Travis Gilpin

United States

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Biography

Travis Gilpin is the vice president of Consolidated Reinforcement, one of the largest rebar and post-tension resources in the state of Texas.

As the vice president of Consolidated Reinforcement, Travis Gilpin has a lot of responsibilities. His company is responsible for creating site foundations, one of the most critical components when constructing a residential or commercial building. A building is no better than the foundation on which it sits, so it is crucial that the business perfects every foundation designed, engineered, and installed. Travis also started his own company, Gilpin Extrusion, which supplies Consolidated Reinforcement with all construction materials.

Presently, though, Travis Gilpin tends to mainly be concerned about his philanthropic efforts. Since he has a background in building houses, it is not surprising to see that he is very involved with Habitat for Humanity. While the mission of Habitat for Humanity is simple to understand, meeting the goals of that mission is much more complex. Providing suitable housing for the two billion people worldwide who live in slums the other 100 million people who live on the streets is an extremely difficult feat to accomplish. And it’s for this reason that Gilpin continues to volunteer his time to efforts that lead to the building or repairing of more houses in his Texas community.

Gilpin believes it is important to work toward making the world a better place for everyone in it. A lot of that work begins with ensuring people have a comfortable place to call home. Through Habitat for Humanity, he continues to touch the lives of many people, both in his home state of Texas and in other communities throughout the world.

To get an idea of what Travis Gilpin does, it is important to look at Consolidated Reinforcement and how it was first established. The engineering and building company was started by Gilpin’s family in Victoria, Texas, and has been around since 1976. Over those 37 years, Gilpin’s relatives and their employees have worked to ensure that the company remains one of the biggest names in rebar and post-tension supply in the state of Texas. They have achieved this recognition by being one of the most reliable companies in the business and by offering top of the line products and services.

Travis Gilpin has worked in his family’s company for more than a decade and he is dedicated to the same ideals his relatives held when they started the business nearly 40 years ago. There are a lot of different processes that go into the designing, engineering, and installation of a residential or commercial building’s foundation. As the vice president of Consolidated Reinforcement, Gilpin has been responsible for:

• Completing the engineering of post-tension or rebar foundations all with in-house workers;
• Supplying materials for the installation of building foundations including post-tension cable and fabricated rebar;
• Supplying experienced installation crews;
• Scheduling foundation inspections that are convenient for the laborers;
• Ensuring that full tensioning is completed no more than 10 days after the pour date;
• Partial tensioning.
Some of the best work done by Gilpin’s company does not involve physically building or installing anything, though. The company has really shined when it is hired to design and engineer structures. The workers there have handled a number of projects including:
• Commercial/industrial work. The staff have worked on projects that include foundations of slabs on grade, wood, post-tensioned concrete, masonry, and structural steel.
• Custom homes. In the past, Consolidated Reinforcement has performed framing design and structural analysis for both custom projects as well as projects that are building entire communities. Each design has always been up to the code requirements of both the International Residential Code and the International Building Code.
• Slab Tek. The company has perfected its work with Slab Tek in the past few years. This technology has no exterior or interior beams to support the foundation and instead is structurally suspended. They are upheld using lifting devices that do not touch the ground. Being able to perfect this challenging technology is a telling sign of what the business has done in the past.
• Various other projects that entail shop drawings, structural calculations and structural analysis reports.

Though Travis Gilpin works in his family’s business, he is somewhat of an entrepreneur himself. He understood his company’s business so well that he decided to open one of his own. Now, Gilpin Extrusion works hand-in-hand with Consolidated Reinforcement by supplying them with the greasing and sheathing tools that are necessary for foundation work.

Travis has helped Gilpin Extrusion and Consolidated Reinforcement maintain excellent relationships with a number of builders. Some of the builders they have worked with in the past include:

Pioneer Homes
Centex Homes
Standard Pacific Homes
Meritage Homes
Legacy Homes
Toll Brothers
Scott Felder Homes
Milestone Community Builders
Centerra Homes
Sitterle Homes
Giddens Development
Highland Homes
Value Builders
David Weekley Homes
Drees Custom Homes
Buffington Signature Homes
Monterrey Homes
Texas Classic Homes
Gehan Homes
Taylor Morrison Homes
Plantation Homes
Coventry Homes

It is not just the leadership that Travis Gilpin provided that made these builders trust Consolidated Reinforcement, but the hard work and quality supplies the company as a whole offers on every project. For example, the company only uses cables that are the strongest and highest quality for post-tension – a half inch, 270K cable – that ensures maximum hold. All of their raw supplies are stocked by local providers so there is never an issue with backorders.

As for rebar, Consolidated Reinforcement found that it made more sense to manufacture and store its own rebar at a San Antonio facility. This has ensured that the company's rebar has regularly met the industry standard of 60 grade rebar and that there are no slowdowns because of a short supply. In fact, the company has provided most areas in Texas with rebar. They have also supplied materials such as 20/40 foot straight bars, corner bars, stirrups, and other custom gauges and sizes that have been requested by either engineers or builders.

Consolidated Reinforcement also began using another plant in Luling, Texas to help with materials. This plant extrudes its own cable, fabricates its own rebar. and helps provide tie wire, anchors, wedges and chairs. This has not only proven to help maintain low cost to them and clients but also has prevented shortages and work stoppages.

Another reason why companies have preferred the services overseen by Travis Gilpin are the instillation crews his company has used. These crews have worked with individual clients to fill their requests and deliver materials directly to the construction site. These installation crews regularly fulfill quick turnarounds on projects with partial tensioning and pre-stressing happening with two or three days and full tensioning jobs after about seven to 10 days. If companies do not need the installation services provided by Consolidated Reinforcement, the company’s installation crews have still dropped off the supplies directly at a time convenient to the client.

Of course, Travis Gilpin is dedicated to his work, but he also makes sure to save plenty of time for fun. He enjoys spending his time in nature and regularly takes trips to hunt deer in Loredo, Texas. When not hunting, he has been known to practice water sports whenever he spends time at his lake house on Horseshoe Bay.

Though most of Travis Gilpin’s current work with Habitat for Humanity involves him using his building and engineering knowledge, it started with him donating raw supplies and labor from his companies. It is clear to everyone throughout Texas that Travis is involved with one of the best foundation companies around, largely due to his input and hard work. It has been clear since the beginning that his dedication to his clients and those less fortunate would lead him to great places.

Travis Gilpin has no intentions of stopping his hard work anytime soon. He is fully committed to the clients and employees of Consolidated Reinforcement as well as Gilpin Extrusion. He will also continue to provide his expert analysis and insight for Habitat for Humanity projects. Habitat for Humanity has partnered with the Texas Housing Community in the hopes of raising the State Housing Trust Fund, which would help create more affordable housing in the state. Travis hopes to see this increase happen.

Being at the top of an industry means there is always a target on a company’s back. Travis is fighting not just to keep his company afloat, but also his family’s name. His relatives started Consolidated Reinforcement in 1976 and he wants to ensure it runs for another 37 years or more. The easiest way for him to do this is through his work with Gilpin Extrusion. If he can continue to find ways to get materials at the lowest possible prices, he can provide them to his family’s company for cheap and keep their clients happy with low cost, high quality work.

The one philanthropic activity he is most involved in now, though, is the Austin City Limits music festival. Music, of course, is the main focus of the Austin City Limits festival, but Travis Gilpin hopes to get more and more charities connected to the annual event in the hopes that they will all benefit from the crowds that flock to see the more than 100 music acts perform.