Brothers & Company, Inc.
Master Riggers

by Robert D. Greenberg, AICP

One of the greatest symbols of economic vitality is the sight of cranes atop the New York skyline.   Have you ever thought about the men and equipment behind these feats of gravity-defying acrobatics?  Did you ever wonder how those oversized pieces of mechanical and electrical  equipment ever got into your building in the first place?  This is the story about a family that for three generations has been performing these daunting tasks on a daily basis.

Five Decades of Experience
In 1957, Sam Barbera, with many years of experience in the field, launched the Sam Barbera Rigging Company.  His sons Vincent, now serving as president and master rigger, and Joseph, vice president, joined the firm in 1960 and 1965, respectively, and helped grow the company to where it is today.  As the second generation of the family took on a leadership role the firm’s name evolved into Brothers & Company.  In the early 1990s, Vincent Barbera II, Joseph S. Barbera, and Saverio “Sam” Barbera, proudly joined the family business. 

As their reputation spread throughout the Tri-state area and beyond,  the firm has successfully completed projects both in the U.S. and overseas.  In 2010, Brothers & Company became signatory with the NYC Local 40 Ironworkers in addition to its membership with the NYC Local 638 Steamfitters Union.  The firm is a fully insured NYC master rigger and is OSHA-certified and is capable of taking on the largest scale projects.  The firm’s credentials are impeccable. 

Brothers & Company is acknowledged as one of the industry leaders capable of completing even the most complex projects.    Frequently these projects require custom fabrication of tooling not readily available for purchase.  The staff at Brothers & Company has the capability to envision, engineer, design,  fabricate and implement the use one-of-kind, custom-designed tools to complete tasks and projects never before conceived or attempted.  Through the design and implementation of such tooling they  are able to complete these challenging  projects on time and within budget.    “We often get the call when there is a specialty project,” states Vincent Barbera II, “and the more critical the lift the better we like it.  These projects are like puzzles and we are great at coming through with the solutions.”    

Wide Range of Experience and Expertise
The firm built an impressive track record of specialty handling & rigging, logistics planning and taking on the most technically challenging projects including projects in the hospital, commercial, financial and institutional sectors.  Major clients/projects include:
• Con Edison—the installation and removal of boilers, steam turbines, power generation equipment, and chillers.

• Metropolitan Museum of Art—the scope included the breakdown, shipping  and reassembly of the Temple of Dendura, which began its voyage from Egypt through the Suez Canal

• Delivery and installation of a 108,000 lb. boiler for Columbia University, which required the creation of a unique beam system of railroad tracks to spread the load across the floor.  This application was custom-designed and engineered for this unique project.

• Transportation and installation of five, 30-ton statues that can be seen at the New York City Federal Building on Broadway.

Mission Critical & MRI Center Experts
The firm has also become known as leading experts in the data center and mission critical field with major projects at 1 New York Plaza, 100 Manhattanville Road in Manhattanville, NY, 60 Wall Street, One Liberty Plaza, and at 270 Park Avenue.  The firm performed an extremely challenging and dangerous mission critical transformer replacement project on the 86th floor of the Empire State Building, which was successfully completed through the use of another custom-engineered and fabricated special tooling solution. Brothers & Company completed the complicated hoisting and installation of emergency backup and power systems at 1585 Broadway with no interruption to building services. 

Brothers & Company ’s 20 years of expertise in the installation of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) equipment for MRI centers around the globe.  One prime example is Paramed Corporation, which included the first of its type open MRI system.  The critical nature of this project included the handling and rigging of multiple 62,000 lb. magnets. For Doshi Medical, a worldwide MRI company, Brothers & Company has completed projects in London, Puerto Rico, Libya, New Orleans, many centers in California, and their latest facility at Atlantic and Nevins Avenues in Brooklyn.

Application Engineered Rigging
“We will custom engineer any tool for any type of unique and challenging project presented to us,” states Vincent Barbera, Sr., “and will customize the means and methods to meet the needs of the project and our clients”.  The company created an innovative winching system they call “The Dinosaur” that can be brought into buildings piece-by-piece and assembled on an upper floor with a 1500-foot long cable to hoist equipment up through elevator shafts without requiring the use of outside elevators and cranes, thereby dramatically reducing both cost and time.  The firm employs a wide range of approaches, techniques and equipment including the use of roof-mounted derricks, helicopters, barges, and the use of the New York City subway system/railcars .  Few New Yorkers are even aware of the fact  that the subway system is utilized as a ‘hidden’ delivery network during off-peak hours while most of the City sleeps.  Some of the most challenging ‘hidden’ deliveries, for loads ranging from  5-50 tons, take place underground using custom-engineered, pre-fabricated unloading systems designed by Brothers & Co.  When an existing platform is not available, the firm can create one for that special project, and has even completed deliveries by making penetrations  through the subway walls directly into the basements of adjoining buildings. 

Leading manufacturers recognize Brothers & Co.’s expertise and trust them to provide the handling, transportation, unloading and placement of their most sensitive major equipment .  As part of the company’s ‘white glove’ approach, they will take special care when handling their client’s most sensitive and delicate equipment.  For example, when transporting a transformer with epoxy-coated coil bundles even the smallest cracks render them useless.   As a precaution for this type of delivery and for all sensitive items,  the firm will shrink wrap equipment rather than simply placing a tarp over it and strapping it down in open trucks, thereby providing an additional level of protection from dirt, road debris and weather-related factors while in transit.  The firm also provides outdoor storage and indoor climate-controlled warehousing and storage.

Looking Ahead
“Our clients call us back time and again,” states Joseph Barbera, Sr., “in some cases, even decades later, when equipment we originally installed requires replacement.”  A true testimony to their longstanding leadership in the field. 

The company plans to grow carefully as the demand for infrastructure renovations and building modernizations and new construction increases with an improving economy.  “We are always seeking new challenges,” says Vincent Barbera, Sr., “and we are confident that our clients will utilize us for their  ongoing needs as well as their most difficult new projects.”