By Mark Rea

For nearly six decades, TDIndustries has been one of the nation's premier mechanical, electrical and plumbing contracting, and facility service companies.

After ranking fourth last year, the company rose to the top of Texas Construction's Top Specialty Contractors list with $197.0 million in total Texas revenue. TDIndustries also topped all companies reporting revenue from plumbing with nearly $69 million in 2002 and was first on the list of companies performing mechanical contracting with more than $108.3 million.

Additionally, the employee-owned company reported $19.7 million in electrical work.
With Texas locations in Dallas, Austin, Houston and San Antonio, as well as physical offices in Phoenix and Washington, D.C., and project offices in Atlanta and Denver, TDIndustries offers a variety of specialty contracting services including heating, ventilation, air conditioning, electrical, plumbing, process and high-purity piping, construction of automation systems and refrigeration.

Listed among the top 10 in Fortune magazine's "100 Best Companies To Work For In America" for each of the last seven years, TDIndustries was a recipient of the Texas Quality Award in 1998.

The company's leaders have also been singled out as industry leaders. Jack Lowe Jr., chief executive officer and chairman of the board, received the 2002 J. Erik Jonsson Ethics Award from Southern Methodist University's Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility.

The award, named in memory of one of Dallas' most influential mayors, recognizes a local citizen whose self-sacrifice and work on behalf of the community embody the democratic principles of public virtue. Former recipients include Charles C. Sprague, president emeritus of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas and the late Stanley Marcus, chairman emeritus of Neiman Marcus.

TDIndustries managing director Ben Houston was honored in 2002 with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Center for Simplified Strategic Planning Inc. at that organization's annual executive strategy conference.

The company is a recognized leader in the specialty contracting field and has been involved in some of the largest projects recently completed in Texas.

It provided mechanical and plumbing services on 5 Houston Center, the 27-story high-rise office tower on McKinney Street in downtown Houston, and also provided mechanical expertise for the $29 million addition at the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing facility north of Fort Worth, one of only two facilities in the country that prints U.S. currency.

The mechanical work on the addition called for a variety of specialized equipment designed for energy efficiency and environmental quality as well as an extremely high level of security.

TDIndustries is currently working on the central plant that will serve the new $1.07 billion Terminal D at DFW International Airport.

The company has worked on several high-profile projects including everything from the Galleria North Office Towers, a trio of 16-story structures in Dallas, to the interior finish-out of the three-story SBC Internet Services facility in Plano.

TDIndustries was also contracted by the Texas General Services Corp. to perform restoration work on the historic Governor's Mansion and adjacent Carriage House in Austin. The company replaced the total system for heating and cooling water and performed an extensive amount work on the air distribution system, adding variable speed drives‚ sound attenuators‚ air flow monitoring stations‚ a humidifier and a new control system.