Contractor Services Inc. of West Virginia (ConServ) is an energy and environmental contracting company founded in 1970 on the principle of providing the best people and best equipment to the best customers in the industry at a competitive price. The Founders’ extensive experience in all facets of the oil and gas industry through multiple “boom and bust” cycles instilled a belief that the utilization of seasoned, highly trained personnel and quality equipment results in operational efficiencies, a generative safety culture, and professional excellence. Our customers are the direct beneficiaries of our vast ‘wellhead to burner tip’ knowledge, as the total value of the many services provided by ConServ is truly unmatched in the industry.
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ConServ’s roots begin in 1970 when its Owner, David A. Freshwater, founded D.A. Freshwater Well Service Company to provide oil and gas well servicing, trucking, pipeline construction and roustabout services to oil and gas production companies in central West Virginia. In 1975, Mr. Freshwater teamed up with the late Richard L. Mann and Reeves Lewenthal, a U.S. art pioneer turned oil and gas developer, and through hard work and determination, the company expanded its equipment inventory and eventually evolved into a full service oil and gas contracting company known as Petro Services Inc. In 1981, Petro Services merged with Allegheny Western (A&W) Energy Corporation (a publicly traded company headquartered in New York). After supervising the drilling and completion of over 350 wells throughout the Appalachian Basin, Mr. Freshwater resigned from his position with A&W in 1986 and founded D.A. Freshwater Company.
Over a short time period, he re-acquired most of the original assets he contributed to A&W ( including several key employees) and re-established his firm as the ‘go to’ contractor for A&W as well as many other exploration & production (E&P) firms in the region. In 1993, D.A. Freshwater Company changed its legal name to Contractor Services Inc. of West Virginia. In 1998 the company principals, J. Scott Freshwater and David A. Freshwater, co-founded Reserve Oil & Gas, Inc. and later two other independently owned and managed companies, and began further diversifying its client base and service offerings.
ConServ is proud to be a locally owned and operated company headquartered in Spencer, West Virginia. And while each and every team member plays a vital role in the company, our operations are led by our executive leadership team.
David A. Freshwater, the Founder of ConServ currently serves as its Chairman. He began his career in the oil and gas contracting industry working on well servicing projects in central West Virginia. Recognizing an opportunity, Freshwater founded D.A Freshwater Well Service (later Petro Services), an oil & gas well servicing company which provided contract rig and other services to various clients throughout the Appalachian Basin. After merging Petro with and creating Allegheny & Western Energy (A&W), he served as Vice President of Field Operations from 1981 to 1986 and was involved in the drilling and completion of over 350 wells throughout the Appalachian Basin and the acqusition of Columbia Gas of West Virginia (WV’s largest gas utility who’s name was changed to Mountaineer Gas Company). Recognizing the constraints of working for a publicly traded company, he resigned from Allegheny and founded D.A. Freshwater Company (ConServ’s predecessor company).
Freshwater was named Roane County Citizen of the Year in 2008, also served as a Board member of the First National Bank of Spencer for 21 years and as a Governor appointed Commissioner to the West Virginia Parkways, Economic Development and Tourism Authority. Freshwater is also a US Army VietNam Veteran, a member of the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR), and Silver Beaver Award recipient from the Boy Scouts of America. Most recently, he was named the 2018 WV Oil & Gas Man of the Year
J. Scott Freshwater currently serves as President of ConServ. He began his work career in 1987 working in the field on ConServ well servicing, pipeline construction, and well cementing projects. From 1989 to 1995, he attended West Virginia University and received both a BS and MS in Civil Engineering while working summers at ConServ and completing an internship with Columbia Gas/Columbia Gulf Transmission Corporation. Freshwater returned to ConServ on a full time basis in 1996, directed the diversification of ConServ into the environmental contracting services arena, and increased ConServ’s area of operations to encompass the eastern US. His technical expertise coupled with his extensive field experience in all facets of the energy resources industry has prepared him to lead the long-term growth of ConServ.
He currently serves on the Board of Directors of First Neighborhood Bank , is a Trustee of the National Youth Science Center (NYSF), and a member of the Executive Board of the Buckskin Council of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). He is a Past President of the Allohak Council BSA, a Past President of the Independent Oil & Gas Association of WV (IOGAWV) and is a member of the Mountain State Chapter of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO). Freshwater has been recognized by the WV State Journal as a “Generation Next: Forty Under 40″ recipient in 2008, was named a 2014 ‘Young Gun’ by WV Executive Magazine, received the Silver Beaver Award BSA and the Gunslinger Award (2019) for his distinguished service to IOGAWV.
Chad Smith currently serves as the Senior Project Manager of ConServ. He previously worked at ConServ from 1999 to 2005 as a Supervisor/Operations Manager where he was responsible for running crews and estimating projects. He then went to work for an independent Oil & Gas company based out of Houston Tx from 2006 to 2017. Mr. Smith began his career there as a Corrosion Technician working his way up to District Superintendent where he was responsible for 44 full time employees, 1000+ natural gas wells, 1200+ miles of natural gas pipelines and multiple compressor stations located in 12 counties in Southern WV. During his tenure at this company, he also served as a Facilities Specialist in Pittsburgh, PA where he worked with the engineering team to design prefabricated components, treatment facilities and facility layouts for wellpads in the Marcellus Natural Gas Field located in northeast PA. Mr. Smith prepared design drawings and solicitated bids for construction and installation. His current role as Sr Project Manager at Conserv consists of interfacing with clients to provide project cost estimates, cost forecasts and project documentation for projects that span across multiple business units pertaining to Pipeline and Compressor Services. He also coordinates activities with the Operations Manager and Field Supervisors to communicate project scope information, health and safety requirements and general policies to safely and successfully complete projects.
Email: csmith@csiofwv.com
Operations Manager: Well Services
Vice President
