BUSINESS: Friends turn idea into a successful business in Bloomfield

By Nick Schneider John Combs and Troy Carmichael partners in C and C Welding and Fabrication of Bloomfield. [Order this photo]

C & C Welding and Fabrication, Inc. is a home-grown Greene County business that is now in its ninth year.

The business, located at 32 W. Judson Street in Bloomfield, is the brainchild and the dream of the two owners -- Troy Carmichael, who serves as president and John Combs, the firm's vice president.

The business is small with five employees -- counting the two owners.

Troy Carmichael welds in the company's shop. [Order this photo]

The two Bloomfield area natives worked together at Carmichael Welding -- east of Bloomfield -- for a couple of years before deciding to start their own welding and steel fabrication business.

Carmichael was 31 and his partner was 24 when they opened in 2000.

The two were friends and wanted to try their hand at operating their own business.

The decision has proven to be a wise one, according to Combs.

"I'm glad we did it," he stated. "We had a lot of energy and no money. Looking back on it now, I don't know. It was pretty scary to think about. Troy brought in a lot of expertise. I was kind of his under-study when we both worked up at the old shop (Carmichael Welding). Troy is a very talented guy, so I was kind of taught under him to a certain extent."

Combs goes to the site visits and the bid openings and handles much of the public contacts.

"Troy is kinda the ram-rod behind the whole deal," Combs says without hesitation.

Carmichael called himself "a handshake kind of a guy" who does what he says he will do whether there is a signed piece of paper to back it up.

The company, which incorporated in 2002, specializes in custom welding and fabrication work.

"We don't have the capability of doing a lot of very big jobs. But what we do have is, as small as we are we've had to be more creative, so to speak, and we can always find a way to get that job done. Whether it's us having to outsource part of that job and then put it together as a package," Comb said.

They've done a lot of work at nearby NSA Crane and have worked very close for a number of years with Graves Plumbing of Switz City in their commercial projects.

"They (Rick and Joe Graves) have been huge on this business being successful. Not only from us being able to get the bid work and work for them, but with the knowledge that those guys have of being in business, with them being a phone call away, it's huge. There are so many things out there that you don't know ... when they are a phone call away and more than willing to be almost be like a father figure to us -- mentoring and they have been nothing but supportive of us. Out of all of the people in Greene County, I'd say Graves Plumbing has probably been one of the biggest reasons were are still here," Combs explained.

Combs lauded the Graves brothers for being an instrumental part of C & C Welding -- especially in the early days.

"If they weren't willing to take a chance on us, we wouldn't be here. In a little town and in a little rural community like we live in, Troy had a good family name. I've got a good family name. When you didn't have any money, the only thing you had was your name, because we didn't have anything when we started. We didn't have a so-called investor to come in and say I like your ideas. We had some people come in who were willing to take a chances on us. I firmly believe there was a bigger plan from upstairs with probably the biggest guiding light."

The firm is able to do large and small jobs and there probably isn't anything they can not fabricate if they've got a plan or at least some kind of a detail about what the customers wants.

"We would at least try it," Carmichael confidently said.

At Crane -- the third largest Navy installation in the world and a major Army ammunition storage site -- C & C Welding recently finished a maintenance contract to replace the metal magazine doors on some of the old storage bunkers. They've also done work at the ordnance test site.

One of the most unique projects the firm completed was the fabrication of a metal box on rollerblade wheels -- that is used by the Navy Seals to hold turnout gear.

"It contains a compressed oxygen and gas system that was able to pierce like 12-inches of armor plating," Combs said. "Troy had built those with the guidance of Comarco, that was formerly a defense contractor at Crane. I think that is one of our highlights."

Another larger job in which they take pride in is a project that started in Chicago -- through contacts the vendor had with some Amish craftsmen from Daviess County. When the Amish firm would get covered up, they would call on C & C to help. The vendor hired the Bloomfield company to build a large mezzanine for a sweetener plant in Mexico.

The job was fabricated at the Bloomfield shop and it was then loaded on a truck and taken to Mexico.

"I got to thinking, I guess that is what they mean by a global economy. It also dawned on me that if you are going to compete in global economy it will be in skilled trades. It's not going to be in manufacturing. I think the American people are starting to realize that. We want to keep our jobs here as much as everybody else, but our bread and butter is still producing goods and exporting them -- and high quality," Combs stressed. "This particular mezzanine, you couldn't take just someone who could cut and weld and build it. The prints were very vague and if Troy hadn't had the experience and the craftsmanship that he's had for several years, we could have never pulled that job off."

The job, which in total used about 25,000 pounds of steel, was finished in about three weeks of in-shop work.

The firm has also worked through the years with Pioneer High-Bred's plant near Worthington, Utilities District of Western Indiana REMC, the Indiana Department of Correction's Wabash Valley Correctional Facility at Carlisle. Cook Pharmaceuticals of Bloomington and Weddle Brothers Construction of Bloomington in their building trades and heavy highway divisions.

"The opportunities that Pioneer has given us to do some work for them has been huge. Dave Harding (the manager) over there has given us ample opportunity to bid on projects. You don't get them all, but we have had that opportunity. It is about their bottom line in the end. But they also have to have that job done and they want it done right and you have to be able to perform," Combs explained. "We may not always do it (a job) the easy way, but we think we do it the right way."

Combs has been married to Gwen Combs, who serves as a pharmacist at CVS store in Bloomfield, for the last 14 years. He is active in the Tulip Church of God. The couple are parents to four children ---- Eli (a fifth grader), Isaac (a third grader), Elizabeth (in the first grade) and Peter, who is in pre-school.

John, who graduated from Bloomfield High in 1991, serves on the Bloomfield Board of School Trustees and is a Republican Precinct Committeemen in Richland Township.

Troy, a 1983 BHS grad, and his wife, Joyce, have two sons, Kade (who is 21) and a sixth-grader, Jacob.

Combs admits he had "great teachers" in the Bloomfield school system.

"These people cared about me day in and day out. They wanted to see me succeed," Combs said.

He credits former Bloomfield and current Shakamak High School basketball coach Steve Brett with teaching him principles and life skills off the basketball court that have carried on in his business career.

Combs acknowledged he overcame a dyslexia learning disability to be where he is today.

School work was never easy for him.

He got over the hurdle when his mother sent him to a specialized six-week summer dyslexia remediation program in southeastern Indiana.

His grades immediately improved by more than a letter grade after that course.

Coach Brett also made a significant impression on his life and that's something that he hasn't forgotten.

"Things that I got from him (Brett) that were so valuable were the discipline and the structure that I know has helped me business-wise, but also as a parent and a father. Those little life lessons that he taught were special. He probably wouldn't like to hear it, but I learned more from him about life than I did from basketball. It may have been his goal to teach both, but I took away the life lessons. That means more to me than any points scored or getting to play or not getting to play," John said.

Comb says the business partnership with Carmichael has been a good one and he hopes it will continue for a long time.

"We're business partners, but we were friends even before we were business partners. It's been kind of like you are married. You have your good days and you have your bad days. But, I've learned a lot from him, not only about this trade, but we've learned about life together. He's been a real blessing in my life. First of all as a friend he's somebody I've always been able to count on no matter what it was," John concluded.