About Waywest Mechanical

Meet the family

Waywest was founded by Matt and Sherri Norman in 1993 and is still run by the family. Sherri Norman is co-founder and Director of Operations. Their sons Luke and Josh Norman both work in the business — the second generation of Normans on Vancouver Island mechanical systems.

Matt Norman

Co-founder & Owner · 33+ years in the trade

Matt started Waywest Mechanical with Sherri in Nanaimo in 1993. More than three decades later he is still in the business every day, and there is very little in a Vancouver Island mechanical room he has not worked on — from a leaking tap to a commercial boiler plant.

Luke Norman

Owner

Luke is Matt and Sherri's son, and an owner of the company. He leads Waywest's plumbing, heating, refrigeration and mechanical construction work — so the person running the job is the person whose name is on the door.

Our history

1. 1993 — Matt and Sherri Norman start Waywest Mechanical in Nanaimo.
2. Building Vancouver Island — three decades of institutional, municipal and developer projects, providing plumbing and HVAC for major contractors — and, on some projects, acting as the general contractor.
3. The next generation — Luke and Josh Norman join their parents in the business.
4. 2022 — Waywest Mechanical Service is created, bringing the same experience to homeowners and small businesses that need service rather than construction.
5. 2025 — the company moves to 4434 Wellington Rd., Nanaimo, and separates into four divisions: Waywest Mechanical Service for service calls, Waywest Mechanical for contracted institutional and commercial projects, a sheet metal division, and a custom fabrication division. About the group.
6. Today — a team of around 40 professionals, more than 4,000 service calls and more than 1,000 commercial, institutional and residential projects completed, from Victoria to Port Hardy. See recent projects.

One contractor for the whole mechanical system

Most buildings have several systems that depend on each other. A boiler heats the house and the domestic hot water. A heat pump shares ductwork with a furnace. A restaurant's walk-in cooler, dish machine and grease interceptor all fail on the same busy Friday.

Waywest covers those systems under one roof:

• Plumbing — repairs, water heaters, drains, Poly-B replacement, repiping and sewer lines
• Heating and cooling — heat pumps, furnaces, boilers, air conditioning and ductwork
• Gas fitting — appliance hookups, gas lines and gas equipment service
• Refrigeration — residential and commercial, including walk-ins and display cases
• Appliance repair — residential appliances and commercial kitchen equipment
• Sheet metal fabrication — custom ductwork and fittings made in-house
• Camera inspection and drain cleaning — seeing and clearing problems below ground

For a homeowner, this means one number. For a property manager or restaurant owner, it means one company that understands how the whole building works, instead of three trades blaming each other.

Licensed for the work that needs licensing

Some mechanical work in British Columbia can only legally be done by licensed contractors under permit. Waywest is licensed by Technical Safety BC for gas, boiler and pressure vessel work, and is licensed, bonded and insured for everything else we do.

Waywest's Technical Safety BC licence number is LGA0004592. You can confirm any contractor's licence with Technical Safety BC before hiring them.

Waywest is also registered with the BC Home Performance Contractor Network. That registration is what allows us to help customers claim CleanBC Better Homes, BC Hydro and FortisBC rebates on heat pumps, furnaces and water heaters — see our rebates page for how that works.

Warranty

Waywest warranties its labour for one year. Equipment and fixtures carry the manufacturer's own warranty, which is usually longer, and we register it for you where registration is required. Larger construction projects carry the warranty set out in the contract for that job.

Brands we install

We are not tied to one manufacturer. We install the equipment that suits your home, your budget and the rebates available — including Rinnai, Rheem and Mitsubishi, among other quality brands — and we service any brand, whoever installed it.

How we like to work

• Tell people the rate before we dispatch. No one should find out what an emergency call costs from the invoice.
• Fix what is broken, then explain what else we saw. If a failure is the first sign of a system near the end of its life, we say so — and let you decide on your own timeline.
• Use our own crew. The technician at your door works for Waywest, including on the emergency line.
• Leave the site clean. Drop cloths down, debris out, and a walk-through before we go.

Where we work

Our crews are based in Nanaimo and work across Vancouver Island: Nanaimo, Parksville, Qualicum Beach, Ladysmith, Duncan, Chemainus, Crofton, Courtenay, Comox, Cumberland, Campbell River, Port Alberni, Tofino, Ucluelet, Victoria and Port Hardy. For communities further from Nanaimo, we quote travel time on the phone before booking.