In an industry where services are often fragmented across multiple providers, Strike sets itself apart by providing complete pipeline and facilities construction and maintenance solutions. “We are a top-five pure-play to the midstream pipeline industry,” President and COO Cole Pate says. “We’re a big guy in the space, but we are intentionally focused very specifically on the midstream sector of the industry.”

“You can count on Strike to take it from the well head to burner tip,” Marketing Director Michele Kooken says. “We provide our customers safe and complete turnkey services.” 

This requires a versatile workforce, which Pate considers one of Strike’s greatest assets. “Unquestionably, we have a very unique balance to the culture of our company in that we have been able to delicately mix veterans who are experts in assessing the risk of the work that we do in our industry with the energy and drive of a fairly young population base within our employees. We actively recruit conscientious, drive-hard individuals. Part of our challenge is to build the runway fast enough in front of them.”

Blending experienced workers with newer recruits requires striking a delicate balance. “Everyone will say they do it, but very few do it well,” Pate says. “I think we do it very well.”

Balanced Approach

In addition to its diversified workforce, Strike has strategically positioned itself to service two sides of the pipeline business: Large capital expenditures (capex) for facilities and maintenance for the operations (opex) side of the pipeline business. Strike offers both, so this diversification keeps the company economically balanced.

“Capex-only business is highly cyclical and seasonal,” Pate points out. “It’s very difficult to hire the best and the brightest if work is available for only six to seven months a year or there are big gaps in your work plans. This setup gravitates more toward the use of seasonal or temporary workers. In the Strike model, people are hired for careers, not jobs, which has lasting ramifications, especially as it relates to safety. By maintaining a true balance within our company, we are able to hire the best for both sides of that equation. In the rare times when projects aren’t as plentiful, we’re able to redeploy employees in smaller, local projects or the opex part of our business.”

Strike’s current workforce is dispersed across 25-plus states and is supported by 19 office locations throughout the United States. “We are driven to be a full-service, turnkey provider to clients regardless of where they are in the U.S.,” Kooken says.  Strike has established roots in Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma and is most recently focused on expansion into the Northeast through acquisitions and organic growth. 

Relationship-Driven

Emphasis on relationships rather than transactions is part of the company’s strategic vision. “Most of the market is very transactionally motivated and very focused on a project or job,” Pate maintains. “We’re invested in the long-term. Strike partners with blue-chip, industry-leading clients to which we can provide full-service solutions in multiple geographies. We’re constantly looking at adjacencies. If it’s a service not presently offered, we’re looking to either build it ourselves or acquire it. We’re very focused on being in multiple markets across the U.S. as the opportunity presents itself.”

Strike currently provides services to nearly 200 clients. On an average project, it self-performs approximately 90 percent of the work to ensure safety and integrity to its clients.  The company also provides service crews to maintain pipelines for its customers. 

Looking forward toward the rest of 2015 and into 2016, Strike is anticipating an unprecedented level of activity in the mainline pipeline space. The company has received multiple requests from existing customers to expand into new territories, and Strike is poised to grow as opportunities arise. “We love to enter markets with trusted partners and established clients,” Pate says. 

Finally, at its core, Strike emphasizes safety above all else on every project and reports a 0.67 total recordable incident rate. “Taking care of our folks first – keeping them safe and treating them right to take care of our clients – it creates the very best environment,” Pate declares.