If Mendy Calegari had a favorite Beatles song, it might easily be “Eight Days a Week.” And even that amount of time might not be enough for the owner of Marin Roto-Rooter to accomplish all she does.

Her busy workweek, coupled with scores of community activities and her role as mom to a 7-year-old son, keeps her running. But it’s all paid off for Calegari, whose business was recognized by the Novato (California) Chamber of Commerce last year as Small Business of the Year.

Juggling a busy schedule is just one of Calegari’s more refined skills. “I have to be honest,” she says. “It’s a lot. There are sleepless nights, I guess. But why I’m here and do what I do is because I can give back to the community. For me, it’s really rewarding.”

Her community work also sets a good example for her son, Brayden (who has been around the business since his playpen days). And that family link is important to Calegari, since she learned the business from her father, Don Calegari.

Calegari is the third generation to run the family business, a locally owned franchise. The staff of 25 provides plumbing and drain cleaning services to all of Marin County (population 300,000). Her great-uncle started the business in Marin County in 1957, and her father came on full time in 1968. Eight years later, he bought the business.

Calegari grew up in the business. “I used to come in and basically hang out with dad, answer the phones — I was really young,” she recalls. “Being close to my dad just made me want to be around this.”

Calegari moved away for a while, but returned to the company 17 years ago. She has served as owner for the past five years and credits her father with being her mentor.

“I acquired my leadership skills by working alongside my dad, who is undeniably the hardest working, most generous man I know.”

That personal touch

While Calegari doesn’t work in the field, she’s involved in just about everything else the company does, imparting on the “personal touch” she learned from her father. That’s challenging in a fast-paced, technology-fueled society. “Everyone texts, everyone emails,” she says. “You can lose that personal touch.” She still makes it a point to send out “thank you” notes, customer surveys and personal follow-ups.

“We can’t lose that personal touch,” she says. “Customers have been so loyal to us.” That’s why even making time for something like a quick text or “thank you” to a customer is a priority to Calegari.

“We took our top 50 customers and sent them boxes of See’s Candies,” she says. “We always send out goodies after a big job. We try to make sure our customers are very well taken care of.”

Calegari also works hard to market and promote her business, which some often think is a large national chain. While Roto-Rooter is a national name that has been around since 1935, each franchise is locally owned and operated.

The Roto-Rooter name, logo and jingle (“And away go troubles down the drain”) are familiar, but Calegari stresses the local angle. “All the advertising I do says ‘locally owned and family operated.’ That, to me, is key.”

She also wants potential clients to know “we’re not just drain cleaners; some customers may not realize that.

“On a national level, I feel we should concentrate on educating our customers on what we do as a whole for Roto-Rooter,” she says. “We as individuals educate our customers on what we do. That goes a long way as well.”

There is proof in the fact that about 75 percent of Marin Roto-Rooter’s business comes from repeat customers.

“We’ve got loyal customers who have been with us a long time, even remembering the days when my dad was doing plumbing jobs,” she says. “I think there’s huge value in that.”

While Marin Roto-Rooter does most of its business in the residential sector, commercial “is right there with it,” Calegari says. And in a fairly crowded market, the company also has a fair number of annual contracts with municipalities; those account for about 30 to 40 percent of its business, although that work has dropped off. “They want to replace all the pipes (laterals) in Marin County, [so] there are fewer stoppages [now],” Calegari notes.

Technology has improved significantly since Calegari started working for her dad, when the company had an old Tandy computer and a typewriter was used to generate invoices and correspondence.

Calegari led the tech charge when she took over. The business was the first in the Bay Area to use trenchless technology. And the company hopes to have a new software system up and running this spring for accounting and scheduling, replacing an outdated process that used two separate systems. “I can see everything live,” Calegari says.

Techs have iPhones and iPads and can do instant invoicing in the field, making work much easier and paperless — the latter an important concern in environmentally conscious California.  

Community support

Calegari’s corporate community involvement and philanthropy are well known in the area. Among her areas of specific interest are charities devoted to helping children and animals, including the Boys & Girls Club of Marin and Southern Sonoma Counties, the Marin Humane Society, the Marin YMCA and the North Bay Children’s Center.

Her community work also puts her in touch with many other female business owners in the area.

“We’re very involved, and it’s very empowering,” she says. “I look to them as mentors.”

And while Calegari does helm a traditionally male occupation, that doesn’t phase her. “I don’t think it [matters] if it’s a man or a woman; I think it’s the quality of work.”

Her pride of ownership is evident in just about all Calegari does. Her work ethic and ambition are rooted in her family and the family business, and she’s thankful she was able to learn from the best — her dad — all those years ago.

“I’ve never looked back.”

About the company

Company: Marin Roto-Rooter

Founded: 1957

Location: Novato, California (Northern San Francisco Bay Area)

Owner/President: Mendy Calegari

Employees: 25

Service Area: All of Marin County (population 300,000)

Services: Drain cleaning and plumbing services (including trenchless pipe replacement, emergency repairs, repairing main sewer lines)

Fleet: 25 vehicles, mostly Chevy Savana vans