Meet Nicholas Petrie | Welder & Fabricator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nicholas Petrie and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nicholas, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Hahahaha, it was by purely by accident really, I had become certified in mig welding at 17 as a back-up option as I was running out of academic options at the time due to poor choices and the ongoing family dynamics at that moment in my life. I certified rather quickly, seemed to have a knack for it but I didn’t pursue it and forgot about it for awhile. Despite that, I always kept welding on my resume for job applications. Fast forward 10 years or so and I was working as a driver in the entertainment industry, I was unhappy and wasn’t sure what direction I wanted to go with really anything in my life. The company I worked for had a wonderful man who owned and ran it with an intelligence and work ethic I am still inspired by, he’s no longer with us but he changed my life by giving me a chance and believing in me.

He came up to me in May of 2015, and mentioned the welding on my resume, asked if I thought I could build him something, I hesitantly replied I might be able to……….he told me that he knew that I could hahahah, I don’t know what he saw or felt but a week later I was building him some equipment for his company on the weekends. It took some figuring out, but got it done, it went well enough that I was asked to build more. It slowly but surely turned into giving up my regular job to complete more projects, then it became all I was doing and before I knew it……..other people were asking for my time and growing skill set to build things for them.

Within a year I was so busy and the woman I was with at the time broke up with me because I was so busy all the time, hahaha, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise, I started my business the next day after that break up and its been quite a journey with lots of twists and turns but I love it and I couldn’t be more thankful to Paul Blutter for believing in me to give me a chance to run amuck with some metal and make something from nothing hahah. I probably didn’t answer this question the best sorry, I had no direct thought process but I think its important to take chances on ourselves, if we don’t then we will always wonder what if, and we should not allow that.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
My company is Foothill Steel Works, est. 2016. We do Welding and Metal Fabrication of all sorts, my problem is…….its very hard for me to say no hahaha. I enjoy building and if its new and different I want to do it lol. Sometimes that doesn’t always make for the best business acumen but I suppose im lucky enough to be good enough to be able to say Im still making a living doing it hahaha. We have grown a lot, with ups and downs like everyone else I think. We care and take great satisfaction in building anything that makes someone happy and seeing them use it even years later is a source of immense satisfaction.

Have been really lucky to do some pretty cool wild things, like turn the mythbusters tractor trailer into a roof for a stunt coordinators movie ranch, making a metal sculpture for the clippers, fix Kid Larois microphone ornament, work with one of my best friends to create a giant folding scoreboard for Westlake high school, there’s many more projects I have been fortunate and lucky enough to be part of, it just makes me happy to make something that works and delights others.

I would say I am a better welder then a business man luckily my skills can carry me through that latter half somewhat on their own lol. It hasn’t been easy, nothing about welding is really that easy, it takes passion, perseverance and the willingness to get dirty and do things you don’t always want to do but like most things in life you will be rewarded if you work hard and care about what you do and how you do it.

Making mistakes was my best teacher, nothing else taught me more, and I’ve certainly made a lot of them lol. Its OK to get frustrated, overwhelmed or even walk away for bit, just dont give up, hang on for dear life and everything you fall down, get back up, wipe that dust off and keep going. Still learning, it never ends, I think you have to be open to that, I feel like when you get to a point where things start to make sense that the main realization is that you realize how much you dont know and find peace with that.

I’d like the world to see whatever good they can find in this story and our work, and pass it on, we sure sure could use more good in times like these.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I am a father of a wonderful life changing 3 year old daughter now so that is a much different question for me now then it used to be hahahah.

My best friend is my brother and we’d be hiking in the mountains, we have been going up the 39 into San Gabriel mountains lately and there is a beautiful trail by a river at the West Fork Canyon up there. If its winter, we are snowboarding at mount high or big bear mountain. After that its a scuba trip to the channel islands and maybe a night or two on Catalina in Avalon, one of the best places in the world in my humble opinion. Probably spend a day at Rat Beach, diving and swimming, we love the water.

Living in L.A is honestly foodie heaven, there are so many amazing places to eat, I feel like its more fun to try and find something new each time, but grand central market in DTLA is always a must, guaranteed to find something you love and the smells and people so much fun, i also had my first date with my wife there lol. Clifford’s is really cool too, dress nice so you can go behind the mirror lol. Got to say I would wrap it all up with a Dodger game, get the Brooklyn dog if you can find it, so damn good.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Paul Blutter, the person got me started, an amazing man, the world will not see another one like him. Selfless, caring driven and smarter then anyone I have ever met.

My wife, Autumn, she puts up with a lot of craziness, just ask her about the bedrrame for my 3 year old daughter and trying to get it to the second story of the house hahahahah. Im the lucky one for sure and she always finds a way to keep me positive when I cannot seem to find the ability to do so myself.

My brother, he has been through almost all of it with me, I’ve been extremely lucky to have him around, he has kept things alive when things looked the worst.

My father, I wouldn’t be here if he didn’t put up with me and let me be a professional noisy mess maker in his garage when I first started out hahahahaha.

There are so many others, even the bad times and bad ones are lessons to be learned from, looking back now Im thankful for it all, through chasing this welding endeavor I have learned to be much more at ease and take pleasure being in my own skin, happy to be here and share this at all.

Website: https://Foothillsteelworks.com

Instagram: @foothillsteelworks