Greeley’s Bentley Welding quadruples staff in four years

GREELEY — When Kyle Bentley opened Greeley-based Bentley Welding in 2014, he started with a staff of 19 and didn’t expect in four years to more than quadruple that to 87.

“I have a great bunch of employees,” Bentley said. “It’s nice to have a solid team that takes on monumental projects on small timeframes. It takes a lot of effort from a lot of different people.”

Bentley had topped out in his position at a service company, working his way up from foreman to supervisor, and wanted a better wage and more growth opportunities. So he started a welding and metalworking shop in Greeley and hired a team of certified welders and steel fabricators to provide all kinds of metalwork for the energy, agricultural, and construction industries.

“My main focus is to be a one-stop service shop for oil and gas companies,” Bentley said. “They can make one phone call and get almost everything they need taken care of.”

Bentley Welding, which has multiple facilities in Greeley and is based at 611 Eighth St., Suite 2, sends out work crews to provide welding and fabrication services on various forms of metalwork, including I-beams, pipes, handrails, guardrails, signs and decorative metalwork. The company provides all of the steps from designing to fabricating, refurbishing and repairing and can do work in the field, in-house or as a mobile service. The company’s other services include installing wellheads, providing pressure testing and doing maintenance and roustabout labor.

The long list of services is what sets the company apart, Bentley said. Bentley originally planned to offer welding services, but then he provided fabrication on a couple of projects and grew from there, he said. Companies typically will focus on welding, fabrication or hauling but not all three, he said.

“They get multiple areas of service taken care of from one vendor. It makes it easy for the customer,” Bentley said.

As a result, customers avoid having several companies at the site and instead can work with one vendor, Bentley said. If they want to do the work and not hire it out, Bentley Welding has a fleet of welding trucks, flatbeds and other construction vehicles they can rent, he said. The company also provides trucking, hauling and crane operating services, since it already has access to the right vehicles for the work, Bentley said.

The company grew 88 percent from 2015 to 2017, seeing revenue increase from $6 million to $11.3 million.

“It’s taking care of the customers, reaching out to new customers, seeing what’s needed and fixing the problem for them,” Bentley said.

Another factor for the growth comes from the company’s focus on the value for the price, Bentley said.

“We care how it looks,” Bentley said, adding that even with products in the ground, the crews care about final appearances. “We want it as close to perfection as possible, and we repeat that down the line, just taking a little bit of extra time … and attention to detail.”

The crews also pay attention to the customers, Bentley said.

“We deal with customers one-on-one and build relationships with them,” Bentley said. “A lot of it is spending time with them, going over their projects and listening to their needs.”

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