There is no stopping Warren and Kristie Haist once they set their sights on something.
The couple moved to Collingwood just over five years ago, and in the fall of 2018 they accomplished their dream of opening a Collingwood/Blue Mountains PuroClean franchise.
Not even two years later, balancing parenthood and a new puppy, the power couple was named PuroClean’s Canadian Rookie of the Year at the franchise’s first-ever virtual award ceremony earlier this summer.
“Every day is different, there is no day that is alike and it’s exciting,” said Warren. “So far it’s a great career and we have a great team that we owe everything to. We are so thankful.”
Operating across Canada and in the United States, PuroClean is an emergency restoration company that specializes in restoring property damages caused by water, fire, mould and biohazard in both homes and businesses.
It’s this ability to help people that enticed the Collingwood couple to consider opening a restoration company several years prior.
“When people need help, we are there to answer their call,” said Warren. “We do everything we can to help them the best we can.”
With over 25 years of experience in the construction industry, Warren has been running his own company, C2C Contracting, with his wife for the past 15 years. Kristie brings an equal amount of experience in sales and customer service, and has served as the Accounts Manager to her husband’s construction company since its inception.
The ability to mix Warren’s knowledge of construction — and his experience answering insurance claims over the years — with Kristie’s managerial experience and both their passion for helping people, made restoration seem like the perfect expansion opportunity.
“It’s a great feeling you get helping people. It’s almost addictive. You just want to go do it every day,” said Warren.
Warren and Kristie started looking at restoration franchises, and after three years of research and another year contacting different brands, they finally settled on PuroClean.
“If you had asked me 20 years ago if I would own my own restoration franchise I would say no, but after going through what we have been through the last five years, I should have done it sooner,” said Warren.
The COVID-19 pandemic rocked the restoration industry much like everything else, but the duo was determined not to let it deter them.
“It affected us greatly. I can’t emphasize that enough,” said Warren. “It took us down a lot of notches. But we stayed open, and we are coming out of COVID even stronger.”
The Collingwood/Blue Mountains PuroClean office on Ronell Crescent now has 10 staff members, and Warren and Kristie said they owe all of their success to their team.
“We were surprised to be awarded the Rookie of the Year, but we also set goals for ourselves and our team and all of our team members hit these goals and then some. We are so grateful and thankful, we couldn’t do it without them,” said Warren.
While Warren and Kristie continue to grow, they are thankful to have each other as support.
“We both have our roles and we don’t really work together all that often. Where we thrive together is strategy, how to grow the business and where to go from here,” Warren said.
“She truly is my best friend, and when you get to live your life and be in business with your best friend, it makes it really easy.”
