One of the best plumbing firms on Vancouver Island is headquartered in Sooke, says the Better Business Bureau of Vancouver Island.
For the second time in four years, Homewise Plumbing & Drainage Services was awarded a prestigious Better Business Bureau Torch award for plumbing services.
“It was a challenge for our judges to pick a winner for each Torch award category because there are so many amazing businesses, with honest, ethical business practices operating in our community,” Rosalind Scott, president and CEO of the Better Business Bureau, said.
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Homewise owner Dave Topelko is honoured by the award, but said it’s a recognition of his team of 11 staff members, all of whom take pride in the work they do.
“It all comes down to service. We try to treat every individual customer as though they are our only customer,” Topelko said.
“After all, when we’re out on a call that customer is counting on us to do the very best that we can.”
Topelko co-founded Homewise 12 years ago and has more than 39 years in the trade.
In earlier years, he worked as a pipefitter in shipyards and pulp mills, but gravitated toward service plumbing and eventually started his Sooke-based business.
“We really don’t do much new construction work. I’d rather concentrate on serving individual customers in the community,” Topelko said.
Of course, service plumbing isn’t without its challenges.
“We’ve seen some pretty strange things over the years. I’ve fished out everything from wine stoppers to hair brushes and cellphones and some of the things we’ve seen, well, we can’t even talk about. But we’ve never come up against something we can’t handle,” Topelko said.
As to the BBB award, Topelko is grateful but philosophical.
“The truth is that interacting with customers and making them happy is the best reward we can get. We just want to do a good job and keep getting better.”
A full list of Torch award winners can be found online at www.bbb.org/local-bbb/bbb-serving-vancouver-island.
mailto:tim.collins@sookenewsmirror.com
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