Langley's Dowco Consultants is buying an Oregon firm and taking its products to new corners of the planet.

Dowco's president Ewen Dobbie found a company he needed in Eugene, Oregon. Now he plans on taking that firm to China, the Middle East and India. The Dowco Group recently purchased FabTrol, a firm that creates software used by the steel fabrication industry. That fits in well with Dowco's existing businesses, said Dobbie, the second-generation head of the firm.

Matthew Claxton, Langley Advance
Published: Friday, October 31, 2008

Dowco has a number of different business interests, but most are built around the structural steel industry.

They do everything from preparing shop drawings, to creating 3-D models for engineers, to working on construction projects.

Right now Dowco is working on the construction of the Freedom Tower in New York City, Dobbie said.

FabTrol makes what is known as fabrication management software.

Dobbie said he won't be laying off anyone at the FabTrol offices. He needs them to work on their products while Dowco takes them global.

In fact, he expects to hire 10 to 15 per cent more workers at the FabTrol location in the next few years.

Dobbie said he sees a lot of demand for FabTrol's products, especially overseas he has travelled extensively in recent months working on projects around the world.

"I was in the Middle East last month", he said.

The new acquisition is part of Dowco's ongoing expansion.

The firm was founded as a three-person operation in the 1970s by Hugh Dobbie, Ewen's father.

As it grew, it spun off several new companies that became parts of the Dowco Group.

Many of them grew from serving one small, niche need into a much larger project.

Dowco Computer Systems began its work in the 1980s as a firm offering expertise to architects and builders, helping them use what were then relatively new tools.

Eventually, the firm jumped onto the Internet bandwagon in the 1990s and it has evolved into an Internet service provider with more than 5,000 customers around B.C.

Dowco.com has become a familiar email address.

They've worked on a variety of construction projects, from huge towers to local homes. In 2003 they were one member of a partnership to build a home using insulated concrete forms.

The new style of home construction has been slow to catch on, but it involves building a home largely out of stacked concrete, making it better insulated and quieter than a normal wood-based home.

The Dobbies are longtime Langley residents. Dowco is currently based out of a small building just over the border in Surrey, but the company and its founders have long taken an interest in local events and charities.

Among other projects, they have supported the Gateway of Hope homeless shelter currently under construction on the Langley Bypass.

The Salvation Army run project is intended to alleviate the worst effects of homelessness, and to help get people off the streets for good.