Bardon’s Water Services (Bardon Industries
Inc.)
President: Thomas J. Lydon Jr.
Type of Business: Industrial chemical water treatment services company
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Location: 3399 South County Trail, East Greenwich
Year Founded: 1985
Employees: 10
Annual Sales: $1.5 million projected for 2004
Bardon’s Water Services supplies its customers – including the University of Rhode Island, Brown & Sharpe and ON Semiconductor – with the chemicals, equipment, testing, monitoring and cleaning services to properly maintain their industrial boilers, heating and cooling and other water systems.
“It’s how we deal with customers” that sets the company apart from competitors, said company President Thomas J. Lydon Jr. “We’re on top of someone immediately, and if no one is around, I’ll jump on my horse. It’s also the full-service aspect of the company – both chemistry and services – that gives us an advantage, particularly over larger companies.”
For almost 20 years, Lydon and his wife Eileen Barry, who founded the company together as friends, have provided a one-stop shop and service center for their industrial clients in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire. Bardon’s formulates its own water treatment chemicals, supplies and sells pumps and other equipment, and monitors, cleans and repairs heating and cooling systems.
Lydon, an environmental engineer who worked for the U.S. Department of Defense for seven years and the Federal Aviation Administration for 14, teamed up with Barry, who at the time was selling industrial chemicals. Bardon’s initially focused on industrial chemicals, but Lydon eventually studied water treatment and decided to expand.
“I knew I needed to do something and I had been involved in heating and cooling systems for 14 airports” at the FAA, said Lydon, as to why he decided to open his own business.
Bardon’s specializes in cleaning fouled heating and cooling systems, Legionella remediation and leasing stand-alone side stream filtration units. By providing a complete service from anti-growth chemicals to cleaning and other services, Bardon’s eliminates the need for its clients to hire a separate maintenance staff to monitor the systems.
“One of our new accounts is the Barnstable prison on Cape Cod. We go in once a month to review the system and we use equipment to take readings of all the water-bearing systems,” Lydon said. “They compare them with last month’s performance, and then they make adjustments. We can completely automate the system and keep it hands-free for our customers.”
The company’s staff of chemical engineers travels to each client’s site with a laptop and mobile chemical lab, enabling them to test water on-site and take readings of the system’s performance. All of this improves the company’s efficiency and makes less work for the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning contractors and building managers who hire them. About 30 percent of Bardon’s business comes from HVAC contractors; the rest is direct, Lydon said.
Lydon has recently been focusing on expansion, and now Bardon’s has a subsidiary, Source-Tech Inc., which will allow three of his engineers to specialize in the mechanical service side of the business. That will include installation and setup of cooling tower controllers, pumps, corrosion coupon racks and associated pipes and filtration; boiler equipment; boiler and cooling tower cleanings and corrosion protection services; and glycol injections (glycol acts as an antifreeze solution for hot or chilled systems in the winter).
Bardon’s is also now including drinking water systems in its line of service. Engineers test a building’s drinking water supply for the right levels of chlorine.
“Safety and maintaining environmental integrity are very important for the company,” Lydon said.
Water treatment isn’t an easy business, Lydon said, especially in tough economic times. Companies looking at the bottom line might opt out of a maintenance and service schedule, but Lydon said that usually costs the company more when their systems corrode and degrade.
Companies like Bardon’s are also always at the mercy of their clients. Contracts are yearly, so after a year of service, a client might decide they want to go with a competitor or drop the service altogether, he said.
“We’re almost at the bottom of the totem pole,” he said. Gone are the days when building managers maintain boilers and heating and cooling systems. “Now management companies have two maintenance guys and they usually don’t touch (the systems). Companies are cutting back on maintenance staff, so the systems are left unattended for weeks. ”
Despite the volatile nature of the business, Lydon has ensured that he and
his staff are valuable resources to their clients. Lydon is a certified corrosion
specialist and all of his engineers and project managers are in the process
of being certified through the Association of Water Technologists.
