History
Continental Fire Sprinkler Company was founded by brothers John and William McVey in Omaha, Neb., in 1971.
John and William had already established careers in the fire sprinkler industry, working their way from installation to sales and management positions with different fire sprinkler contractors in the Midwest. When an existing fire sprinkler contractor failed, leaving its projects incomplete, the McVey brothers seized the opportunity and created Continental Fire Sprinkler Company to complete the bonded work of the other contractor. John McVey became Continental's President and Bill McVey, Executive Vice President.
The company's name was chosen to express the founders' vision of Continental branching out from its Midwestern birthplace and expanding across the continental United States through hard work, honesty and superior customer service.
Throughout the 1970s, Continental's work was concentrated in the Midwestern states of Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri. Periodically, customers familiar with the company's work ethic and standards would request that Continental go beyond its target markets to perform fire sprinkler work on projects in other geographical locations.
Continental performed jobs in Texas, Arizona, Illinois, Colorado and Maine in the 1980s. During that decade, the company also secured its first major distribution center installation, which was its largest project to date. Wal-Mart's distribution center in Laurens, South Carolina, required more than 45,000 sprinkler heads throughout its 1.5-million-square-foot facility. The quality and efficiency of Continental's work would lead to more than 30 such installations for Wal-Mart alone in the following years. In the 1990s, Continental added Kentucky, Louisiana, Illinois, Arkansas and California to the list of states in which the company worked. Continental was developing into the Midwest's premier fire installation contractor and was making serious inroads into specialty niches of freezer, warehouse and special hazard installations. In 1993, John McVey became CEO, and John's son Kerry became President. Kerry had been working in all aspects of the company since 1977.
In September 1995, Continental added to the fire sprinkler division and incorporated Continental Alarm and Detection Company with a vision for providing fire suppression, fire alarm systems and to combine service departments for inspections of water base and fire alarm and suppression systems.
As Continental Alarm and Detection Company grew, the demand for additional services grew as well. Continental Alarm and Detection Company expanded services by providing CCTV, access, security and a variety of alarm and detection systems.
By the 21st century, Kerry had led both companies to substantial growth. In 2001, Continental Fire Sprinkler Company added an office in the Quad Cities area of Davenport, Iowa. From an original staff of one designer and a handful of fitters, their workforce grew to more than 300 employees and the company became one of the top 20 fire sprinkler contractors in the nation.
In 2005, Kiewit Corporation, one of North America's largest and most respected construction, engineering and mining companies, bought the business, including the Continental names; Continental Fire Sprinkler Company and Continental Alarm and Detection Company.
The decision was made to merge both companies in 2008 and as a result, Continental Alarm and Detection Company became a wholly internal division of Continental Fire Sprinkler Company, now known as "Continental Alarm and Detection, a division of Continental Fire Sprinkler Company."
Continental continues to prosper, adding offices in Las Vegas, Denver and Des Moines to support more than 40 states we are licensed to work.
In May 2008, Continental suffered the sudden loss of Kerry McVey. In the fall of 2008, Terry White was named President and continues to lead the company to a prosperous future while still maintaining the small company atmosphere.
While excited about future projects, we value our long-term relationships with the clients who have helped make the business what it is today. Continental's goals continue to reflect a core value established by John and Bill McVey in 1971: providing a valuable service to clients with safety, ethics and honesty as guidelines.