When ADV Integrity officially moved into our current 17,000 ft2 facilities in January 2019 located in Waller, Texas, we had six employees, one blast box, a single pressure cycle unit, and a very simple data acquisition system. Our first engineer, lab manager, and technician were Dr. Chantz Denowh, Cory Duncan, and Zack Hurst, respectively. These gentlemen ran activities in the lab, and I spent time on the road drumming up work. I was optimistic we would grow the company, but as a new entrepreneur will tell you – starting a company is scary! The significant costs associated with running a full-scale test lab added an additional level of burden to what we were trying to do.
By early 2021, we had made significant progress in terms of expanding our list of equipment, filling up our yard with vintage pipe, and occupying all available offices. With our ADV Marketing staff, on some days we had 20 people on site in a facility that was designed for at most 15 people. We even had to bring a mobile mini unit to house three of our engineers.
At ADV Integrity, we spend a healthy amount of time thinking about the future and realized we needed more space. Unfortunately, there are not many facilities in north Houston that include office space for 50 people, an in-house conference center for training, and access to air-conditioned full-scale test facilities with overhead cranes. We realized we were going to have to build our own facilities.
We started looking for land and found a 7.5 acre tract in the High Meadow Industrial Park located in Magnolia, Texas. We purchased the land in May of this year and also started working with Boatman Construction and ML REID Architects. We’re also working with Frost Bank is securing funding for the project.
We’re extremely excited about ADV Integrity’s new facility. We’ll have a 14,000 ft2 full-scale test lab, combined with 16,000 ft2 office building that will include a conference center for 180 people. Dr. Chantz Denowh, who serves as our Director of Lab Operations, and Lab Manager, Ryan Phillips, have identified appropriate locations for all of our testing equipment. We have also allocated space for our materials test lab that will be under the direction of our metallurgist, David Futch.
We plan to break ground in January 2022 and move in by September 2022. We’ll keep you apprised of our progress, including periodic photographs and videos taken by ADV’s drone.
Dr. Chris Alexander, PE
