Pipeline to Success
“Everybody needs pipe,” says Bill McCarrier Sr. “Plumbing, sewerage … from the utility connections to the fixtures. If they don't break, you just don't think about them.”
It was almost by chance that McCarrier 50 years ago founded the Butler Township-based Interstate Pipe & Supply Co.
Then a full-time Moniteau High School teacher and weekend oilman, McCarrier wowed the owner of Phipps Pipe & Supply in Clintonville with his welding skills.
The one-time-for-a-favor job led to a paying job and eventually ownership of the company, which officially changed names to Interstate and was purchased by McCarrier in 1968.
Then, the company had two employees (a pipe cutter and a pump repairman) and an annual gross profit of $12,000.
“That doesn't seem like a lot but I had been making $5,000 as a teacher,” McCarrier said.
Interstate's roster grew. Then the branches expanded and relocated with the ebb and tide of pipe industry needs.
Today the company has locations in Washington, Pa., Grove City and Titusville. It stocks 24,000 different inventory items and employs 26 people, including Bill McCarrier Jr.
Bill McCarrier Sr. retired from the business in 1995.
“I'd had it for 30 years,” he said. “I thought it was time to give my kids a chance.”
Initially Bill McCarrier Jr.'s brothers, Brian and John, also worked at the company.
Since then, John McCarrier chose to move to a different vocation, and Brian McCarrier passed away in 2016.
In his retirement, Bill McCarrier Sr. served as a Butler County Commissioner from 1996 to 2000, and he successfully won a second term for 2012 to 2016.
Bill McCarrier Jr., who had previously worked at an accounting firm in Indianapolis, has been with Interstate Pipe & Supply since 1986.
“We are pretty diversified,” Bill McCarrier Jr. said “That's helped us over the years ... What I enjoy most about the business is managing all the different aspects in a way that Interstate can make a profit and have the money to provide for my employees and their families. I really enjoy working with my team at Interstate; they mean the world to me.”
The McCarriers say over time a number of businesses have begun offering competing products.
“The best thing we have to offer people is our service,” he said, noting that employees are quick to be helpful as well as familiar and knowledgeable about the products. ”Our goal has always been to provide the best service we can possibly provide.”
