D.A.S.T Welding - Spotlight on Alberni

This week on Spotlight on Alberni we’re on Roger Street to talk to Steve Bekker about his family’s business D.A.S.T Welding. 

Alright Steve, thanks for welcoming us into your shop, tell us a little bit abut yourself and your family. 

I’m Steve, so I do most of the custom aluminum and fabrication here. My mom and dad started the company back in 2000 and started with, they had a old 1985 GMC service truck, and now it’s grown into this and we have 5 employees and then also, my mom, my dad, my sister and myself and we have two welders and then we have an apprentice.

Tell us a little bit about the origin story of D.A.S.T Welding

Well the first thing I remember hearing D.A.S.T, I think I was 6, it was 1996 and my dad was talking about when he wanted to start his own business. He was talking about DAST because it was some sort of plato or something. But it was also Dennis, Ashlee, Steve and Tracy. "So named after you, your mom, your dad and you sister." Yes and it was always just somethings we talked about and finally when we moved back to Port Alberni from Kamloops he kind of put the plan into action.

Tell us a little but about what you create here and what you guys do here.

If it’s made from steel or aluminum we can fix it or repair it or make it. We do everything from mining and logging equipment, so we’ll do repairs on excavators, buckets dump trucks and then we can do aluminum fabrication. We can build stairs, railings, boats. I mean if you can think of it and it’s made of steel or aluminum, we can generally do it.

Is it just welding and fabricating you do here?

No, we also do retail sales, fasteners, fittings, pipe, aluminum, steel. We’re trying to become like  a one-stop-shop for everything so if you think of it, we’ll probably have it in stock and if we don’t, we can usually find it for you the next day. Try to be competitive with everyone else. Just makes it easier for everyone in trades to come here and find what they need.

Who are your customers and where do they come from?

Everywhere, we have people even come from Tofino and Ucluelet to buy steel here. They come from all over, even construction companies from out of town, we do a lot of work for them.

Last and not least where is your shop located and what are your hours?

We are open Monday to Friday 8:00 am to 5:00 pm and we are on 4350 Glenwood Drive.