Road Warrior Mike Durbin
Name: Mike Durbin Nickname: Durbs Company: M. Durbin Plumbing Solutions Job Title: President Born/Lives in: Kitchener, ON Age: 36 In the industry since: 2003 Service area: Waterloo Region
Mike Durbin:
The bigger the job the better
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here was a time in Mike Durbin’s life that hockey was the only thing on his mind. But a summer job working with a pool company with his older brother put another idea into his head. “I liked working with water heaters and filtration equipment and making it look better than the other guys. It made me think plumbing might be right for me.”
Sylvia Pond Photography
He also discovered he had a passion for precision. “I thought it was cool using a level and matching things perfectly. I hard piped it all to make it look good rather than using flexible piping.” After that, a stint as a bartender gave the final push to become a plumber. A regular customer who owned a plumbing company offered him a job, and things took off from there. He worked for more than 10 years, getting his certification in 2009. In 2014, he was ready to fly solo. “I worked out of an old 2006 van. It was the cheapest van with the nicest body. I decaled it right away so people would know my name and number.” His first year in business he hired two people. Now there are eight. Durbin personally prefers commercial work, because most of the jobs are new builds.
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“My favourite kind of work is multi-residential buildings. The bigger the building the better.” Their main bread and butter is big custom homes. “I’ve never plumbed a house under $1.2 million,” Durbin says. The secret his success, he says, is hard work and a willingness to try to do new stuff and learn. “I had never done a boiler system before I went out on my own. I said I could do it and figured it out. Now we’re sought after for that.” Over the years he has also become a hydronic specialist. He honed his skills on a massive project that required 30,000 sq. ft. of indoor floor heating with 27 different zones. “The way I look at it is, if somebody else can do it, why can’t I? I never say no to a job.” The best advice he ever received was from a mentor who told him that for every problem a business owner runs into, all the bigger companies have gone through the exact same situation already. “I need to figure out how to solve problems, achieve goals and reach milestones myself to get to the next level. Every time I am faced with a challenge or opportunity, I think back to that conversation and figure out how to push forward.”
