YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A $2.5 million investment and expansion stands to enhance the market footprint and capabilities of a longtime family-owned business, its principals say.
Bolt Construction Inc., established in 1981, recently unveiled its new blasting and coating building at its manufacturing campus at 10422 South Ave. in Beaver Township. The new equipment enables the company to perform these operations more efficiently and allows it to better serve its existing customers and attract new ones.
“It’s been a dream of my family since we opened,” says Melinda Miletta-Miller, CEO of Bolt Construction. “It just seemed to be the right time for us to do this.”
EXPANSIONS AT BOLT
It’s the second major expansion at the company over the last 10 years, she adds. “We expanded in 2014 with our fabrication shop, which has basically supported our field work. This was the next piece to expand our business.”
The addition brings under roof some of the critical operations of the metal fabrication and contracting company, says Todd Miller, Bolt’s president, and Miletta-Miller’s husband. “We were performing a lot of sandblasting outside with a non-recyclable material,” he says.
The new system is fully enclosed in its own, 100-square-foot booth that stands 16 feet tall and uses recyclable steel grit to descale fabricated components before they are transported to the painting and coating line.
On this day, the company is in the process of blasting steel skids built at Bolt’s fabricating operation in a building next door. These skids are used in the oil and gas industry to support pipeline networks. “We’ll preassemble those, pretest those, paint them and ship them to the customer,” Miller says.
Some of this work previously was subcontracted to other operations. The expansion now brings that work in house, eliminating shipping costs and markups. “We just built our own and here we are,” Miller says.
The blasting booth came online in July while the painting and coating unit – the same size as the blasting booth – took slightly longer to commission.
“Welding is a very critical piece of what we do,” Miller said. “But coating now is becoming just as important because of corrosion and environmental concerns.”
Since both the blasting and coating booths are now under one roof, weather is no longer an issue, Miller says. “We can go 24 hours a day. We’re not limited by rain, snow, humidity – nothing.”
Moreover, Miller says, the project has led to the creation of five jobs at the company. Bolt employs 65 at its local complex and at a variety of other locations.
Bolt Construction does considerable work with the oil and gas industry, as well as the aviation industry, according to Miletta-Miller.
“We work in 26 different states,” she says. “Because we do airport work, our crews tend to be here, there an everywhere.”
The company employs approximately 15 as a designated shop crew, she says, and Bolt has designs on increasing that number as the new operations boost business.
Witmer Construction erected the new building, while Premier Bank provided financing for the project.
“Bolt has been a great client of ours,” says Josh Toot, Mahoning Valley market president for Premier. “Todd and Melinda do a great job and we’re excited for their expansion. They’re going through efficiencies like every other business is. This will make the company even better than it was.”
The company fabricates components and provides industrial construction services for the energy industry and airport fueling systems, Miletta-Miller says. This requires employees trained in jobs such as welding and other industrial skills.
BUSINESS IN GROWTH MODE
Despite a setback in 2020 resulting from the pandemic, plus a fire in 2021 that destroyed one of the older buildings at its campus, Bolt Construction continues to improve its bottom line year over year.
“We’re busy, very busy,” Miller says. “If the labor market was a little better than it’s been, we could probably be a little better.”
During Covid, air travel plummeted, leaving many aircraft parked in airports. Projects were postponed or shelved, according to Miller. “But this year, business is up 50% compared to last year. A lot of good things are happening,” he says, indicating 2025 looks promising.
The latest expansion augments the fabrication shop that was constructed 10 years ago.
“Our fabrication shop was strictly to support our field projects,” Miller says. “That’s evolved to a point where it’s a stand-alone company. It’s supporting itself. We’re pulling in work from all over the place, as well as supporting the field.”
WOMEN-OWNED BUSINESS LEGACY CONTINUES
Bolt Construction was founded 43 years ago as a Women’s Business Enterprise, or WBE, Miletta-Miller says. “There were several partners – all women.”
Her mother, Shirley Miletta, established the company with two of Miletta-Miller’s aunts and several great-aunts, she says. Over the years, as the stock transferred between family members, the ownership failed to meet the qualifications of a WBE.
However, with Miletta-Miller’s ownership stake, Bolt Construction is today registered as a Women’s Business Enterprise. “I’m the second-generation operator. So I’m very proud of that,” she says. The ownership group today consists of herself, her mother, and two of her uncles, Jim and Vince Bacon.
“We’ve been family owned since the company’s inception,” she says. “I became a partner in 2010. It’s nice to carry on the legacy that my family built. It’s been wonderful to be able to work with my family over the years and my husband.”
Pictured at top: Melinda Miletta-Miller, CEO, and her husband, Todd Miller, president of Bolt Construction, stand in Bolt’s newly installed painting and coating booth.