Orangeville resident Rob Sauve and wife Melanie opened their own Pillar to Post franchise last November 1st, serving the Halton Hills area as a comprehensive home inspection company.

Pillar to Post is a leader in home inspection for both the U.S.A. and Canada for anyone buying or selling a home.

Mr. Sauve, 42, is looking to the future of his new business with a positive attitude and forwardthinking outlook on his life, but it wasn’t always like that for him.

He was living on his own after the divorce of his parents when he was 17. Following the loss of his 18-year career due to downsizing, Mr. Sauve found himself motivated, and looking back on his time working construction with new hope for his future.

“I’ve always wanted to do something like this but I’ve just been struggling financially,” he said. “When I was young I had to get out on my own right away. At 17 years old I was on my own, so you fall into a path and whatever comes available is what you take and to start over it’s a big fear of doing something different.”

He says that when the company he had been working for initially began to go under he knew that he needed to do something to make a change for himself.

“I didn’t get all my education and have a goal when I was young. I just went for what was there and then this being something I’ve always had an interest in doing,” he said. “Remodeling or renovations – any kind of construction of that sort with the home – has always been an interest, that’s what I enjoy.”

Initially contacting a former Pillar to Post owner and discussing whether this job was right for him, he found this decision to seek out advice helped to guide him to the path he is on now.

“It’s a home inspection business, so what I do is I go in and I offer an unbiased piece of mind to a potential home buyer as to the elements in the home – just the sound body of it – so that they could make a good decision on whether or not it’s what they want,” said Mr. Sauve. “It tells them all the stuff about the house before they buy it, so that’s what a home inspection is, it’s a visual inspection.”

Some components of a visual inspection include structure and foundation, electrical, roofs and attics, basements, walls and floors, as well as the property. Furnaces and air conditioning as well as plumbing fixtures in kitchens and baths are also part of a Pillar to Post inspection. In addition, Mr. Sauve says, his franchise can also deal with testing for indoor air quality, radon and mould.

Mr. Sauve has had many challenges along the way to success, apart from his parents’ divorce and subsequent house situation, as well as the loss of his 18-year career. At the age of 30, and just after the birth of his daughter, Mr. Sauve was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease.

“I went through chemotherapy and radiation. I continued to work, I needed money, I had a house and I had the family that I had to support,” he said. “The only days that I didn’t work was when I was at Peel Memorial (hospital) getting the chemotherapy.”

He is now cancerfree but knows that he was given a second chance at life. He admits to a stubbornness that made him overlook the symptoms that were right in front of him.

He is working to make sure that he doesn’t take anything for granted in this second life.

Having made his “big break” into being a business owner he can only hope for the best. He says to anyone who has an idea for success to go for it, and not to let the people around you tell you that you can’t do it.