Jacob Scott didn’t plan to move Stanley Petroleum Maintenance.
When Scott and his wife, Courtney, purchased the 47-year-old business from Scott’s uncle, Bob Stanley, last April, the couple initially was content running it from its longtime location at 908 W. Monroe Ave. But the possibilities that came into view when Courtney, a Norfolk native, saw the space for sale at 1408 S. Pine Industrial Road were too good to pass by.
“My wife saw this place. We got with a good Realtor and managed to work out a deal with the owners, who were selling it, and it kind of came to fruition,” Scott said. “It was spontaneous and happened real fast.”
Stanley Petroleum Maintenance has been part of the Norfolk business community since opening in 1976. The business provides a variety of goods and services related to the petroleum industry — building and installing retail gas stations, building bulk fuel plants for farmers and selling farm and ag accessories for fuel.
“We can do aviation fueling, so airports — credit card systems at the airport — and we do commercial fueling, so for people with their own fleets of vehicles,” Scott said. “We put in fuel management systems, so we can bury tanks, install pumps of various kinds. We install, troubleshoot, service, maintain — all that stuff.”
Stanley Petroleum Maintenance does work primarily in Northeast Nebraska, but the business has stretched its wings as far west as Julesburg, Colorado, north into South Dakota and east into Iowa.
“We’ve got a lot of work lined up along the interstate (in Nebraska) this year,” Scott said.
Scott has been part of the business since moving to the area from Texas in 2009. With a background in electronics and experience in the electrical and computer field, he wanted to get into that area of his uncle’s business.
“I moved up here to get into the electronics side of it — for the retail gas stations and point-of-sales systems,” he said. “I kind of went from there. I got into … environmental monitoring, and next thing you know, I’m the guy everybody is calling.”
After the couple purchased the business, Courtney Scott began utilizing the company’s more robust website and social media presence for business. And while the new location came about quickly, the company has adjusted well to its new environment.
The lot is twice the size as the former location, and the building is about twice the size, as well. “We were in a 4,000-square-foot shop. Our office space was a little corner of the shop,” Scott said. “Now we have 2,400 square feet of office space and 5,600 square feet of shop space.”
Scott said the extra room has helped the business keep a better track of inventory and has allowed crews to prepare and organize parts per job.
“We were kind of crammed in like a sardine can at the other place,” he said. “Now we can fit four trucks in the shop. … We’ve got plenty of shelving, plenty of inventory to track and stock. It’s enabled me to have more parking for future employees.”
Stanley Petroleum Maintenance has about 12 people on staff. Scott said he would like service techs, but any candidate for the job would have to be dedicated because of the amount of time and cost that goes into the intensive training required.
“It would probably take me two years to fully train someone. … Training for an electronics tech here is borderline like a college education,” he said.
Scott said he’s excited about the new location and is looking forward to pushing forward with the business.
“I’d like to buy the land next door and move a lot of our farm tanks over there,” he said of future goals. “Maybe add onto the building one day. And keep growing and learning.”
