If you have a bathroom or kitchen that needs to be spruced up, a deck in need of a re-build or hardwood flooring that needs installing, then Christina’s Home and Garden is the place to go.

“We do pretty much everything — landscaping, renovations, roofing. There’s not much we don’t do,” says owner Christina Reder.

Offering painting, cleaning, staging, de-cluttering and lawn maintenance, Christina’s is synonymous with “handyman services.”

“It’s like a one-stop shop,” Christina says of her company. “You can hire us and we do everything for you, whether it’s inside or outside and you don’t have to deal with a bunch of different contracting companies. You’re only dealing with one company.”

With as many as twenty employees per season, Christina’s Home and Garden has grown from a passion for Reder to a successful business. After years working for big box retailers, Reder decided to go branchout on her own, focussing on flower beds and yard work.

“That was my intention,” she says with a laugh. “Before ten months had passed, I didn’t have a choice but to hire people because it was too much for one person. And it just escalated from there.”

It’s a long way from her humble upbringing too. One of 10 kids living in difficult circumstances in Newfoundland, Reder worked a summer at a fish plant and at the age of 17 joined an older brother who had re-located to the Lakehead.

“I have never regretted the move,” she says. “I ended up marrying a Thunder Bay man, had my three children and now I have five grandchildren.”

Reder spent a decade working with Canadian Tire and another 17 years with Safeway, getting a solid grounding in front-line customer service.

“My previous work was the best experience I could’ve gotten in regards to managing a team,” she explains. “The foundation of my business is 110-per-cent customer service.”

One of the benefits of her work is meeting people and helping them deal with those pesky issues around a home. Many of her clients are seniors who especially benefit from the work that Christina’s staffers perform for them.

“My clients, you meet them as strangers, but I have to say most of them are friends of mine today,” Christina says.

“I’m very grateful to them. Without my clients and staff I wouldn’t be where I am today.”