Interview with Joanne MacKintosh

Q: Joanne, I understand that you recently came on board with the ASHI Western Washington Chapter as Executive Director. How did that come to be?

A: The position evolved over several months of discussions. The state insists on reviewing all of our educational materials now, which added a significant layer of complexity to an already difficult undertaking for the chapter leadership. My job is primarily to support the chapter officers and to provide some continuity from one year to the next. As anyone who has been a chapter officer knows, it can be a very time-consuming job. It’s difficult to organize a two-day chapter seminar from the front seat of a pick-up, or to wage a battle with the legislature after doing two inspections. For example, I work with the education chair to help find speakers, line out a venue and make sure the caterer has enough food for a gang of 100 home inspectors.

Q: But why you?

A: I was an ASHI home inspector in my previous life and had been treasurer and president of the chapter at different times. I have been involved with the chapter since 1991 when my husband, Bruce MacKintosh (MacK), first joined ASHI and soon after became chapter president himself. I stopped doing inspections a few years ago when our son joined the company but was still in contact with the local Board members. I still do the accounting and sometimes edit reports for our firm, but primarily they eased me out. I can be pretty organized and have a really good idea of what the chapter officers need help with. The main idea is for me to keep things from falling through the cracks so the chapter can continue to benefit its membership.

Q: So, you and your husband worked together? 

A: MacK started his company, Centennial Home Inspection, in 1989, and I started working with him in 1991. I talked myself into quitting my job/career at the time, justifying it by telling him that if we worked together that “only” one or two inspections a week could make up the difference. I think we were in the midst of trying to find our third nanny in as many months. We wouldn’t have to pay for daycare, a professional wardrobe or gas for commuting, so it all made sense to me. Quitting my job sounded wonderful.

I soon went from answering the phone and editing reports to following him around on inspections. Well, that wasn’t very efficient, so we eventually divided the inspection in half, and then began doing separate inspections. This occurred over several years as our two children progressed through school.

Working together with our own company enabled us to schedule activities with our children, work around their ball games and drive and chaperone class field trips. Of course, owning your own business also allows you to work to midnight and to decide that maybe you can’t afford that big family vacation this year. 

Q: How did clients accept you?

A: Do you mean, as a woman? In the home inspection field, it was so gradual that it never seemed to be an issue. The novelty always seemed to be that we were a husband and wife team, working together. 

I have always worked in male-dominated fields. On a lark, I headed to Alaska in 1974 and found myself in the midst of the Alyeska Pipeline construction. I worked in the main office doing accounting and then drafting. It didn’t take long to realize that it was the men living in the construction camps up and down the pipeline who were making the big bucks. In the beginning, women were not even allowed in the camps. I remember flying up north in a bush plane with the idea of touring the camps. When the pilot radioed in to land at one of the camps, he was told that if there were women aboard he would not be cleared to land. The camp had apparently already been visited by “unauthorized” groups of women. 

That was the end of a cultural revolution. Management finally relented and women were allowed to take jobs in the camps. I worked in several different camps north of the Brooks Range. That was all a great experience. After a couple years, I came out of Alaska with $25,000 in savings and took myself back to Seattle and got a civil engineering degree. I worked with heavy construction firms. MacK and I first met on the SR520 project, where he was a foreman and I was a junior engineer. I was working on the West Seattle bridge project while I was nine months pregnant. I think there were 113 steps to the top! My crew finally insisted that I stay on the ground. They didn’t want to have to strap me to a load of lumber if I went into labor. 

Q: What was the most challenging aspect/day/period of your home inspection career?

A: Easy. Going out by myself for the first time. Another challenging time was the result of MacK having a ladder “malfunction” and taking a tumble onto a driveway. He was laid up while his pelvis knitted back together and then while recovering from shoulder surgery. These had to be done consecutively so that he was somewhat mobile. I became essentially a “one-man” show at that point. 

Q: What’s in store for the future?

A: At this point in my life, we are trying to retire. I function in support roles for Centennial as well as the chapter and I am okay with that. I support a great group of licensed professionals on a very part-time basis. My main support role is as Gr’nanny to my grandson. I see my daughter and her family almost every day, and my son every work day. Life is good.