Some leaders are made. Others are born. A rare few are both, and Billy McClelland is one of those rare ones. From the time he was in diapers on his father’s hip, he has been part of the McClelland family’s entrepreneurial story. The patriarch of the family, William B. McClelland, started McClelland Oilfield Services in Swan Hills, Alberta in 1964 and mentored his son, Bill, in the business. Bill (Billy’s father) applied what he learned and spearheaded a new division of the company in 1980, which operated as McClelland Power Swivel and Rentals. After several years working under his father, Bill and Karen (Billy’s mother) decided to break from the company; armed with a reputation for integrity and quality, a drive to succeed and two small pieces of equipment, he built the division into a fully independent entity.
Bill and Karen slowly grew the company, acquiring more rental equipment and attracting more clients. Through economic ups and downs, McClelland Power Swivel and Rentals evolved and adapted, diversifying its services and focusing on efficiency to weather the times of uncertainty that plagued the province during those early years.
“We had power swivels, drill collars and handling equipment from the start and then got into tubulars, valves and spools and finally into blow out preventors (BOPs) in the 1990s. That was a game-changer,” says Billy McClelland, president of McClelland Oilfield Rentals.
This growth sparked a corporate rebranding including a name change to McClelland Oilfield Rentals (MOR) and a more robust equipment catalog to better serve its clients operating in abandonments, workovers, drilling and completion. Bill’s two initial pieces of equipment held in a one-bay shop grew to almost 7,000 pieces of equipment today, making MOR one of the largest privately owned oilfield rental companies in Western Canada. Over the years, Bill built the company into a one-stop shop for clients seeking wellhead and rig support equipment including BOPs, tubulars, handling equipment, valves, catwalks, pipe racks and drill collars, all serviced and maintained at the 58,000-square-foot facility in Grande Prairie, Alberta. And Bill’s son, Billy, has had a front-row seat to the impressive evolution of the family business.
From the time he was a toddler, Billy went to work with his dad and was raised with the business as a backdrop. He started out cleaning the shop, organizing bolts and washing floors and equipment on the weekends and was added to the payroll in high school to help out after school. Even as a teenager, Billy knew he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and dedicate his life to McClelland Oilfield Rentals.
“I always dreamed of learning the ropes and taking over the family business,” he says. “I put the time in and worked my way up through the company to learn each role and the importance it plays in the business.”
Billy has worked in every division, gaining respect from the team and amassing the kind of experience that would be required to one day head up the company. His lifetime of education came at the hands of some of the best professionals in the business, and the ongoing mentorship and vast industry knowledge of McClelland Oilfield Rentals’ talented team members has contributed to the continued success and growth of the company. The values of hard work, dedication and teamwork are not just slogans or platitudes, they are the backbone of MOR’s culture, and those concepts have informed everything that McClelland Oilfield Rentals has done since Bill hung up his shingle 45 years ago.
Over the course of the past two decades, Billy has soaked up the experience and advice of his father’s team across the organization and in 2019, with the vote of confidence from his father, Billy was promoted to the president’s chair. From there, Billy was able to start steering MOR into the future with a team of his own.
“We have a really positive business culture, and work functions are like a family getting together. Everyone gets along really well and everybody is on board helping each other out. I’m so thankful for everyone who has been a part of it: clients, suppliers and staff,” he says. “I couldn’t do this on my own. Without the team over the years, we would never have been able to get this far.”
It is impressive to see where the company is now, but Billy is not satisfied resting on his laurels. Instead, as some of the old guards, Warren Baehler, Doug Case and John Gray, retired over the past five years, Billy has turned to innovative, driven young professionals like the new GM Terry Oakley to work alongside long-tenured leaders like Laura Corkum and Evan Binks to help him invigorate the business and put his modern approach to business into practice. And this spring, Billy and his wife, Kendall, put together a comprehensive business proposal to buy the company from his parents to finally and officially make his dream a reality. With the culture of support and collaboration at the core of the company, the team of 19 dedicated professionals at MOR are fully behind Billy’s ownership and have bought into his forward-looking initiatives that will propel the company into this next chapter.
The team’s passion and dedication has earned McClelland Oilfield Rentals a strong reputation in the industry, where it is known as a reliable partner for clients. Clients know the high standards set by Bill will be met or exceeded by Billy. Without fail, MOR ensures equipment is cleaned and inspected thoroughly after every use so it’s ready to be dispatched to the next client, all safety protocols are closely followed, any mechanical issues are dealt with quickly and efficiently so clients experience limited downtime and clients have a growing catalog of equipment to choose from to make their jobs easier. Billy takes pride in MOR going above and beyond every day to put clients first.
Achieving this high standard of service requires experienced and well-trained technicians, so Billy introduced a complex training matrix to create expertise overlaps among the technicians. An elaborate spreadsheet shows the training each employee has received along with what other training is available to allow employees to broaden their skillset and experience. Not only does this guarantee that staff can easily find someone with knowledge of an issue to resolve it quickly but it also means that evening and weekend on-call responsibilities can be spread over a larger number of qualified staff rather than falling on the more seasoned employees; now there is always someone on staff who could handle any problem that comes in.
“With my focus on the longevity of the company, I wanted two or three people trained on one thing so if a team member is sick or on holidays, two others are there to keep the show running smoothly,” he says. “It’s been awesome.”
Billy has also invested in team building to ensure all members of this work family know they are supported and valued, and he encourages collaboration across the organization. MOR views the Grande Prairie community as extended family as well, and the team answers the call to support countless causes including 4H, the Salvation Army, youth sports teams, animal charities and women’s shelters. Despite the company’s growth over the decades, the McClelland family continues to project a small-company mentality that focuses on community, individualized service and integrity.
With the next generation firmly in place and ready to officially take the reins, MOR is poised to grow beyond Grande Prairie, with possible expansion into new markets and new opportunities on the radar for the future.
“I’m always looking to diversify now, always have my ears on and eyes open to see how we can change,” he says.
What won’t change is the unparalleled service and quality equipment that clients have come to rely on over the past 45 years. As the industry evolves, so does McClelland Oilfield Rentals, and Billy McClelland and his talented team are well equipped and excited to lead this company into the future.
7901 99 Street Clairmont, AB T8X 5B1
780-539-3656 • sales@morltd.ca
mcclellandoilfieldrentals.com
