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Business under Port Arthur now has a national footprint.
Published on Tuesday, March 21, 2023 at 12:30 am
- Pictured, from left, with JAV Industrial Services LLC are Jorge Vazquez, Sandra Garcia, Lurimar Brito and Carlos Martinez. (Monique Batson/The News)
In a small room to the right in the back of JAV Industrial Services LLC is a wooden desk made when Jorge Vazquez moved the business from home to the Memorial Boulevard office.
After working for another industrial contractor in Southeast Texas for 17 years, Vazquez decided to branch out on his own.
About 15 years ago, he rented a room in another Port Arthur office. Now the president of JAV Industrial Services owns that building and has expanded to other locations in and outside of Texas.
“We rush every day to see what our customers want,” he said. “Whatever you put your mind to, you will achieve. That’s my philosophy. If you work hard, you’ll get something. Sometimes it takes 12-14 hours, seven days, but whatever it takes.
And for Vazquez, “we” is a big part of the company.
“I’m an employee; he’s an employee,” he said, pointing to operations manager Cesar Huerta. “I don’t see this as my business or this as Carlos’ business. This is our business.”
Huerta echoed the statements.
“We’re trying to bring the same culture to all team members and make them feel like they’re a part of it,” he said. “You are not just an employee. They are part of it.”
And their safety, Vasquez added, comes first.
“Our main goal in everything is safety,” he said. “I don’t care if we’re doing 20 things, it’s safety first. If we don’t think it’s safe, we won’t do it. Our priority is the safety of our employees.
JAV Industrial Services has been named the Small Business Development Center’s 2023 Hispanic Business of the Year.
“Personally, we don’t wake up in the morning to get awards,” Huerta said. “But we are honored, number 1, and we humbly accept it.”
Vazquez sees it as validation.
“It means we’ve done something right, and then we want to keep doing it better,” he said.
Inside and outside SETX
Huerta says the word “industrial” shouldn’t sway anyone in the name of the business — they work with anyone from commercial to residential and offshore.
“California, Oregon, Maryland, New York — wherever you call us,” Vazquez said, adding that they opened a branch in Baytown five years ago and one this year in Iowa. They hope to be in Oklahoma in June.
Services include insulation, scaffolding, painting, blasting, fireproofing, and the use of a proprietary fire-resistant waterproof canvas that can withstand winds of up to 50 miles per hour.
But wherever they work, they bring Southeast Texas with them.
“Except in Iowa, when you call us, we try and use local resources,” Huerta said. “We hire local people and bring them there, get them to do the work and bring them back. This is one way we help the community.
In October 2022, about 25,000 gallons of crude oil spilled into California’s San Pedro Bay. It was called JVAC Industrial, and it employed about 80 local contractors.
But there is no need for them to get out because they have spent more than a decade serving the same industries faithfully.
“All of our customers are repeat customers,” Vasquez said. “Chevron, ExxonMobil—they’ve been our clients since we opened. There are many clients we have served. We need more help from local filters.
Huerta said their work is a tribute to Port Arthur.
“While we have a lot of work anywhere in the country, we mainly use local resources,” he said. “This is the main goal. We started here and we will continue to stay here.
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