How the Fabricator Podcast Sparked a Cross-Country Fabrication Collaboration

When users of industrial machinery like forklifts or front-end loaders need better equipment, renting often presents a cost-effective alternative to buying. But for metal fabricators that want to upgrade from a band saw to something more powerful and precise, renting a tube laser, for instance, isn’t really an option. 

Unless, of course, they can rent time on someone else’s laser.  

That’s essentially what Rob DiVito and his brother, Anthony, at iRcustom near Chicago did with Las Vegas-based fabricator Precision Tube Laser. The alumni of The Fabricator Podcast have been following each other on social media for years. Their mutual regard only increased after they appeared on their respective podcast episodes, so when iRcustom wanted to outsource the fabrication on several custom desks and a couple of conference tables to PTL, the two shops jumped at the chance to do business. 

“We’ve seen them on the podcast, and I followed them for a little bit before, so we [thought], ‘Alright, let’s reach out to them,’” Rob DiVito said. “Not only were they very good with customer service, they were great—very personable, very friendly. They were quick, and their pricing was great. 

“We were like, ‘OK, what’s the catch?’ We actually sent out for a few local quotes, and my brother would always say that the service wasn’t necessarily available to smaller businesses. That’s still the general operating procedure of a lot of businesses. They have minimum on things, and they don’t want to deal with a one-off job … where Precision was chomping at the bit to get their hands on a job like ours.” 

DiVito said his shop could have cut the pieces in several stages with its band saw, but it would have taken far too much time. Sending the work to PTL, even with the shipping, made sense in terms of time, quality, and money. PTL owner Jordan Yost said PTL’s business model is based on helping companies like iRcustom take that next step in fabricating their parts. 

“I think [with] an evolution of the business, as you become smarter with your designs, you become smarter with the business side and say, ‘Hey, I need some help here,’” Yost said. “Not in the sense of ‘We can’t do it on our own,’ but ‘It doesn’t make sense for us to do some of this stuff manually.’  

“That’s what our company’s designed to do—to help. One of the things that impressed me probably the most with them is just how receptive they were to understanding the technology and correcting their files and making it easier on our end. They’re taking the time to learn, taking the time to make better files, and help us understand what they’re looking for. They’re an ideal customer for us.” 

That goes both ways. In fact, as DiVito was reminiscing about the two businesses’ relationship, he was preparing another job for PTL to quote mainly because he knows he is going to get what he designed the part to be.  

“When I work in CAD, when we do stuff in-house, I don’t get that type of precision,” DiVito said. “When I go to them, I know I’m getting what I give them. That’s probably the biggest benefit—the confidence in knowing that if I send them this file, that’s what I’m getting. They’ve been pretty much flawless with us.” 

Hear more stories behind the business of metal fabrication on the FMA Podcast Network.