About - Challenge Testing

About Challenge

Our History

The Challenge roots reach to a family engineering business founded in 1953. Back then, materials testing, inspection and field sampling provided a critical need for our engineering and construction clients…with a very different look. Our crews could be found in the rivers and bayous of South Alabama on custom-improvised floating platforms and drill rigs. Technology and capabilities have changed, but commitment to quality remains the same. We’re proud to have been part of the growth of the Gulf Coast more than 60 years, supporting a wide variety of signature private and public projects and development.

Today, we’ve grown to a portfolio of projects and partners world-wide. Field testing, sediment sampling and non-destructive testing has taken us from Taiwan to Tallahassee, FL and Guam to Gulfport, MS. We work in a variety of heavy industry groups including energy generation, shipbuilding, aerospace, marine, refining, and infrastructure. Governmental and private concerns represent commercial port and Corps of Engineers projects including Haiti to Puerto Rico; Dutch Harbor, Alaska; Miami; Taiwan; Guam, Gibraltar, Spain; Port of Trinidad; Freeport, Grand Bahama and more.

Our hallmark is professional service and innovative problem-solving. Most clients represent relationships built over decades, appreciative of our eye to the timeline and their bottom line. We’re motivated to prove our name with every job. Your challenge? Let’s go.

Our Team

Toby Watson
President

Toby Watson brings a career in the military, construction, and entrepreneurship to the Challenge team. Watson served the US Army/Corps of Engineers as an Engineer Platoon Leader and Task Force Engineer in two deployments to Iraq. He earned two Bronze Stars and was named the US Army’s top Engineer Platoon Leader in 2007. The New Mexico native is a University of Richmond graduate, with privately-owned business endeavors in both the US and Brazil.

David C. Wiggins, AWS/CWI NDT Level III
Non-Destructive Testing Manager

Wiggins is a Certified Welding Inspector with more than 40 years’ experience in NDT projects throughout the world. Qualifications include RT, MT, PT, VT, UT Thickness and Flaw Examination.

Leonard S. Hobson, AWS/CWI
Physical Laboratory Manager

Hobson is a Certified Welding Inspector credentialed in a variety of NDT examinations including RT, MT, PT, VT, UT Thickness, Machining, Welder Qualification, and specialized testing services.