Lee Contracting Announces Merger with Cardinal Fire Protection

PONTIAC, MICHIGAN –Lee Industrial Contracting, a leader in the industrial contracting industry for more than 30 years, is pleased to announce a merger with Cardinal Fire Protection, a Royal Oak-based fire protection company. The Cardinal Fire team will transition to Lee Contracting employees and join more than 500 Michigan-based Lee team members.

This partnership expands the offerings Lee Contracting is able to provide customers, especially those in the electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturing and storage space. Cardinal Fire specializes in fire protection services for electric and hybrid vehicles. Consequences of lithium-ion battery fires can be severe, including thermal runaway and toxic emissions, and require specialized fire protection and suppression systems.

“By joining forces with Cardinal Fire, Lee Contracting is able to provide an additional level of service to our customers, including the design, installation, servicing, inspection and a variety of fire protection systems,” said Fred Cauley, CEO, Lee Industrial Contracting. “Lee Contracting provides construction services to a wide range of industrial and commercial customers. By offering this supplementary service, we further strengthen our ability to be a single-source provider for our clients.”

Founded in 2007, Cardinal Fire served customers in the commercial, industrial, manufacturing and institutional industries.

“We, at Cardinal Fire Protection, are very excited to join with Lee Industrial Contracting and to complement their very extensive offering of construction services. Together we will be able to serve customers even better throughout project cycles,” said Ulf Merenius, founder & president, Cardinal Fire Protection.

The merger between Lee Contracting and Cardinal Fire Protection was finalized in December 2022.