A manufacturer of structural panels for
the construction industry is set to begin production
this month at a plant in Sparks.
Keith Harris, president of Mag Wall Reno
LLC in Sparks, says the company expects to
employ 15 in Reno. It's recruiting production
workers and an office manager.
The company leased a 12,000-square-foot
production and warehouse facility at 996
United Circle off Spice Island Drive and
installed manufacturing equipment purchased
in China.
Mag Wall manufactures structural panels
made from magnesium board and Styrofoam
for residential and commercial construction.
Harris feels the insulated structural walls,
currently engineered for use as foundations
and exterior walls, could one day become as
commonplace as conventional formed concrete
foundations and stick framing.
"This is faster, and you don't need as qualified
labor to erect it,"Harris says."This is
Lego for adults.You just click it together.
Anybody can put this together; you don't have
to be a tradesman."
Harris says magnesium panels have been
used for many years in China. They cost
roughly the same as conventional construction
materials, but Harris says the big savings lies
in decreased labor.
"A concrete foundation wall can take three
or more days to place, pour and strip, and with
us you can do that foundation in two to four
hours," he says.
Harris says the company has several contracts
signed. It chose Reno for its first manufacturing
site because of its proximity to the
West Coast markets that are its primary focus.
As it grows the company plans on adding
manufacturing centers in Hawaii, Los Angeles,
San Diego, and Phoenix, and perhaps in
northern Oregon to serve the Northwest.
"Over the next two years we will have
another 10 plants opened, and we may have
them sooner than that,"Harris says.
Each plant is expected to cost roughly $1
million. The company is a self-funded venture
thus far because commercial financing has
proven difficult to secure.Mag Wall contracts
sales with the Green Building Institute of
Bend, Ore., so that it can focus on manufacturing.
"There is money for green product, so
there is a demand,"Harris says."Multi-family
guys love this because of the fire suppression."
Harris admits is can be hard to get a veteran
contractor to change from standard building
procedures, such as studs and sheetrock,
or a concrete foundation and stem walls.He
primarily works with design professionals.
"We have had architects and engineers tell
us we are changing the construction industry,"
Harris says."So far anybody who has seen it
has been all for it."
