What Primoris builds
Primoris is a publicly traded specialty contractor founded in 1960, with its headquarters on North Field Street in Dallas according to its SEC filings. Its work is organized around two broad areas:
- Utilities: natural gas distribution, electric distribution and transmission, and communications systems.
- Energy: engineering, procurement and construction for solar, energy storage, renewable fuels, petroleum, refining and petrochemical customers, along with pipeline construction and maintenance, compressor and pump stations, and some work for state transportation departments.
That is a wide spread of job types, and the crane work on each looks different.
Crane work across utility and energy projects
A few examples of where lifting shows up in this kind of contracting:
- Transmission and substation work. Setting steel structures, power transformers and switchgear, often near energized lines where minimum approach distances under OSHA 1926.1408 control where the crane can set up.
- Solar and battery storage. Repetitive picks of inverters, battery enclosures and transformers across a large site, where a good signal person keeps the pace safe.
- Refinery and petrochemical jobs. Vessels, exchangers and pipe racks inside congested units, sometimes with lattice crawlers or large all-terrains.
- Compressor and pump stations. Heavy skids and packaged equipment set on foundations with tight tolerances.
In each case the operator needs certification for the crane type, and the ground crew needs to know rigging and signals.
Large energy projects also run lift plans for critical picks, and the people building those plans need to understand what a crane chart actually allows. That knowledge is part of every operator course we teach.
Choosing courses by role
For hydraulic crane operators, the 40-hour fixed/swing cab course fits people with seat time who need NCCCO certification; the 120-hour course is for those still learning the controls. Crawler operators on plant and large energy projects can take the 40-hour lattice course, practicing on our crawler in the yard where the lattice practical exam is given.
Linemen, pipefitters, electricians and laborers who hook loads and direct the operator usually fit best in the 28-hour Rigger/Signal Person Certification Level I course, which prepares for NCCCO Rigger Level I and Signalperson. Crews that only need an introduction can start with our 4-hour Level I Rigger/Signal Person class, a Miller Crane Works qualification rather than an NCCCO credential.
What operators practice before exam day
Utility and energy sites reward operators who plan before they swing. In the classroom, students work through load charts for different boom lengths and radii, subtract the weight of the hook block, slings and stowed attachments, and check the result against the chart's structural and stability limits. They also cover ground conditions, wind limits, and the inspection steps OSHA expects at the start of each shift.
Yard time then turns that into habit: setting up on outriggers, checking level, and moving loads through the same practical exam course that NCCCO examiners use at our site. A simulator in the classroom gives new operators extra hours at the controls without tying up a crane.
Getting a Dallas-based crew enrolled
Our school at 304 Tunnell St in Seagoville is about 20 road miles southeast of downtown Dallas along US-175, so Dallas-based employees commute daily. People assigned to projects elsewhere in Texas travel in, and the premium courses offer optional room and board. All classes and NCCCO practical exams happen at this one site; we do not train at project locations.
Safety and training coordinators can request dates through the company classes page or by calling (214) 763-0513. Send us the number of people, their roles and the cranes they work around, and we will propose a course plan. Upcoming starts are on the schedule, and contact us handles questions about invoicing and enrollment paperwork.