Our Story
From Gary to Detroit — and back home to Chicago
The honest road behind GRP Chicago.
By Yusuf Muhammad — Founder of GRP Chicago
My name is Yusuf Muhammad, and I seriously started plumbing about 12–13 years ago. Moved from Gary, Indiana out to Detroit with a plumbing certification, my tools, my equipment, and a handful of investors who believed in me. Detroit is where I got my hands-on training — out in the field, teaching myself the trade one job at a time.
Being a Black Muslim in the Nation of Islam — with mosques everywhere and me coming straight out of headquarters in Chicago — created a little sensation when I showed up at the mosque in Detroit. I was a dedicated member, putting in work for the Nation, and the brothers and sisters knew I brought that same work ethic to my plumbing — no job too small, no call I wouldn't take. Word started getting around.
And here's the part most plumbers won't tell you: I was charging peanuts. On purpose. I didn't want to charge full plumber rates while I was still mastering the fundamentals. That wouldn't have been right. So I kept my prices low, kept my work honest, and let the craft speak for itself.
The work started piling up. Mosque jobs, investor jobs, neighborhood jobs — all stacking on top of each other. That's how GRP was really built: not from marketing, but from showing up, doing the work right, and treating people fair.
What brought me back to Chicago was honestly: finances, family, and heartbreak — the trifecta God used to bring me home. I believe life is a journey orchestrated by God Himself. When we lose that connection, we go astray and Satan finds easy pickings. But as long as we keep that connection, He leads us right. Religion is the conduit that carries faith — the wiring that channels God's power through to the person ready to receive it. Whatever tradition or religion you stand in, that's the line between you and the Source.
Back in Chicago, I linked up with a local company and got paired with the man who'd change everything for me — my plumbing mentor, Ted. I learned the fundamentals in Detroit, but Ted taught me how to plumb correctly. He showed me the craft the right way — the standards, the precision, the discipline behind doing it like a true professional. Everything I know about doing the job right, I owe to him.
The moment this all clicked for me wasn't one big job — it was a pattern. Single mothers. Distressed families. Folks honestly telling me they just couldn't afford it, so they were going without. I'd figure out the problem, solve it, and watch the relief on their face. Then I learned there's a name for what I was seeing: plumbing poverty. In a lot of our urban communities, plumbing is so unaffordable that people live with broken systems for years. That's when the mission locked in.
That's also where the name comes from. GRP stands for God's Regional Plumbing. It's God's region, and my job is to plumb it. I shield it sometimes by calling it "Greater Region Plumbing," but the real name is the one I just told you. My mission with GRP Chicago is to liberate our urban cities from plumbing poverty — one home at a time. I can't fix a whole city by myself, but I'm going to try.
A recent stroke changed how I work — but not what I stand for. It pushed me to build GRP into something bigger than one man with a wrench: a system that puts knowledge, fair pricing, and real backup in your hands, whether I'm on the job site or guiding you from the website.
Now I'm bringing that same approach home to Chicago, Gary, and Joliet — but evolved. Custom DIY guides for homeowners who want to do it themselves because of this new economy. Pro backup for the ones who need a hand. And an Association Program for folks who'd rather hand the wrench over but still want to be treated like family.
Why the DIY option? Because times have changed. Service calls keep climbing, families are stretching every dollar, and a lot of the work I get called for is honestly something a homeowner can handle themselves with the right guidance. I'd walk you through it, give you a custom plan written for your house, and save you the markup — rather than charge you a fortune for a job that didn't call for a service charge. That's not bad business; that's how I'd want my own family treated.
Same hands. Same heart. More ways to help.
— Yusuf Muhammad, Founder