Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling has garnered a lot of attention in the past few years.

However, the products and materials used to help complete those drilling projects have not.

While they may be seldom discussed, those products and having them readily available are vital aspects of any such project, and Interstate Pipe and Supply Co. of Butler Township capitalizes on it.

The company is a wholesale supplier of products such as pipe, valves, fittings, and pumps. It serves a variety of clients, including home builders, commercial contractors, and gas and oil drillers.

“Basically we buy and resale products, then deliver to sites as they need it,” said co-owner Bill McCarrier Jr.

Providing the products needed in a timely fashion is an important aspect of excavation work and allows companies and workers to better manage projects.

Bill and his brother Brian have owned Interstate Pipe and Supply for about 17 years. They took over the family business following the retirement of their father, Bill McCarrier Sr., who is a Butler County commissioner.

It was their father who started the business years ago.

“My dad bought a small oil well supply store in Clintonville in 1968,” Brian McCarrier said. “That's where Interstate Pipe got started.”

The business bloomed and it expanded to Titusville in 1972, and then to Butler and Washington, Pa. in the 1980s.

While the Clintonville location was the original, the corporate headquarters is on Hindman Road.

Each of the facilities serves different sites, depending mostly upon location.

The brothers said having multiple sites allows them to deliver products faster.

The range of clients the company serves is diverse, but perhaps the most notable at this time are those involved in Marcellus Shale drilling.

The McCarriers said they sell everything needed for gas well pad sites, including galvanized well cellars and steel gates. They also sell geotextile products, such as woven and nonwoven fabric, straw blankets, silt fences, and silt sock, which often are used for erosion control.

“Sometimes we sell directly to the gas companies, sometimes we sell to the excavators,” Bill McCarrier said. “Usually subcontractors for the big companies will call us with a whole list of stuff they need and we get it to their site as quick as we can.”

Interstate Pipe and Supply started selling to the shale industry in 2008 through its Washington location.

Since then, the connection has had a great impact on its business, Brian McCarrier said.

“Marcellus Shale related products account for in the ballpark of 10 to 20 percent of our sales now,” he said. “So we've definitely seen good increases of business because of it.”

Bill McCarrier said the impact comes from more than just the drillers.

“It's all a trickle-down effect,” he said. “A lot of farmers get lease money and a lot of times they want to improve their properties with the money. So they come to us to buy pipe or other products to do that.”

Regardless of whether selling to a big gas company or to a farmer, both brothers agree the main priority of the company is supplying quality service.

“Service means business,” Brian McCarrier said. “It's all about giving the customers great service.”

That service is paying off because Interstate has thousands of customers.

While taking care of such a large clientele is hard work, Brian McCarrier said working with those customers is a joy.

“It's a privilege to own a business,” he said. “We have been a blessed company to be around since 1968, and we've got a lot of great customers and employees that make it worthwhile.”

“It enables us to support a lot of good causes in the community too which is always a good thing,” he said.

Address: 152 Hindman RoadOwners: Bill Jr. and Brian McCarrierWhat it does: The company is a wholesale supplier of products such as pipe, valves, fittings, and pumps, serving a variety of clients.Started: 1968Offices: Butler Township, Clintonville, Titusville, and Washington, Pa.Employees: 25 - See more at: http://beedit.sx.atl.publicus.com/article/20130909/NEWS01/709099983&NoCache=1#sthash.0xJAmZNz.dpuf