THE DC ENGINEERING STORY
When you prioritize relationships, amazing things can happen
While working for a large engineering firm, David Cutbirth saw that most of his design work was being done without context of the client’s bigger picture purposes and goals. He realized that stronger relationships would help him contribute to the client’s long-term success – not just complete a project.
That insight led to the founding of DC Engineering. From the beginning, David approached his work with a “listen first” mentality, which resulted in successful projects and clients trusting him with larger and more complex projects as he deepened relationships with them and other business partners. With that simple practice in place, the company began drawing talented, like-minded individuals.
Today, DC Engineering is a multi-faceted firm that continues to attract highly talented people with complimentary skill sets with diverse backgrounds. Project execution and focus on client success has led to many longstanding relationships with clients in a variety of market sectors. And, we are actively involved in our communities, enriching the lives of people through engineering…one project at a time.
1998
On October 1st, 1998, electrical engineer Dave Cutbirth files with the State of Idaho to establish DC Engineering. Within a few months, he gained the trust of Micron Technologies and began designing data center projects for them. The “dot-com boom”, and other data center projects materialized.
1999
Successful projects led to more opportunities; more than Dave could handle on his own. In October 1999, Jon Goranson, a University of Idaho colleague of Dave’s, moved his family to Boise from Tri-Cities, Washington to join the ride.
One evening, Jon decided the company needed a logo. He created this one that was used until 2018.
2000
With the “dot-com bust”, data center work slowed, but opportunities were taking off. John Clausen, a U of I electrical engineering classmate of Dave and Jon’s, helped get DC in the door at Albertsons. John began helping with the design workload at DC, and joined the firm in 2002.
2001
With 10+ employees, things had gotten too tight in the firm’s rented office space, and it was time to build a permanent home. The team decided on a location in “the heart of the Treasure Valley” and broke ground on the first phase of DC Engineering’s campus in Meridian, ID in the Fall of 2001.
2005
On a job site in Texas, John Clausen runs into Tom Wolgamot (center), a mechanical engineer and an Albertson’s colleague from years prior. That discussion led to Tom joining the firm, establishing DC’s Missoula, MT Office and DC’s mechanical and refrigeration expertise.
Jared Miller, a mechanical engineer, heard that Tom hired on with DC. Jared knew both Dave and Tom through Albertsons and Hewlett Packard projects. He contacted Dave: “What would you think about establishing a mechanical team here in Idaho?” Jared joined DC in November 2005.
2007
Tim Gwyn joined the firm in Missoula after his wife joined the company. His extensive field experience (in design and commissioning of building and refrigeration systems) was quickly put to good use, which was the start of DC’s commissioning group.
In Meridian, the controls team was established as Dave Cutbirth brought on Lane Huddleson (Left) and Ryan Daniel (Right) to take advantage of an opportunity with a big client who trusted DC with the work.
2008-2009
Project and client opportunities in the Twin Falls, Idaho area, led to Clay Bingham and others to open the Twin Falls Office in 2008, which gave the firm a solid footing for managing some of DC’s largest industrial clients in the dairy and food processing market sectors.
The opportunity to hire key personnel with refrigeration field and equipment experience in the Dallas Ft. Worth area led to opening the Mansfield, TX Office. This strengthened the firm’s ability to serve supermarket clients throughout the country.
2010
With multiple offices, remote employees, and increasing volumes of data, systems and platform ‘pains’ began to demand attention. NearLo Technologies, a managed IT services company, had taken up residence in some spare DC office space, and started supporting DC’s IT needs. Today, NearLo is a wholly owned subsidiary of DC Engineering, acting as the DC IT department, and providing technology solutions for some of the firm’s largest clients.
2011
Joe Chapman joined the firm to initiate DC’s Structural Engineering team -- a natural compliment to our mechanical and electrical engineering services. In 2011, Dustin Lilya also joined the company to establish the Energy Services Team, helping clients with energy audits and modelling, processing of utility tax credits for energy efficiency gains, and other energy related services.
2015-2016
To accommodate for continued growth, DC expanded the Meridian ID campus with the new 520 building, which also included a shop for building control panels.
2019
In order to enhance the value provided to supermarkets and other retail clients, DC Engineering created Refrigerant Management Solutions (RMS) to help these clients navigate the ever-changing federal and state regulations surrounding the use of commercial refrigerants. With RMS, DC is building upon its existing refrigerant management services and know-how provided by Leia Waln and her team by bringing on Keilly Witman, a nationally recognized expert in the refrigerant management arena.
2021
DC Engineering’s ‘one-off’ control panel business grew to the point of becoming its own separate entity and was officially registered as DCE Solutions in 2021. Although a separate subsidiary, the DCE Solutions team works closely with DC’s controls team to provide more wholistic controls and instrumentation solutions for clients.
2021-Ongoing
In 2021 and 2022, DC Engineering was recognized among the top 100 private companies in Idaho (in terms of revenue). This 20+ year program has since been discontinued. Also in 2023, DC Engineering celebrated its 25-year anniversary.