Success Story: Fab Rite Services Ltd.

Fab Rite Services Ltd. is one of the region’s greatest success stories in business diversification. Based in Cranbrook, this company started in 1982 as a mining contractor. Since then, Fab Rite has become one of Western Canada’s leading steel fabrication companies, with an impressive list of clients in mining, forestry, construction and oil and gas to prove it.

According to Cole Kozinuk, who is the third generation now involved in the business, Fab Rite’s success has partly to do with location.

“We’re so close to the border, so we’ve done a lot of work in the U.S.,” he said.

Fab Rite has built sawmills in North Carolina, Georgia, Washington and Idaho as well as pulp mills and sawmills across all four Western provinces and Ontario.

“We’re so close to Alberta as well so we do a lot of work in the oilfield,” added Kozinuk.

Though the bulk of their mining focus today is on the Elk Valley, Fab Rite’s work in this sector has also taken them and their products to Canada’s remote Northwest Territories.

The company of approximately 80 staff offers a wide array of services, from structural steel and metal fabrications to heavy equipment rebuilds and complete project management.

Modern facilities

With diversification has come the need for expansion. In 1997, Fab Rite built and moved into its present facility in Cranbrook’s industrial park. A second 10,000-square-foot facility in Sparwood was built in 2012. The company continues to invest in state-of-the-art equipment to ensure that its reputation for providing high quality products is maintained.

Kozinuk also cites the ability to provide turnkey solutions and of course, a willingness to be adaptable to market trends as factors in the success of Fab Rite.

Fab Rite is also the parent company to FR Rentals, a Bobcat dealer and equipment rental provider in Cranbrook and the Elk Valley.