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The Daily Oklahoman, Thursday, March
30, 2000
Plumbing This Woman's Work
Minority Role has its advantages
By Gregory Potts
Jean Prockish, owner of Jean's
Plumbing, doesn't mind being a distinct minority in her field.
In fact, Prockish believes that being a woman plumber has helped more
than hurt her. Her business has grown so rapidly - she estimates that it
grew 35 percent in 1999 alone - she can only spend about half her time
doing hands-on work and the rest on business management.
Prockish hopes that her Oklahoma City company's growth is due to a good
reputation. But something else helped her plumbing business grow.
"I think being a woman had something to do with it," she said. "I've had
a lot of women call who would rather see a woman in their house than a
man. For a long time, as long as I could, I would always put a woman
with a man for that purpose. They never minded if a man came a long, but
they felt comfortable with a woman. We have grown such that I can't do
that anymore. I don't have the right ratio."
Likewise, many elderly customers seem to like having a woman plumber.
"I have a tender spot in my heart for old people because they are abused
so much it is incredible," Prockish said.
She is a bit of a rarity. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that
women made up only 1.8 percent of all plumbers and pipe fitters
nationally in 1999. Ant the percentage of women plumbers hasn't
increased much in recent years - indicating that few young women are
drawn to plumbing.
Prockish's successes are all the more remarkable considering that she
has had two serious bouts with cancer. She was diagnosed with breast
cancer in 1990 and underwent a mastectomy and chemotherapy. The
experience made her think.
"It just told me more and more how I should do what I had to do with the
time I have because I don't know how much time that is," she said.
Many people have asked Prockish how she could have gotten into plumbing
- a field that many associate with sewage. Prockish insists that the
messy stuff is only a small part of the work when compared to such
things as building construction and faucet repairs.
"I wanted to do something physical instead of sitting at a desk," she
said. She also likes plumbing because she already knew something about
it, and she felt it offered her an opportunity to help people.
When Prockish began studying plumbing at the Moore-Norman Vo Tech School
in 1993, it wasn't her first time to enter a nontraditional field. Years
earlier, she had become one of few women working as an engineering
technician for a structural engineering firm.
Going to plumbing school was a big risk, though. She left a job in which
she was making about $35,000 to go to school three years in an
apprenticeship earning a little more than minimum wage.
"It was a big gamble," she said.
But it's a gamble that paid off. Prockish excelled in her training,
winning first place in an Oklahoma statewide competition for adult
plumbing students two years in a row. The she won second place in a
national competition for adult plumbing students. Then in 1994, at age
36, while still in training, she was struck with a recurrence of cancer,
this time requiring a lumpectomy, chemotherapy, radiation and a bone
marrow transplant.
But Prockish bounced back again and says her health has been good during
her six-year remission.
Jean's Plumbing began in 1996 with just herself and a business partner.
(Her partner since has gone on to start his own plumbing business.)
After only six months, the pair had hired two additional plumbers and
bought a second truck.
Today, Prockish has a fleet of four trucks and a staff of five licensed
plumbers and three apprentices.
The biggest challenge Prockish faces today is keeping up with demand,
especially because of scant labor and abundant construction work in the
metro area.
"There's more work out there available right now than we've got people
to fill these positions," Prockish said.
She would like to expand her company, but says the labor just isn't
available. Early on, she said she once hired someone too hastily. Before
long, thousands of dollars worth of equipment was missing. So, she
learned to be selective about hiring, even if she must pass up some
opportunities.
Today, Prockish serves on the advisory board for the plumbing program at
Moore-Norman. She also speaks regularly at the school to women who are
trying to re-enter the work force after divorces or after being on
welfares, as well as to other new students at the school.
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