RENOVATION with a purepose

“I was six or seven when I started working with my dad. After getting fired for doing side work, he borrowed money from my grandparents, bought a van and started Mike Rooney’s Sewer Service. He had full custody so I went with him on jobs. He had no choice but to teach us. If Dad was working, you were holding the flashlight. If he was fixing something, you were helping. He’d be waiting when I got off the school bus and say, ‘We’ve got jobs.’

I stopped working with him around 18 to pursue education. I was studying to be a history teacher, working in food service and as a custodian at Jackson College. Then, when I was 20, my father passed away.

One of the things I kept of his was his phone.

Months later during a vacation, I checked it. Dozens of people wanted work to be done. I even got a call from Barb at Star Bar who thought I was my dad. She was like, ‘Mike? Oh my God, I heard you were dead. I’m so glad you’re alive.’ And I go, ‘Barb, it’s not my dad, it’s Tommy.’ They call me Tommy. What’s going on?” She said her sink was clogged, and I told her I’d fix it.

When I realized how many people were attached to my dad and the business, I decided that was what I needed to do. That moment told me: people trusted my dad and they trusted our name. They remembered me from when I was five, and trusted me, too. I came home and started Tom Rooney Sewer Service, switched my major to business and stayed in Jackson.

Eventually, I started Rooney’s Handyman and Hauling Service. Sewer work was hard, but it got me in the door. I kept it running until 2018, when I sold it to my biggest competitor. The work paid well, but I was done with 24/7 sewer emergencies, especially with kids.

Now I do renovations, including gutters, siding and kitchens. I take a lot of pride in my work, but someone once told me, ‘You sold them on the Tom Rooney experience, not the sewer business.’ And she was right. That attitude of personal service is what I bring to every job now.

I’m proud of Jackson. I’m on the Jackson College Alumni Board, I’m a Rotarian. I’ve seen blighted buildings torn down, new homes built, more diversity in businesses.

My dad never left Jackson. Neither did I. He loved this town. My whole family went to school and got married here. Where some kids grow up in families who bash their hometown, I didn’t. I heard pride. Jackson folks are different. It’s Midwest mentality. Be polite, helpful and reliable. They’ll clean their own gutters, help find a lost dog, step in during a crisis. That’s the kind of person I want to be and the kind of people I want to work for.”

—Tom Rooney, Renovations Plus Handyman and Cleaning Service
(517) 740-5500