Union Apprentice
She attended college reluctantly, dropping out after two years without a new career plan. After working ‘dead end’ jobs for the sole satisfaction of earning a paycheck, she took a ‘leap of faith’ by jumping into a union apprentice program to learn the plumbing trade. Always comfortable working with her father’s tools during her childhood, she overcame multiple challenges to earn the respect of the experienced men plumbers, who nicknamed her “TPG” for tiny plumber girl. Eventually, she started her own business.
FAMILY BACKGROUND
Kelly Ireland (KI) was born in Northeast Philadelphia but moved with her family at age 13 to an adjoining suburb, Delaware County, PA., as one of 10 children: seven girls and three boys. Her father’s job as a union plumber involved the use of CAD (computer assisted design) to devise plumbing systems for high rise buildings. Her mother was a homemaker.
CHILDHOOD
As a young girl, KI accompanied her father once a year, in April, on ‘Take Your Daughter To Work Day” as they visited high rise buildings to check the progress of plumbing system installations he had designed and helped install. Even though this was a positive learning experience, neither father nor daughter ever thought a future career for her was in the making.
KI recalls her father telling people that of his 10 children, the only one he could envision following him into the plumbing field was her, “probably because I used to raid his garage for tools.”
EDUCATION – PART ONE
Following her high school graduation, KI was encouraged by her parents to attend college. But KI, unsure of her adult career path, initially didn’t want to go to college. Then she decided to give it “the old college try” and enrolled in a local university’s nursing program. Thinking she would eventually enjoy learning all aspects required to be a licensed nurse, KI devoted herself to her academic studies but after returning for her junior year, realized she still wasn’t sufficiently interested in nursing as a career so – without a specific new plan – she left college, hoping to find a more interesting career direction.
KI’s decision to change her career path, which would have required several more years of nursing classes and practical clinical experience before taking the nursing licensing exam, was likely influenced by the timing of getting married and wanting to start a family with her husband.
FIRST ADULT JOBS ARE NEVER A BINDING CAREER COMMITMENT
After dropping out of college, KI went to work in a variety of jobs, from Qdoba and Swiss Farms to The Bagel Factory. She needed a job to help support the family but a ‘job’ – show up, follow management’s instructions to complete the tasks, then go home and repeat the same routine the next day and every day thereafter – is not the same as a ‘career’ – where the worker is so interested in what he or she is doing, that the goal is to continue learning how to perform any tasks better while trying to earn promotions – or start your own business – to be trusted with more responsibilities and better income.
SOMETIMES A NEW CAREER PATH EMERGES UNEXPECTEDLY
KI and her husband needed health insurance for themselves and their children. So KI’s father encouraged her husband to apply for a plumbing union apprenticeship. But “he kept dragging his feet about going to apply because he was a chef and not really interested in changing his career just to obtain health insurance. Finally, I just got aggravated and went to the union and applied for myself,” said KI.
(KI and her husband have since divorced.)
PURSUING A DIFFERENT CAREER – PLUMBING NEEDS EDUCATION PART TWO
KI was accepted into the union’s plumber apprenticeship program – only a small percentage are accepted, requiring a high school diploma, and passing several physical and mental aptitude tests. Once accepted, the apprentice must complete – while being paid apprentice rate wages – a five-year course requiring 500 hours of classroom learning, drafting and blueprint reading plus proficiency in math, physics, and chemistry.
Through hard work in the classroom and at job sites while being initially supervised by experienced plumbers, KI advanced through the ranks of ‘Journeyman’ plumbers, eventually passing a test to become a ‘Master Plumber.’
“From a first-year clueless go-getter, to now entering my 12th year as a Master Plumber, I don’t think that younger girl had any clue about the road she was taking or that she was starting a career that would become her passion,” KI has said. “I enjoyed it from the very beginning. I felt like this was where I was meant to be.”
CHALLENGE – SEEKING BIG RESPONSIBILITIES
When she first entered the plumbing field, KI found that the few women who were in the predominantly male field of plumbing, usually went into maintenance. However, it was the commercial field that excited KI so she ignored the odds and the disproportionate gender ratio and followed her dream, going to work on huge projects like high-rises, apartment buildings, dormitories and hospitals while working for big commercial plumbing companies on such projects as:
- dormitories at Drexel University and University of Pennsylvania
- Penn Pavilion Hospital and Chester County Hospital
- Cafeteria at Independence Blue Cross
- Children’s Hospital – here she laid out the plumbing for the entire building when CHOP built the Roberts Center for Pediatric Research
- Laying out and installing the plumbing system for the Comcast Technology Center, the tallest building in Philadelphia and in the entire state of Pennsylvania
CHALLENGE – PHYSICAL RISKS
While on the job at CHOP, KI was laying on the South Street Bridge, working on pipes while a giant storm brewed. A gust of wind launched a big piece of plywood from the job site, blowing it forcibly into her back, fracturing three vertebrae. This freak accident caused KI to be laid up for three months but didn’t keep her down for long. Working hard toward recovery, KI returned to her hard hat and work boots routine as quickly as she was cleared by her doctor for returning to work.
