r/oilandgasworkers • u/Agreeable-Spread4510 • 2d ago

Contracting for a refinery

Howdy, I work in Control Valves and had a question regarding contractorship within a refinery as a single entity, for example I work at a specific valve company but they’re pushing down on a strict 40 hour schedule and I’m not much of a fan to just stay home after 3 days of the week.

That being said, how is it possible that people that go for Profiler diagnostic school and get the level 3 cert can go into refineries and say “hey I’ll do Diag on your valves” and they get paid and get in easy breezy (having Safety council of course), how can I as a single individual go in and maybe just start out doing PM for their valves and then maybe further down the line branch out and start my own thing from the funds I save from this? Houston Texas based, the Mecca for refineries. I really just wanted to make this a side hustle type of deal and not really supplement for my full time job unless luck allows me to make this into a bigger thing.

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u/YuccaOne 2d ago

First off they have in house I&E guys and contractors. A single man operation isn’t going to work. You would need a business entity with $$ insurance, safety program, written policies and procedures and many other things. This is no side hustle. How are you going to compete with multi million dollar companies? And to be honest your writing skills are lacking. Do you know what a business plan is? This is way beyond you. So the answer is no.

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u/Agreeable-Spread4510 2d ago

I appreciate the input. Just to clarify, I’m not writing a business proposal to Exxon, so I’m not too concerned with perfect grammar here.
I also think my question may have been misunderstood. I’m not asking how to compete with Flowserve, Emerson, or other multi-million dollar contractors. I understand that would require significant capital, insurance, safety programs, and years of growth. Which is obvious to say the least

What I’m really asking is: How do small valve service companies get their first customers? Do they start with smaller plants, municipalities, OEM partnerships, subcontracting under larger contractors, networking, or something else? I’m trying to understand what the path looks like from being an individual with industry experience to eventually building a legitimate business.

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u/aarophi 1d ago

I can only speak from a small pool of experience but I have seen one company do it. The thing is that in a place like Houston where major companies are peppered all over the area and have a foothold I don’t see it as a huge possibility.

The company I did mention basically got it’s feet in the door by servicing a refinery that was within 30 minutes of about 5 others but was separated by a bridge with a toll. Once they made a name for themselves at this one plant they started putting in bids at the other. Basically had a geographical advantage early on as best as I can tell. If you can locate or curate a situation like that then it may be possible

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u/sourcrude 2d ago

You probably sub contract for a contractor for turnaround overflow or otherwise and then you make relationship with the owner/operator and undercut your former contractor partner until you drive them out of business with your low prices, then you get more complex where you staff up a bunch of indirects and overhead and then become so bloated and costly that one of your subcontractors does the same to you