The following ICBA member profile first appeared on EnergyNow.ca on August 30, 2021.
Service on Site in Fort St. John has been providing solutions for pumps and compression repair, services, rentals, and products in Northern British Columbia since 1997. President and co-owner Chris Babcock (with wife Laura Babcock) founded the company in 1997 when his employers chose to divest themselves from field work, which, at the time was Babcock’s particular area of expertise. His new company was successful almost immediately and it was not long before he hired his first apprentice, A.J. Everton, who is now the manager. As he travelled farther afield to service more customers, he continued to expand the company. Today the company has grown to 13 employees who cover an area from the North-West Territories to Prince George and even Alberta.
Chris says he has always been honest and tried to do a good job, treated his clients as friends, thereby creating a good reputation, offering clients the full package with a picker service truck, welders, and torches. Mobile services are complete with 1 ton and 3-ton service trucks that are equipped with 3-ton and 4-ton pickers and welders to service Northern BC 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Fully experienced with start-up and commissioning procedures. The trucks are air equipped and have SO-ton portable pulling equipment.
Service on Site recently completed construction of a new 10,000 sq ft shop to accommodate growing demands, which can get quite large. It is fully equipped and capable of handling almost any type of refurbishing, with expert millwrights on staff who repair and rebuild pumps and air compressors. The company also offers rental pumps and regular plant maintenance, mainly for the oil, LNG, and mining industries and has 2 laser alignment machines for precise shaft alignments. Because the pumps Service on Site work on generally run around the clock, regular maintenance is essential and something most companies opt for. Babcock says a six-month service schedule is a good idea. Most companies have to change out their pumps every five or six years.
Service on Site stays on the leading edge of pump solutions with the newest service technology that includes cutting edge laser machine alignment systems, new products such as packing, plungers, skid packages and mechanical seal innovations.
The Parts department has the largest industrial pump, parts, and mechanical seals inventory in the area. It is well stocked in various pump parts ie: packing, gaskets, O-rings, mechanical seals bearings, etc. By doing a large volume of business, the buying power is equal to much larger companies, and the price advantage is passed onto the customers.
Service on Site boasts a partnership with Xylem, a large global water technology provider and are a distributor for Viking Pumps and Flygt Products. The company is not restricted, if it doesn’t burn fuel and it turns, they can fix it!
Service on Site feels the apprentice training program is important, currently there are 3 apprentices employed. Chris says he was fortunate that he had good mentors and they taught him the value of having apprentices. It is the way to get the young people going. They are often loyal and looking at the future of becoming a journeyman, and because of the diversity of projects the company works on, the future is very bright. Chris is excited about the company in preparation for new opportunities.
Service on Site is a COR, !SN, Comply Works and PICS Certified.
Please visit the company website: www.serviceonsite.ca