CHALLENGE – COPING WITH GENDER DISCRIMINATION
Although KI loved learning her plumbing skills to increase her proficiency almost daily, ‘it wasn’t all sunrises and rainbows on the job’ during her early years. She had to continually battle men’s attitudes and prejudices toward ‘a woman in a man’s world’ especially on the CHOP jobsite.
“I would get so overwhelmed sometimes,” KI recalls. “I had little support from the men on the job as the only female. Some guys were great and extremely helpful, but others would tell crude jokes or say mean things. Sometimes men would talk to everyone around me and act like I was invisible, not even there. All I want to do is be a plumber and do my job and do it right. I love what I do and I’m darn good at it. Not everyone is always willing to accept that a woman can do this job as well as any man.”
Not every male plumber was threatened or intimidated by KI. She gained respect and comradeship because she “knew her stuff” and was always eager to learn.
On one of the jobs, the men nicknamed her “TPG,” an acronym for “tiny plumber girl.” She didn’t mind the good-natured pseudonym, formulated with lighthearted intention, and eventually adopted it as her own company’s name.
During her years working at the Comcast building, KI started an Instagram account to post the progress of the monumental job. In addition to gaining a following, KI began to meet other female plumbers. Until then, she had only met one other female plumber in the union, who was in maintenance at University of Penn Hospital. “She was as glad to meet me as I was to meet her,” KI said. “Finally, I had contact with another female in a male world.”
MENTOR’S HELP AND FAMILY SUPPORT ARE EACH INVALUABLE
Ki credits much of her success in the plumbing trade to Chris Tucker, a plumbing contractor who believed in her, saw her potential and mentored and encouraged her. She also says her parents have been her greatest, steadfast supporters.
“I know my parents are proud of me, but honestly, there is no way that I could be where I’m at if it weren’t for them,” she said. “If it weren’t for my dad, I would have never found my passion or career path. My parents helped me every step of the way, especially with my kids, and so did my siblings. I have a great family support system and my parents are fabulous role models.”
STARTING HER OWN BUSINESS
Soon after passing her Master Plumber test, COVID hit, and the big projects came to a halt. She was laid off. The tiny plumber girl began to get lots of calls for drain cleaning. People were staying home and working from home so residential plumbing problems were becoming rampant. “With the toilet paper crises at the start of the pandemic, people were flushing wipes, causing a lot of clogs. My phone began ringing off the hook,” she remembers. “I was suddenly swamped with work.”
It was then that KI founded ‘TPG Mechanical LLC’ and stopped collecting her government unemployment compensation because her pandemic business took off. “I do no advertising whatsoever with my business,” says KI. “I have no website. It has been strictly word of mouth (from each satisfied customer to the next).”
KI’s business takes her around the Philadelphia suburbs and Center City to Fishtown, West Philly and other parts of the city and tri-state area. It’s all residential work, much of it involving replacing cast iron pipes which are often at the end of their service lifetimes and other updates to plumbing systems.
“In the beginning, I liked commercial work a lot better than residential,” says KI. “However, the ability to help a person having a home plumbing issue and solving it for them – I have to admit is super rewarding. I have really grown to like it. My goal is to focus on being a service contractor in the residential sector.”
KI enjoys mentoring other women and has joined the website “matriarchybuild.com” which provides a network of women in a wide range of trades who will connect with other women who are tackling a project or need construction advice or consultations.
Her company, “TPG” for short, is active in Women in Non-Traditional Careers, an organization for current Philadelphia-area tradeswomen in construction, manufacturing, and transportation to support one another and plan activities. When time permits, she also volunteers for the Poor People’s Army (a charitable organization promoting better lives for people living below the ‘poverty line.’)
BEING SKILLED AND UNIQUE MAY BRING SPECIAL CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
In addition to her Instagram acting as a connector to other females in the trades, the social media platform has presented KI with several unexpected opportunities:
- In the 2020 USA World Plumbers Tour, KI represented Pennsylvania.
- Also in 2020, KI was contacted by the designers of The House That She Built, who invited her to Utah to be part of the plumbing team on their project to highlight and utilize women professionals, skilled tradeswomen, and women-owned companies for all stages of their construction project. “The project showed we can do this, and it raised awareness that women are thriving in the trades, and women should see the trades as a very real career option,” said KI.
- The team at “Ask This Old House” recruited KI to appear as the Master Plumber on the show in Season 21, Episode 18 of the PBS program.
CAREER SATISFACTION
“Working on the Comcast Building and the CHOP building are two of my most favorite memories,” says KI. “I used to get up really early so I could get to the top of the building and watch the sun rise. It was just so beautiful and so awesome!”
Standing at 4 feet 11 inches, the petite KI has gained the respect of all who know her and made a stellar name for herself in a competitive, male-dominated business.
“Not to toot my own horn, but I’m really good at my trade and I take immense pride in my work,” says KI. “I absolutely love what I do!”
“I’m at a good point in my life – I’m happy at home and at work,” KI says. “Despite my small stature, I know people get stunned when they first see me on a job. But I love big work, challenging work. As soon as they see me working, they are convinced, because I know what I’m doing and I’m a hustler. I can run circles around anyone!”
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This career story is based on several sources: primarily a news article written by Peg DeGrassa, published by The Daily Times (Delaware County, PA) on August 6, 2023, plus internet research.
