RM Mechanical
Boise, Idaho

Leaving the Comfort Zone

by Joe Evancho

Bill Magnuson started as a plumber’s apprentice in 1974 and nine years later founded his own two-man plumbing business, RM Mechanical in Boise. In 1983, Magnuson rented a 600 sq. ft. garage in Garden City, Idaho as his base of operations.

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“We built a wall and put in a planning table,” the tall, trim Idahoan said. “I had my pickup truck and hand tools and that was about it. I borrowed some money and paid it back that year.”

One of his first jobs was plumbing the original facility for Micron Technologies in Boise. That working relationship continues today.

After the first year he and his partner cut their wages and put that money back into the company, and over the next four years they started picking up other clients through competitive bidding. “As we got more business we started hiring people and learned by doing,” Magnuson said.

This year, a 12,000 sq. ft. addition has increased the firm’s manufacturing and fabrication facilities to 20,000 sq. ft. and they now employ more than 350 people across the country. Some of the company’s capabilities include HVAC service and maintenance, fabrication, commercial/industrial plumbing, mechanical HVAC, advanced technology process piping, high purity analytical qualification, manufacturing, facility maintenance, water treatment and with laboratory capabilities, high purity (Class 100) fabrication and semiconductor equipment preventive maintenance and repair.

After years of doing business primarily in Idaho, RM Mechanical decided it was time to leave its comfort zone and expand operations. In 1997, the firm opened up an office in Lewiston, Idaho to serve northern Idaho, Washington and Oregon.

After working closely with Micron in Boise for many years, they were asked to do some clean room work for Micron Technology Virginia.

Process piping, including clean rooms, is an important portion of RM Mechanical’s work these day and the company's history and experience of building complex systems and clean rooms for Micron has helped open doors to work with other high-tech owners.

 “We were awarded the project with our bid of $180,000,” Magnuson said. “From there, through the competitive bid process, we increased our participation and after four years we are have earned $50 million for a project that includes clean room infrastructure and tool hook up for their nanotechnology work. Last year alone, revenue from the project was worth $30 million. 

Clean rooms can be very large. Entire manufacturing facilities can be contained within a clean room with factory floors covering thousands of square meters. They are used extensively in semiconductor manufacturing, biotechnology, the life sciences and other fields that are very sensitive to environmental contamination.

Today RM is focusing on nanotechnology at universities outside the Boise area. These include the University of Utah, University of North Carolina, University of Illinois-Champaign and Washington State University.

David Yates is vice president for RM Mechanical. He said other projects close to home that have been and will be keeping RM busy are the $110 million addition and renovation at St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, the BoDo development in downtown Boise and the Boise State University Student Union Building remodel and their Interactive Learning Center.

Yates added that the company is also seeing growing demand for process piping systems at food, dairy and pharmaceutical plants.

In the future Magnuson hopes to expand and gain a stronghold in the manufacturing, semiconductor and pharmaceutical arenas. “In ten years we hope to expand our offices. “We want to hit our niches and be successful at what we do,” he said.

Company: RM Mechanical

Location: Boise

Year Founded: 1983

Markets Served: Commercial, Industrial

No. of Employees: 350

Recent Projects: Micron Technologies, St. Alphonsus Regional Med Center,
BSU Student Union Building, BSU Interactive Learning Center.

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