Estevan – It didn’t take long for a new outfit to establish itself in the previous Performance Pump Service Ltd. shop in the center of Estevan. Black Rhino Industries Ltd., an industrial insulation and building outfit, moved in. The company, which fired up Sept. 1, is already up to 13 employees between its Estevan and Drayton Valley, Alta., locations.
Kyle Luc spoke to Pipeline News about his new outfit on Dec. 4.
The company focuses on the insulation of piping, vessels, and tanks. “We can do steam trace, but not electrical trace,” Luc said, adding steam trace (to keep pipes thawed) is not common in southeast Saskatchewan.
Luc’s partner is Nick Trites, who runs the operation in Drayton Valley.
It didn’t take them long to grow. Luc expected them to have four staff members for a while, but they were soon up to 10 within three weeks of starting operations. Now they’re at 13, with five two-person crews working from Grande Prairie, Alta. to Virden, Man. Where the crews are vary from day. On that day, they had two crews working out of Estevan. When bigger jobs come up, they’ll pull people in as needed.
“I’ve been in this business a long time,” Luc said, adding he has contacts all over the place.
They launched at a good time, as companies often wait until the last minute to get their insulation taken care of. That’s kept Black Rhino hopping. Luc said the business usually slows down in March, with road bans.
In addition to insulation, the company does foam panel and self-frame building construction, common for oilfield field applications.
With the oilfield having gone through over three years of downturn, are they crazy like a fox, or just crazy, for starting a business in the oilpatch now? Luc responded, “It’s not crazy. The downturn’s over. We’re on the mend now.”
He added that there’s more leverage with suppliers now, when things are still slow, especially as a new company with work on the go.
