Houston-based Monster Industries is adding Terrace to its branch locations, having set up shop earlier in Mackenzie in the northeast and in Williams Lake in the Cariboo.
The company already services clients in the region surrounding Terrace and having a base now in that city means it’ll be able to better work with those existing clients and to attract new business, explains Kyle Thomson, the company’s general manager and co-owner along with brother Kenny.
The company specializes in welding, fabricating and construction projects for sawmills, pulp mills, energy plants and mines as well as maintenance during shut downs.
“Most of our work is done in the field, about 70 per cent,” says Thomson of Monster’s ability to go where and when needed.
“Alcan [Rio Tinto], the Prince Rupert port, Skeena Sawmills — we already do work for them,” said Thomson.
The client list extends up Hwy37 North to mines such as the Red Chris copper and gold mine and Pretivm’s high-grade gold mine, the latest mineral development in the region located near Stewart and which opened in 2017.
Thomson says the company built its business on a core service model of working on contracts of $5 million or less.
And although Terrace is experiencing an economic upswing thanks to the massive LNG Canada liquefied natural gas project now underway in Kitimat, Thomson says the decision to open a division in Terrace was made prior to LNG Canada’s go-ahead announcement of last fall.
But now with a presence in Terrace, Thomson fully expects Monster to explore contract opportunities connected with LNG Canada and Trans Canada which is building the Coastal GasLink pipeline to supply natural gas from the northeast to Kitimat.
With a division in Mackenzie, its home in Houston and now the new division in Terrace, Thomson says Monster is in a unique position to offer a seamless service along the length of the Coastal GasLink pipeline.
“There’s not another company outside of Prince George that can do this,” he said.
It means contract opportunities reaching into the $20 million range but Thomson adds Monster will continue to focus on optimization of the existing facilities of its client base.
“That’s where our growth has been,” he said of its core $5 million contract and under business model.
Depending upon the time of year and contracts it has, Monster employs upward of 150 people on an annualized basis.
Ideally, it wants to have between 10 and 15 people on regular staff at each of its divisions.
“That’s a sustainable number,” said Thomson.
Started as Monster Welding in 2004, the name was changed to Monster Industries in 2008 to better reflect its service growth.