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Derek Moreland and Mike Kolakovic - Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Derek Moreland and Mike Kolakovic, co-owners of the Mr. Rooter franchise in Toronto, are the first to receive Franchisee of the Year and Sales Leader of the Year awards in the same year. An achievement they did in 2007.
“I’ve always been a visionary and a dreamer, and I knew I wanted to be the biggest and the best,” Derek says. It was a dream that was decades in the making.
Derek emigrated from Scotland and completed his plumbing apprenticeship. He worked for various companies before starting his own business in 1985. After 10 years of “getting nowhere fast,” he got a call from the Mr. Rooter Corporation. “I was impressed with the quality of service. I knew it was the way service should be delivered, so I purchased my first territory,” Derek says.
Now they own the entire Greater Toronto area and run a 30-truck operation. Growth Derek and Mike accomplished by combining their strengths – Derek, the service side of plumbing, and Mike, the commercial work.
Mike grew up tagging along with his father on plumbing jobs. In 1987, he became an industrial plumber. Six years later he started his own company, but after a year decided to look at other options. When Mike saw a Mr. Rooter ad for technicians, he called Derek for an interview. The rest, you could say,
is history.
“We now work better than we did when we had our previous businesses,” Mike says. “I am extremely fortunate to be able to spend more time with my kids, and it’s because we use the Mr. Rooter system and have a great team working for us.”
When Mike isn’t at the shop, you can find him coaching his daughter’s soccer team, rooting for his sons at their hockey games or watching his daughter Croatian folk dance. “It’s a lot of fun,” Mike says.
“I’m also fortunate to go to Croatia every summer with the whole family for six weeks and have business carry on without skipping a beat.”
As for Derek, his son, Sean, is following in his footsteps. Sean just finished his plumbing apprenticeship and works at the shop with his dad. “It’s great,” Derek says. “I see him every day. I actually see my son more now than ever before.”
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