TC Boiler Inc. – Offers Specialty Welding for Clients

Business View – April 2022 / Small Business of the Month

TC Boiler Inc. is Daniel Bates, Mobile area manager; Jimmy Stewart , head of estimating; Justin Moss, head of operations; John Barton, CEO; and Bryce Wood, president.. Photo by Mike Dumas.

When John Barton and Bryce Wood bought TC Boiler in 2019, they were investing in a turnkey business that had been in operation since 2000 and had clients across the country. But they had a vision as to what the industrial contracting and fabrication company could become. The first priority for Barton and Wood was safety, so they hired a director of safety to develop the necessary guidelines and training, which has had a tremendous impact over the last two years. TC Boiler is the Mobile Chamber’s April Small Business of the Month.

“We want to make sure everybody goes home safe to their families, which is what’s discussed every morning before every job,” Barton said. “ And then we take an account every afternoon when the job’s over.

“By having the right culture in place and people who are taking extra steps, it prevents a majority of mistakes that happen in the field.”

TC Boiler’s sweet spot as a company is specialty welding, and it does what most others in the southeast and beyond can’t, which has helped them develop customers in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Ohio, Texas, Utah and Colorado. In fact, the company does so much work in Texas, its main fabrication shop is in Houston. They invest heavily in recruiting the right people, with extensive experience in the field, and require rigorous training which goes far beyond learning quality technique.

“In our specialty welding, we maintain a reject rate of around .03 percent, when industry standards are between 5 and 10 percent,” Barton said. “We keep our quality at a different level.”

One of the reasons TC Boiler is doing so well is that when other contractors ground to a halt during the coronavirus pandemic, Barton, Wood and others kept knocking on doors and seeking new business, which netted the company more than a dozen customers.

“Once we got a foot in the door, we were able to showcase our safety, quality and production, and it took off from there,” Barton said. Now, the company — which maintains a full-time staff of between 40 and 50 people, which can balloon to as many as 200 during certain jobs — is looking to grow deeper in its home market. “We know there are a lot of opportunities and companies in the Mobile market that haven’t heard of us and realized they have this specialty workforce right in their backyard,” he said.

Another thing company leadership is certain about is their responsibility to be stewards of the environment, as well as those who need help within the various communities in which they operate. In addition to supporting the Waterfront Rescue Mission in Mobile, the company also owns TC Renovations and Services, which does for-profit work in addition to donating home repair services to families in need. The company is also an active member in Partners for Environmental Progress, which promotes business and industry contributions to help build a resilient Gulf Coast.

“We’re trying to make a positive impact where we can,” Barton said.

SMALL BUSINESS

COMPANY NAME: TC Boiler Inc.

OWNERS: Bryce Wood and John Barton

WEBSITE: tcboiler.com

PHONE: 251.649.7999

LENGTH OF CHAMBER MEMBERSHIP: 2 years

Click here to read the Business View – April 2022

Additional information is on the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce’s website at mobilechamber.com, on Facebook at @MobileChamber, Instagram at @themobilechamber and Twitter at @MobileChamber.