VSTEEL Group, Inc. constructs Union Pacific’s mechanical shop for locomotives and rail cars at Englewood Yard in Houston, TX.

Gabriel Vazquez, Operations Manager of VSTEEL Group, Inc., at the company’s Houston, TX, headquarters.

A photo displayed on the headquarters wall of VSTEEL Group, Inc. shows a 4-year-old Gabriel Vazquez with his father, VSTEEL Facility and Production Manager Miguel Vazquez, standing atop a building in Houston. This picture provides context to one man’s love of steel, appreciation of his legacy and desire to excel.

Operations Manager Gabriel Vazquez founded VSTEEL in 2009 as a structural steel fabricator and metal building systems manufacturer. He’s been around the steel industry his entire life.

The certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) and Small Business Enterprise (SBE) company provides engineering services and supplies commercial customers of all sizes in the Houston area, across the U.S. and as far as West Africa, from its 40,000-square-foot facility in Houston, Texas.

“Our team has deep experience in the development of complete structural and pre-engineered metal building solutions.” They also fabricate structural steel stairs for multistory buildings, from self-storage businesses to high-rises. “We send stairs across the U.S., from Cincinnati to Kentucky. Right now, we have three projects underway for job sites in New York, New Mexico and Ohio.”

Steel in the Blood

“I wouldn’t be in this business without my dad, “Gabriel says. “He is really a legend in the building industry.” His father, Miguel, has worked in the industry for four decades, much of that with NCI Building Systems, Inc. (NCI), which became one of the largest manufacturers for the North American construction industry. Miguel worked his way up from shop superintendent to plant manager for NCI in Monterrey, Mexico. Gabriel also joined NCI when he was 17, starting out in the shop and later moving to engineering.

Gabriel was also heavily influenced by NCI’s Founder, Johnie Schulte, with whom Miguel worked for many years. “Johnie was successful because of his reputation for excellent customer service. He had a huge heart. Those principles stuck with me in conjunction with Dad’s knowledge. I’ve had a lot of good people around me in this industry,” Gabriel says.

He applies those important lessons for success at VSTEEL. Since it began, the company has experienced steady growth year over year. Its welders and procedures are certified by the American Welding Society. “We now have several inside estimators and outside salespeople. Engineering, detailing, manufacturing and quality control, including non-destructive testing (NDT), are all performed in-house at our facility.”

Project Performance

VSTEEL was in its first year of operations when it was awarded a significant overseas project: designing and manufacturing a huge building with a retractable roof for Hess Corporation in Equatorial Guinea, West Africa. Gabriel traveled to the site for a project meeting, his first trip to the continent.

That turned out to be the first of several projects for Hess and of several trips he made to the West African country over the next three years. He was often there for weeks at a time to supervise subsequent projects, including supply chain warehouses and crane buildings. “We supplied multiple steel buildings for Hess without a single field mistake or shortage. It was fun! I enjoyed the relationships we built in the country and getting to know the culture,” Gabriel says.

Closer to home, VSTEEL erected a mechanical shop for Union Pacific in Houston. “It was a massive project,” Gabriel recalls. “We constructed it over and around the existing railroad tracks at Englewood Yard.” The locomotives and rail cars run straight into the facility for scheduled and preventive maintenance and inspections. “It was like making a service station for the space shuttle,” Gabriel says.

Retail construction has become a significant part of the company’s work. VSTEEL builds approximately 100 retail stores annually. It fabricates and erects clear span metal buildings greater than 200 feet in width for retail centers, national chain stores and large warehouses. Much of this work is repeat business.

Knowledge, Speed, Efficiency

“This is a business of speed and efficiency,” Gabriel says. “The more efficient we are, the faster we are. The faster we are, the happier our customers.”

VSTEEL has processes and procedures in place for every step of its work. Weekly in-house meetings ensure production schedules and logistics are communicated to everyone in the shop. There’s an emphasis on everything being done correctly as well as a focus on continual improvement opportunities.

The company recently worked with an auditor to review and refine its operating and manufacturing procedures. “We always want to be as efficient as possible,” Gabriel says.

Relationships Rule

The team members are sticklers for everything being done correctly, whether the customer is an individual ordering a metal building for their backyard or a large corporation with multiple project sites. That focus is a big part of the company’s success. “I want to make sure the customer is taken care of,” Gabriel says.

The biggest hurdle facing VSTEEL at the time of this interview was the shortage of materials to meet increasing demand and rising prices due to the global pandemic. “It’s part of our daily conversation with customers and a challenge for the industry nationwide,” Gabriel says. “We stay in close communication with our customers and work closely with them to help them manage schedules, budgets and logistics around these delays. We put ourselves in our customers’ shoes every day.” He is seeing signs of gradual improvement in supply chains.

A Culture of Solutions

“We provide solutions to customers to help them expand and to achieve their own goals and dreams. The VSTEEL team lives that mission. I believe in our team and trust them. Everyone gives 101%, not 99%,” he says.

Gabriel hires for critical skills beyond industry experience. “We look for knowledge, of course, but equally important is the ability to comprehend customer needs and understand when they have a problem. Knowledge alone is of limited use. A connection to customer needs is essential.

“This industry has treated me well. It has my back,” Gabriel says. “I’ve been in it for more than 20 years already. There are challenges every day; we enjoy thinking creatively to provide solutions for customers’ requirements.”

Supporting Kids and Veterans

VSTEEL is a supporter of the Northwest Baseball Association, which offers baseball for boys and girls ages 3 to 15.

“I was heavily involved in sports when I was younger,” Gabriel says. “I know how much I benefited from being involved in structured activity with adult mentors. Low-income kids need something to do that sets them on a good path, particularly a structured activity with adult mentors, like baseball.”

He enjoys volunteering to help young players grow in the sport. He’s coached a team in the past, and the company has sponsored Little League teams that play at Doss Park, which is just down the street from the VSTEEL office.

VSTEEL’s Senior Engineer, John Reynolds, is an active member of Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). The company sponsors building maintenance for several VFW posts around Houston.

Steel continues to run in the Vazquez family. Gabriel’s children often visit him at work. His eldest daughter works for him in the summer. A third generation of steel fabrication is in the works for VSTEEL!

“We put on our customer’s company shirt,” Gabriel says. “We become their partners permanently, not temporarily. It’s a relationship. They are trusting us with their project, and we deliver.”