Our Company
Founded in 2000, Western Steel Erectors began with an eye toward the sky. As with most new companies, we took on smaller projects at the outset to gain traction as a new and growing small company. In our early days our staple jobs were water and wastewater treatment plants, structural frames for solar photovoltaic arrays, and miscellaneous metals jobs. However, due to our previous individual experience in the steel industry, our penchant for doing things the right way, and our strong work ethic, it didn’t take long to prove our value to our clients and be awarded contracts for increasingly larger and more complex projects.
Safety and quality go hand-in-hand. Western Steel Erectors understands the efforts it takes to perform quality work, while operating in a safe and efficient way. A testament to this is how we’ve grown as a company over the years. And although our growth has been steady and considerable, Western Erectors has remained a closely-held company. This has been a real benefit, allowing us to secure and retain the right personnel with the right skills, knowledge, experience, and values that align with our company values.
Management & Philosophy
Our field and office personnel are provided with quality tools to get the job done right. We believe that there is no substitution for good communication and continual training. These are both indispensable to productivity and empowering to our personnel.
Safety
Our goal is to have zero incidents and to send our crews home each day whole and healthy. In order to strengthen our safety culture we train our crews in safe working and operating procedures, and provide continual education in new safety regulations. We are very proud to have won an AISC Safety Award for 2016!
Quality
If a job is worth doing, it must be done properly the first time. To exemplify this commitment, Western Erectors has passed the rigorous AISC auditing and since 2011 has been continuously certified as an AISC Certified Steel Erector. And as a result of our continual improvement as a steel erector, in the fall of 2016 Western Steel Erectors received the AISC certification of Advanced Certified Steel Erector.
Experience
Between ownership, management, and general work force, our team has hundreds of years of combined experience of successfully completing notable projects in California, Nevada, and Hawaii. Projects large and small, complex and simple. Having such widely-diversified education and experience among our team allows us to self-perform almost all needed functions in-house.
Equipment
In order for our crews to operate with maximum efficiency – and to provide the best service for our clients – we are continually adding to and upgrading our fleet of heavy equipment, welding equipment, and cranes. This allows us to minimize response time and cost – we are not limited by what equipment rental companies have available.
Meet The Team
Greg Yates, President
Mr. Yates founded Western Steel Erectors after going through the International Ironworkers Union Apprenticeship and gaining much experience working for various union erectors for 16 years. From the start of his ironworking career, when he started his apprenticeship straight out of high school, Greg ran work on a wide range of project types all over Central and Northern California, Las Vegas, and Hawaii. His quick grasp of complex concepts of steel construction and efficient erection processes enabled him to make rapid career advancement. In short order, Greg became known as one of the leading field steel erecting supervisors in Northern California. Over time, he put more emphasis on adding office, estimating, and project management skills to his range of knowledge, to the point that the logical next step was to start Western Steel Erectors.
Neal Heard, Senior Project Manager
A key member of our management team, Mr. Heard is an invaluable resource due to his extensive knowledge of the industry and four decades of experience in steel detailing, estimating, and project management of steel erection jobs. Neal’s “hands-on” approach and expertise with cranes have been instrumental in resolving constructability and scheduling issues.
Ron Guerra, Quality Manager
Mr. Guerra began a career in welding right after completing trade school in 1979 and has worked in the structural steel and fabrication industry ever since. After 20 years of working as a welder, fabricator, and foreman, Ron settled into an inspection role as a quality control representative for bay area shops, and quality assurance as a senior special inspector. Ron has been responsible for the quality of numerous projects throughout northern and southern California in multiple structural disciplines. He holds current certifications as an AWS QC1 with a level II in UT and MT, ICC Master of Special inspections, ICC Structural Steel and Welding, ICC S1, ICC S2, ICC Reinforced Concrete, ICC Reinforced Masonry, ICC Pre Stressed Concrete, as well as ACI Grade 1 Technician. For 20-plus years Ron has been engaged in assuring, controlling, and managing quality in the steel construction industry. Efforts to maintain certifications involve continuing education and ongoing experience, staying current with updated codes with respect to the governing organizations such as AWS and AISC, as well as the many project-specific requirements.
Navdeep Singh, Estimator
Mr. Navdeep Singh graduated from California State University of Sacramento with BS degree in civil engineering. In 2015, he started his career as a Project Manager at Michael and company in Lockeford CA. In 2019, he had an opportunity to join the team at Weldway inc, as a Project Engineer. He brought his experience and knowledge to Western Steel Erectors in 2022 and has been a key contributor to the company’s growth and achievements.
Tools
Standards
- American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC)
- American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
- American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
- American Society for Nondestructive Testing (ASNT)
- American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM)
- Research Council on Structural Connections (RCSC)
- Steel Structures Technology Center (SSTC)
- Steel Deck Institute (SDI)
Safety
Associations & Affiliations
Other Resources
- Lincoln Welding
- Miller Welding
- Association for Iron and Steel Technology (AIST)
- Crane Certification Association of America (CCAA)
- Rigging
- American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI)
- American Galvanizers Association (AGA)
- Innovative Inspection Training
- National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators (NCCCO)
- Steel Tools