Women in Plumbing: Erica Sullivan, Erica's Plumbing, Air Conditioning & Restoration, CEO

As we celebrate Women’s History Month and Women in Construction Week, Plumbing & Mechanical is shining the spotlight on 10 influential women who are leading the plumbing industry to great success.

Meet Erica Sullivan, CEO of Erica's Plumbing, Air Conditioning & Restoration

What made you choose a career in the plumbing industry?

ES: This is my 15th year in business. Maybe it's in my DNA. My father was a plumber. But I don't give him credit for getting me into it — I had a marketing company prior to me starting the business. I was going to college for business, and I got into sales and marketing. I was doing really well. And I quit school and opened this marketing company with a friend. Things got slow, and at the time, I was dating a plumber, and it just kind of all clicked. I love owning a business. I realized that through the marketing thing. And plumbing is just brilliant. You'll always have clients. So, I went and got my plumbing license, and opened my plumbing company in 2009 in my garage by myself with a truck. Within six months, I had an employee, and just grew it from there. And now we're a multi-million-dollar, multi trade company. We have 24 employees and provide plumbing, air conditioning and restoration services — like water damage and mold remediation.

What has been the most rewarding/proudest aspect of your career in the plumbing industry?

ES: That's hard — there's so many things. All the tests I take, they all say that I should definitely be a boss, I should be an entrepreneur. So, I know I'm doing exactly what I'm supposed to do. That's rewarding to know that and this does bring me happiness, running a business like this no matter what it was. But really what brings me happiness is making our clients happy, saving the day for them and growing my employees. I have people who maybe didn't have a great start in life or don't have a great background, and they come here on a second chance at life, and we provide them a career and a future. I watch them get married, have kids and buy their first home. For me, that's really rewarding to see my people grow. Those are my greatest accomplishments. Growing a business from a garage to a multi-million-dollar company, that's a great accomplishment. But I think it's more about the people, from the clients to my employees.

What challenges do women face in this profession? Why aren’t there more women in plumbing? How can we increase the number of women in the industry?

ES: I don't think that women should be challenged by anything in any profession. And that's probably why I am here in a male-dominated industry doing what I'm doing because I don't look at things that way. I don't think women should be held back in any way. It's really a mindset. If you have the right mindset, you can succeed in anything.

In the field, working alongside men, they were kind of like, "Oh, you can do this? That's different." That was one thing. As the company owner hiring men that were older than me, I had some who would say, "Oh, you own the company. I'm going to be taking directions from you. I can't come in for this interview." So, there were those challenges, which was crazy to me. So, I decided to hire people who had the right mindset, the right culture or who were younger than me that I could shape and mold to not have those issues.

Then there were the customers in that aspect. Women loved that it was a woman plumber coming over to take care of their plumbing issue. They were the ones staying home. They're the one calling the plumber. They're like, “Oh my gosh, a woman showed up and is taking care of my problems. I love this. I feel comfortable. I feel confident.” It was a no-brainer. But there were challenges where some men would be like, “You're going to fix my water heater?” And I was like, "Well, if you knew how to do it, you wouldn't have called me, right?" I had to earn their respect. And once I was able to fix the problem, I did that. I have some men who are customers for life because of that.

I don't think that people ever talk to women about the possibility of going into a trade. They don't talk to men or women, or girls or boys about going into a trade. All they push is college. Which is really unfortunate for the trades because people can have such a great life in the trades, make a great living for their families, make this a career. But no one talks to people about it. They talk about being a police officer, a nurse, a teacher. No one's like, "Oh, what about a plumber, or an electrician or an HVAC technician?"

I personally go to schools. I've done career fairs at the middle school level and at the high school level, because I feel like if we're not telling these kids the things that they can do, and not everyone's cut out for college. If boys aren't even being taught this, girls definitely aren't being exposed to what they can do. I just try to do my part injecting into that locally.

What advice do you have for prospective women considering entering the plumbing industry?

ES: If they even have a conversation or a thought about something like it, they should do it. Why not go do an internship? Work a summer, come try it out. Because you'd be surprised at how many people like being outdoors, not stuck in an office, or go to a different client every single day. How much they would enjoy the feeling of helping a person. That is personally rewarding for women because we care. We care about people. And you can fix things and care for them. We leave the house cleaner than the way we found it. We go in, we fix something, we clean it all up, we wipe it down. It's just like doctors have bedside manner, and nurses care for people. Well, the tradespeople can care for people and their homes. And I think it's a really rewarding field for women.

What’s one thing nobody knows about you?

ES: I am obsessed with fishing and free diving. I love the ocean. It's my serenity place. It's quiet. It brings me peace. And offshore fishing just gives me all the things I need outside of work.