Universal Steel

The company has grown from a supplier and installer of ornamental iron to the home building industry to one of the premier fabricators and erectors of structural and miscellaneous steel in the southeast. William B. "Bill" Bourne purchased State Ornamental Iron in 1966 and merged it into Universal Steel in 1970 retaining the name of Universal Steel.... State Ornamental Iron was located in Tucker, Georgia but with the merger moved its facilities to Decatur, Georgia. In 1972, William B. "Brad" Bourne III started working for Universal Steel. Universal Steel was growing and in 1973, after a short stint in the banking business, William I. "Bill" Noethling started with Universal Steel. Bill Noethling is the brother-in-law of Brad and the son-in-law of Bill Bourne. All three gentlemen are graduates of the Georgia Institute of Technology. The three men ran Universal Steel from the shop in Decatur. The business developed into projects with a structural nature. Universal Steel would fabricate a stair and handrail project and the contractor would ask them to fabricate the small bit of structural steel associated with the project. The scope continued to grow and so did Universal Steel. In 1980, Universal Steel moved to Lithonia, Georgia, the current location of the headquarters. The move was necessary for two reasons. One, the Decatur location was being taken by the city because they needed the land for a new road. Two, the company had grown too big for the little ornamental shop that had served the men so well from the beginning. Brad Bourne became President of Universal Steel in 1989, and Bill Noethling became the Executive Vice-President that year. The company continued to grow in size and in project requirements. Universal began to take on larger projects. In 1999, the third generation arrived at Universal Steel when William B "Bray" Bourne IV started as assistant project managers. Universal Steel, by that time, had again grown too large for its current location, and in 2000 purchased the building adjacent to the ...Read More