About - Norms Mobile, History, Team, Plumbing and Heating, Nanaimo

About Us

Every successful individual knows that his or her achievement depends on a community of people working together.

Our History

Reliable Service From a Company You Can Trust

In 1971, Orville Wagar bought Norms Mobile service from the founder, Norm LaBurge. Orville Decided to keep the original name since Norm had a wide variety of clients that already knew the name.

Orville grew up in Alberta as a farm boy. He dropped out of school at a young age to make a life for himself, learning the trades at an early age. He worked hard, learned lots on his own time, and was determined to succeed. He worked in many areas of the trade, such as instrumentation, plumbing, heating, steam fitting, and much more. He soon became an exceptionally good tradesman, and leaders quickly began to recognize him. It wasn’t long until he started running big industrial jobs of his own.

Orville later moved to BC, and eventually Nanaimo. He had worked with Norms for a few years before deciding to buy the company from him. It was Orville’s chance to fire up his entrepreneurial spirit and give it his all.

During its early stages, Orville would service Oil Burners, keeping Nanaimo’s residents warm in the cold dark winters. Throughout the year he would also tackle any plumbing disasters his customers threw his way. After some years, Orville started to bring on more people, and grow his business. He eventually bought out another plumbing company and even a sheet metal fabrication company.

Fast forward about 12 years, Orville had his son-in-law, Dave, working for him to help grow the business and learn the trade for himself. Norm’s Plumbing and Heating took off; they grew a loyal customer base that valued the great customer service that Norm’s offered. They battled night and day to keep Nanaimo’s residents warm with their heating services and made sure clean running water was always available with their plumbing services.

The economy went down during the years, and Norm’s went from a crew of 16 down to 3. Times were tough for the crew, but they continued to fight to stay alive. They went back to their roots, focusing on customer satisfaction, quality workmanship, and being an honest company.

Eventually, hard work paid off as the economy bounced back. Their small team started to grow once again and was now starting to thrive. They acquired several really good tradesmen who quickly felt like family, and have stuck with Norm’s for years now.

From a young age, Carson, Travis, and Malcolm all grew up with each other working in and around their grandfather’s business, Norms Plumbing and Heating. The boys who were helping out the journeyman and sweeping the shop floor, are now all current owners and operators of the 52-year-old business. Each with their own respective duties, they created a dream team mentality, each putting in the hard work and dedication to grow and improve the once self run business.

The brothers are known for choosing excellence, and that is proven with their accolades. Norms plumbing and heating has been voted best plumbing and heating business in Nanaimo since 2020. They’ve also won the Small and Medium sized business award from the Nanaimo Chamber of Commerce. Their greatest award to date is the Medal Of Excellence Award. This award is granted form their partner manufacturer Bryant Heating and Cooling Systems. This award recognizes outstanding customer service and an extreme commitment to excellence. Although this award is from Bryant Heating and Cooling systems, the award exemplifies an overall achievement of business excellence. Included in that is hours of employee training, growth, customer satisfaction, respectfully. This award is extra special as no other Canadian company has ever won this award. Norms Plumbing and Heating beat out all of Canada, and all the pacific northwest united states. Only 15 businesses receive this award annually, one of them being your community partner, Norms Plumbing and Heating.

Their greatest achievement of all though, is no award. What brings the brothers the most satisfaction and pride is knowing they can run a successful business, serving thousands of families across the Nanaimo area. They can employee over 20 people, providing them a great career where they can make a difference in the community as well. It’s knowing they can share their profits with the community through their 2 donation programs, injecting over $45,000 since 2020.

Norms plumbing and Heating will continue to build upon the foundation that Orville built. Thank you, Nanaimo, and here’s to another 52 years.

community programs

Making A Difference In Our Community

Nanaimo is more than just a place to work. It’s where we grew up, where we are raising our children, and where we will always call home. We are fortunate enough to be able to support our community. Read to find out how our 2 programs impact our community in a big way!