Harold MacDonald - Plumber

       The entrepreneur I decided to write about is my father who has owned his own plumbing business for over 5 years now. My father started off in the plumbing business after coming back from a tour in the Navy when he was 21 years old. He joined the union and became an apprentice for a couple years as he moved his way up in the company he worked for at the time, Saia Plumbing. He eventually became a journeyman plumber, which is a licensed plumber who can complete jobs alone. He worked for Saia until around 1991 when he was laid off and got another job at W.L. Gary Plumbing company in D.C.

            My father worked for W.L. Gary for over fifteen years and in that time became a Master Plumber, the highest skill and licensed level a plumber can achieve. Throughout his time with W.L. Gary my father became one of the company’s most trusted and hard working employees and was offered a higher paying job as a supervisor. My father declined the job offer because of his love for being hands on and actually doing the work instead of inspecting it.

Around 2005 my father left W.L. Gary to start his own plumbing business. He is now the owner of MacDonald Plumbing LLC where he is the main plumber for the company and basically runs a one man business. On larger jobs he will hire some of his old friends from the business and even me as his apprentice. My dad is a very busy man, taking care of all the customer jobs and while maintaining the legal documents and certifications he must have to keep his business legit. His philosophy on owning his own business is that if he can get paid by a larger company for doing the same work as he can by just being the sole profiteer of his own company. My father is his own boss, and still is one of the hardest working people I have ever met. His expectations and goals don’t stop, he only wants to make himself and his business more successful.