Mountain officially cut the ribbon on its new Billings, Montana facility, marking another milestone as Mountain continues to expand its footprint across the region.
What started as an empty field is now a fully operational home base built specifically around the needs of Mountain’s Montana team.
The new facility includes a roughly 9,000-square-foot building situated on six acres, with space designed to accommodate cranes, trucks, trailers and the day-to-day needs of the branch.
Led by Montana Branch Manager Landry White, the growing Montana team now has a permanent home designed around the work they do every day.
Working in Montana comes with its share of challenges, especially when winter arrives.
The new shop includes long, pull-through bays that allow cranes, semis and trailers to move through the building, along with an exterior covered bay for equipment and counterweight storage. The facility also includes offices, a conference room and plenty of yard space for staging cranes, trailers and other equipment.
For Jeremy Rieker, a member of the Mountain Billings team, who has spent 35 years in the crane industry and more than 30 years operating cranes, having a facility like this makes a major difference. “It’s nice to get out of the elements up here in Montana. The weather in the wintertime can be 20 or 30 below for days, so we can get our equipment inside, take care of it, service stuff in the wintertime and just get out of the elements.”
The location itself was also selected with the work in mind. With interstate access approximately a mile away and several refineries nearby, crews can quickly move equipment from the yard to projects throughout the region.
That proximity has already proven useful. Around the time of the ribbon cutting, Mountain crews were wrapping up work at a nearby refinery, with the 900-ton crane loading out after completing the project.
The new facility represents more than additional shop and yard space. It gives Mountain a stronger home base as work continues to grow throughout Montana and the surrounding region.
That growth was easy to see on ribbon-cutting day. The new yard was already filled with trailers and equipment, while crews were busy moving cranes in and out.
Seeing that activity firsthand was an exciting moment for Mountain owner Courtney Belcher, especially considering how far the company’s footprint has expanded.
“It’s pretty cool,” Courtney said. “We have this beautiful new yard, trailers galore and cranes, and they’re doing their thing. They’re working. I’m so excited to expand our footprint up here. I never thought we’d be in Montana.”
The Billings location positions Mountain to support work throughout Montana and into surrounding areas including North Dakota and Wyoming, while giving crews access to the equipment and resources they need close to the work.
With the ribbon officially cut, the Montana team has a new place to call home and plenty of room for what comes next.
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