A GOLDEN PAST
It was on a vacation to Toronto in 1997 when Wolfgang Osada looked out of a window at a burgeoning skyline and saw the future of his company. A metal and glass mountain range emerging from the ground—construction cranes decorating the downtown core; condo buildings as far as the eye could see.
Osada, a German engineer, had the ingenuity required to be the source of local solutions to global problems.
Overseas, Osada had spent years developing engineering a unique epoxy pipe lining solution for pinhole leaks in copper plumbing found in domestic high-rise buildings. He had also built a reputation in the country as an engineer in the pursuit of perfection.
Following that fateful vacation, he returned to Germany once again to continue pipe lining, while his wife Marija stayed behind to learn English and familiarize herself with the city, building the foundation for Rikos’ success in Canada. When Toronto began its ascent as the high-rise capital of North America—condo construction hit an all-time high in the city in 2019, with 71,378 condo units under construction across 242 projects—the Osadas’ move paid off. Two years later, Osada planted himself and the company permanently in the Greater Toronto Area, rejoining his now bilingual wife.
Osada poured himself into Rikos for more than two decades. After securing his first contract on 65 Spring Garden Avenue in Toronto, Osada led Rikos to becoming Canada’s only company specializing in delivering a well-engineered, minimally invasive and environmentally responsible solution to pinhole leaks in domestic hot water systems.
