Location, Location, Location

Jerrod Donnell does a little woodwork in his spare time when he and his crew aren’t doing plumbing work with Alpine Plumbing & Mechanical. Donnell recently contracted to purchase a well-positioned building on East Second Street from David Wallace of Precision Automotive. He expects to be operating from the location in the next few weeks.

Jerrod Donnell has a few friends in good places. 

Like, really good places. 

One of them is David Wallace, owner of Precision Automotive. 

And Wallace has one of the most-highly visible buildings in The Dalles - 822 E. Second Street - just east of Dinty’s Market and a block west of the round-about. 

Or, well, he did. 

Donnell, the 31-year-old owner of Alpine Plumbing & Mechanical, has just contracted to purchase the building from Wallace and is in the process of getting it ready. The two have been friends for years.

With 1,500 square feet of floor space and some 300 in a loft, Donnell said he was excited to start operating from it in the next few weeks.

So why that location? Why now?

The Dalles is ready to “pop off,” he said, noting homes are selling fast and he has noticed people from out of state willing to come in and purchase multiple properties for cash.

So it made sense to get a little more visible.

They are moving from their site next to Crestline Construction in the Port of The Dalles.   

Last week, he and his crew put a new coat of epoxy on the floor, painted the interior of the new location, and new signs are ordered. He estimated they were putting $50,000 into the renovation. 

He was preparing some sliding barn doors to install in the entry between the office space and the bays on Monday night. 

Donnell is the son of plumber Marty Donnell of Donnell Plumbing. Jerrod said he grew up working in the business with his father. He is in the class of TDHS 2007.

New Alpine Plumbing & Mechanical Building at the east end of Second Street downtown The Dalles.

He later moved to Portland and worked for Reliant Plumbing, a business he said that went from 5 to 65 employees during his time there.

Within that business, he was put in charge of doing estimates for jobs. He said work included Providence Hospitals and Wilsonville Subaru.  “That was a different job,” he said of doing the auto shop. The plumbing installed was for airlines, oil lines, antifreeze pipping, and the like. 

He moved back to The Dalles and started Alpine five years ago with customers including Adams Construction, Hageman Builders, Bustos Construction, and Curtis Homes.

And the plumbing can take his team about anywhere in the state. He said they’ve done jobs in Aurora, Gold Beach, Snoqualmie.

Alpine Plumbing has a total of eight employees, four plumbers, three doing excavation work, and an office manager. Donnell said he was content with keeping the crew number static until it is clear that the economy and COVID-19 issues won’t thwart development.

Donnell has a two-year-old-daughter and is married to Jessica, who is a dental hygienist with Dentist Haley Easling at The Dalles Dental Care, 501 E. 7th St.

Donnell said he couldn’t wait for warmer temps and parades.

“We’re going to open these bay doors and barbeque,” he said.