workmanship. Cannizzaro’s career demonstrates the advantage of combining technical credibility with business discipline.
Apprentices Are an Investment, Not an Inconvenience
Complaining about a skilled-worker shortage while refusing to train inexperienced people is a wonderfully efficient way to preserve the shortage. Milestone’s commitment to apprentices illustrates a more sustainable model: businesses can help create the workforce they need.
Reputation Compounds
One good plumbing job might create one invoice. A customer who trusts the company can create years of calls, remodeling work, referrals and contractor relationships. Cannizzaro’s emphasis on communication and quality recognizes that service businesses grow through accumulated credibility.
Representation Creates Possibility
A young woman cannot easily imagine becoming a master plumber if she has never seen one. Visible examples such as Cannizzaro help turn an unusual career into an imaginable one.
of Practical Experience Inspired by Jessie Cannizzaro’s Story
Looking at Cannizzaro’s career through the lens of real-world contracting reveals several experiences that are useful far beyond plumbing. The first is that career paths are rarely as tidy as school brochures suggest. Someone can begin college studying biology, move into business, work inside a family trade, complete an apprenticeship and ultimately use all of those experiences together. Apparently careers are less like highways and more like old-house plumbing: a few unexpected turns are normal.
For people considering a skilled trade, one of the smartest approaches is to experience the work before making a major commitment. Shadow a residential plumber. Then spend time around commercial construction if possible. Talk to service technicians, apprentices, journeymen and business owners. Residential service involves significant customer interaction and troubleshooting. New construction may involve larger crews and repetitive installation. Commercial plumbing introduces different systems, scales and jobsite dynamics. They are related careers, but the daily experience can feel dramatically different.
The apprenticeship model also teaches a lesson that applies to almost every profession: competency grows through repetition. Reading about soldering is useful. Watching someone solder is better. Making hundreds of reliable joints yourself is what eventually creates instinct. The same is true for diagnosing drainage problems, estimating materials or communicating with a frustrated homeowner whose kitchen has unexpectedly developed its own indoor swimming pool.
For women entering plumbing, Cannizzaro’s experience also suggests that preparation is more valuable than trying to imitate male coworkers. Every tradesperson has physical strengths and limitations. Experienced workers learn leverage, positioning, teamwork and the correct tools rather than turning every task into a weightlifting competition. Power cutters, press tools, carts and lighter modern materials have reduced the physical demands of many tasks without reducing the skill required to perform them correctly.
Business ownership introduces another collection of lessons. New contractors often focus on obtaining as many jobs as possible, but rapid growth can be surprisingly dangerous. More customers require more technicians. More technicians require trucks, insurance, tools, supervision, payroll and training. If systems do not grow with revenue, the owner may simply become the exhausted employee of a company she happens to own.
Cannizzaro’s emphasis on building a team is therefore significant. A sustainable contracting business cannot depend forever on the founder personally answering every phone call, diagnosing every problem and approving every purchase. Hiring capable people, teaching standards and delegating responsibility eventually becomes as important as technical expertise.
Another practical lesson is to treat customer communication as part of the craft. Homeowners generally cannot evaluate every technical detail of a plumbing repair. They can evaluate whether the technician arrived as expected, explained the problem clearly, respected their home, presented understandable options and followed through afterward. Professionalism makes technical excellence visible to people who are not plumbers.
Finally, the strongest lesson may be Cannizzaro’s willingness to keep learning. Plumbing codes change. Tools improve. Smart-home technology creates new products. Customers expect better communication. Employees expect better leadership. A master license does not mean a person has finished learning; it means the foundation is strong enough to keep learning at a higher level.
Conclusion: More Than a Story About a Woman Plumber
Jessie Cannizzaro’s career deserves attention because she is part of a relatively small group of women in the skilled trades. But reducing her achievement to gender would miss much of what makes the story valuable.
She is a master plumber who understands business. An MBA who values apprenticeship. A contractor who became an educator. A former one-woman operation that became an employer. And an industry professional who turned personal success into opportunities for younger workers.
For plumbing companies, her story demonstrates that craftsmanship and customer relationships can create durable growth. For students, it shows that a four-year college degree is not the only respectable route toward a successful career. For women considering construction, it offers visible evidence that the skilled trades can lead not only to employment but also to ownership and leadership.
The “eleven percent” number may describe an industry imbalance, but Cannizzaro’s career points toward something more important than statistics: what happens when talented people are shown that the door is open, trained properly once they walk through it and eventually encouraged to hold that door open for somebody else.
Note: This original article was independently synthesized from reporting and career information published by Family Handyman, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Associated Builders and Contractors, ABC of Wisconsin, NARI Milwaukee, Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, ServiceTitan, Plumber Magazine, Cleaner Magazine, Wisconsin Small Business Development Center, Independent Business Association of Wisconsin and U.S. construction-workforce research. It has been fully rewritten and expanded for informational and SEO publishing purposes.
