By Dan Murphy
Chip Giovanni, the third-generation owner of Boston Forging & Welding, has early childhood memories of accompanying his father to work, and even then, he said he felt right at home there.
“It never felt like work or a chore,” said Chip, who as the eldest of three siblings always diverged from his younger brother and younger sister in that unlike them, he always wanted to join the family business.
His paternal grandfather, Joseph Giovanni, started Boston Forging & Welding, around 70 years ago, setting up its operations on the Fish Pier in South Boston. For more 40 years, the business served exclusively the fishing fleet. But the company relocated to East Boston in 1998, amid new regulations on the fishing industry, which meant less work for them.
Chip’s father, Ronald Giovanni, went to Valley Forge Military Academy before graduating from Northeastern University around 1970. He then went to work full time at Boston Forging & Welding before assuming the reins of the company when his father retired circa 1980.
Throughout high school and college, Chip worked for the business during summer and school vacations. He started working there full-time in 1989 upon earning a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Clarkson University in in Potsdam, N.Y.
Subsequently, Chip completed his AutoCAD training at Wentworth Institute of Technology. He has also earned a construction supervisor license, and is a licensed fire escape installer/inspector per the City of Boston.
When his father died in 2000, Chip assumed the company’s reins. Sales have since tripled, making it a profitable business again after previously being in the red for a number of years.
“Everyone, family members, tell me their proud of me, and that my father would be proud of me,” said Chip.
Boston Forging and Welding Corp. today has the experience and credentials to respond to a wide range of commercial, marine or residential concerns, from fabrication to repair to fire escape inspections, and the company is fully insured/bonded.
Past customers have included U.S. Coast Guard-approved jobs, Mass Turnpike-approved jobs, City of Boston-approved jobs, and Boston Redevelopment Authority jobs, and for Logan International Airport, and the company has also done work for the World Trade Center, Prudential Center, Au Bon Pain, and various property management companies.
The vast majority of the company’s residential work is in Boston and Cambridge, with the Back Bay and South End accounting for the bulk of that, Chip said.
And of the approximately20 welding companies now operating in the City of Boston, Boston Forging & Welding has distinguished itself with a stellar track record over the years, including not having a single customer complaint against them.
Chip points to this as perhaps the truest testament to Boston Forging & Welding’s unwavering reputation for quality work.
Boston Forging & Welding is located at 336 Border St. in East Boston. For more information, call Chip Giovanni at 617-567-2300 or email him at [email protected], or visit the company’s website at bostonforgingandwelding.com.