Oilfield Services: Communication Builds Business and Family Success

Bill Crooks bought a backhoe when he was still a teenager and went to work. In short order, he bought a new caterpillar D6 to build roads, leases, or any other work an oil company hired him to do. He formed Crooks Oilfield Construction Ltd. and growth was underway. Bill worked hard for long hours, seven days each week, and expanded his knowledge. Field foreman for several different oil companies liked Crooks' honesty, great service, and delivery and his business grew. He bought 160 acres of farmland and established his office just outside of Stoney Plain, Alberta. When his wife told him that she was pregnant, he stopped the purchase of another large caterpillar and used the money to build them a home. Now, twenty years later, they still live in that big house.

Bill hired experienced, hardworking people. He established several managers to run various divisions in the company like service rigs, drilling rigs, building facilities, servicing and repairing bottom hole pumps, and a supply department to sell pump-jacks, tubing, casing, line pipe for pipelines, and repair parts for almost everything used on a production lease. His people even painted signs for the customers to identify the wells and roads. The excellent service his company supplied to the oil companies and the Department of Forestry kept the employees busy, Bill often worked fourteen-hour days, either in the office or out in the production fields.

Bill's son Austin was studying mechanical engineering at the University of Alberta and each summer joined Crooks Oilfield Construction and took some of the workload off his father's shoulders. In two years, Austin would be a full-time employee and down the road would take over running the company.