Cotton Logistics

Making Temporary Housing Feel Like Home

Over the years it has grown to become one of the world’s largest natural recovery companies. With a focus on large commercial properties, Cotton has been at every major storm or disaster since its inception. Beyond disasters, Cotton provides comprehensive logistical support solutions and consultation to a host of local and international clients including Fortune 500 companies, oil and gas corporations, private contractors, and government agencies

A Foundation in Disaster Relief

In 1996, Cotton Restoration was founded as a local company in Houston, dealing with fire and water damages and any type of storm damage.

“It’s not uncommon for us to go in after a storm in South Florida and for us to have 2,500 laborers working for us,” said Ron Brittan, National Operations Manager. “When you go into a place that’s been hit by a storm, it’s a good bet that the local infrastructure won’t be able to support your workforce. A) The hotels have been damaged; B) they were taken by the locals or C) they’re just not there. So we’ve gotten really good at providing workforce housing, but up until that point we had done it for ourselves.

A Shift to Workforce Housing

Cotton focused on housing its people in a safe, clean, healthy environment to allow the employees to work efficiently and get the company’s customers back up and running. But then one of the biggest companies in the world saw how successfully Cotton ran their sites, and encouraged the idea of diversification.

“One of our largest customers is BP; they saw us do this in Hurricane Katrina,” Brittan continued. “They had been using man camps for years. BP asked if Cotton would ever be interested in providing those services for them—not just for the Cotton name, but for Cotton’s clients.”

After the Deepwater Horizon incident, Cotton Logistics came into its own as a workforce housing provider. Cotton was awarded a master service agreement from British Petroleum to construct and manage emergency tented accommodations to house and feed a total of 3,000 individuals who were aiding in the cleanup along the gulf coast.

This experience translated well to the boom in drilling and production in the oil and gas industry in Texas, where Cotton then began offering its housing services to the energy sector. Today it is a leader in this field across the U.S.

The Cotton Logistics Standard

So how has Cotton Logistics garnered this kind of success in just 10 years? The people behind the company believe temporary housing shouldn’t feel temporary.

“Man camp has a negative connotation in our industry, we’re trying to change that,” said Brittan. “We want it to be seen more as a community than a camp.”

Cotton Logistics spends a lot of time and energy working with its clients to makes sure housing not only meets the company’s needs but also caters to the wants of the workforce that will be living there. Foosball tables, fire pits, comfortable eating quarters, and other gathering places set the company apart from other camp manufactures.

“Each market we move into makes Cotton more scalable,” Brittan shared. “We can provide just about anything a company would need for a remote project now.”

This commitment to industry excellence has won Cotton Logistics the “General Supplier of the Year Award” in the Southwest Oil & Gas Awards.

Cotton Culinary

But temporary housing, however nice, isn’t complete without a home-cooked meal. That’s where catering services from Cotton Culinary come in. Under the umbrella of Cotton Logistics brand, Cotton Culinary is available to provide food not just for the housing it sets up, but for any kind of catering needs, including galas and big events.

Custom-built kitchens with the best high-tech appliances serve the smallest work crews to 3,000 laborers after a hard day on a mine site. And not just slightly warm hamburgers—Cotton Culinary can provide sites with anything from comfort-food favorites to expensive looking and delicious high-quality meats like prime rib.

It turns out that although providing and cooking food on site is not the norm, having a kitchen on site is much easier than other options in the industry.

First-Class Staffing

And with its recent acquisition of CGI Staffing Solutions, Cotton Logistics can now provide a trifecta of services to its clients: the site, the food, and the people needed to run their operations.

This fairly new diversification was one of necessity. Cotton Logistics is planning on being involved with many of the $90 billion worth of projects that Southwest Louisiana has on the schedule for the next several years. However, this kind of investment requires a tremendous amount of skilled labor. Now, Cotton Logistics can provide it.

“Each market we move into makes Cotton more scalable,” Brittan shared. “We can provide just about anything a company would need for a remote project now.”

Despite its rapid diversification and growth, Cotton Logistics has been able to maintain something that most companies in this high-growth situation lose: the family feel.

“We started small—a lot of us went to college together. We’ve had the same executive and ownership team since we started, so the company has been able to maintain that small-time feel.”

From the get-go, the leadership at Cotton Logistics understood the importance of flexibility in its employee’s jobs and decision making. Decisions get made quickly, forgoing the need for months of planning, conference calls, and meetings many companies feel are needed to make sound financial decisions.

“We’re scalable. We have the resources and finances needed to be successful. If we continue listening to our clients, we stay on top of evolving markets, and we make a concerted effort to never get complacent, I see many more decades of success for Cotton Logistics.”

Cotton Logistics Division provides worldwide operational support and infrastructure.

Cotton Logistics provides worldwide operational support and infrastructure for the shortages of workforce housing, catering and other resources associated with a catastrophic event, a large construction or development project, and for the complex and ever-changing work environments of the oil and gas industry. Backed by the expansive capabilities and assets of Cotton USA, its sister company, the Cotton Logistics team can deliver under the most challenging of scenarios. Whether the task involves a remote geographic region, extreme climate, stringent timeline, or other unique problem set, Cotton Logistics pairs subject matter expertise with innovation and flexibility to determine the best possible solution that satisfies each clients’ specific requirements.

Cotton USA is a North American-based general contractor and global solutions firm – specializing in disaster recovery – and highly experienced in the rapid mobilization of resources for all types of operations. From isolated day-to-day incidents to international disasters, Cotton provides turnkey recovery services through its multiple specialized divisions. Since inception in 1996, Cotton has been instrumental in the recovery and restoration efforts stemming from the world’s most damaging catastrophes of the past two decades, including high-impact weather events and other natural disasters, wildfires, terrorism, vandalism and environmental mishaps.

Disaster Recovery Site Cotton Logistics’ roots can be traced back to 2005 when three major category 5 hurricanes devastated areas of the United States, islands in the Caribbean and Mexico. The temporary facility and logistical support service lines were expanded when Cotton USA was tasked with setting up workforce lodging for its own restoration crews to be housed while participating in the recovery efforts of commercial property in New Orleans and East Texas. The challenges of rapidly transporting and mobilizing equipment personnel, and resources overseas following Hurricane Wilma, in the midst of ongoing operations from the first two storms, was a true testament to Cotton’s abilities.
Deepwater Horizon Spill Recovery
Another disaster event in 2010, the MC252 Deepwater Horizon Spill, helped to launch the division into new markets. Cotton was awarded a master service agreement to construct and manage emergency tented accommodations to house and feed a total of 3,000 individuals who were aiding in the cleanup along the gulf coast. And shortly thereafter, when news began spreading that increased drilling and production was causing housing shortages in rural areas of Texas, Cotton realized that the oil and gas industry was facing a similar problem set to the disaster-stricken areas they’d operated in. Cotton Logistics was quickly born and the same knowledge was applied to the new client base; it was a natural transition. Today, Cotton Logistics operates 4 full-service lodge facilities, for a total of almost 600 beds, and is setting the bar high in the temporary housing industry with their unique experience in the fast-paced business of responding to worldwide disaster events.