We are a full service design and construction firm located in Mount Shasta, California.  We provide general contractor and building designer services in Siskiyou and Shasta Counties for residences and light commercial projects.  We have been serving the area since 1990 and have a California general building license (638279).

     The owner, Lowell Shirley is a former aeronautical engineer and airline executive who chose to leave the corporate world and reside in the mountains operating his own business.  He has found that design and build projects are most rewarding for him (the creative process from conversation to reality), however, Mountain Tech has also completed a number of build only projects.

      In addition to this page, this site includes a portfolio of completed projects, a small publication that describes the custom home building process, a links page to guide you to other sites you may wish to visit and lastly, a section that contains photos of projects currently under way.  As many of our clients live out of the area during construction, that section provides a visual progress report for them.

      Important Changes to Construction in California:

     On January 1, 2008 the State of California issued it's own building code to replace the Uniform Building Code that had been the standard in this state and others for a number of years.  Unfortunately, the new code has increased the cost of construction at a time the construction industry is facing a drastic downturn.  Only Government would increase cost of a product when demand was falling!  At the same time, the State Fire Marshall has issued requirements for all new construction to make the structures more resistant to wild fire damage.

      Siskiyou County is now required to demand that plans for all structures (bigger than a garden shed) be approved by state licensed engineers and/or architects and that a soils engineer provide a soils report for each individual site.  Considering that builders such as Mountain Tech often provided plans at minimum cost or for free, the new requirements mean that clients are required to pay several thousand dollars more than they had previously for plans.

      In addition, there are a number of other requirements , for example, all windows now must be glazed with tempered glass, more structural hardware is required etc, that increase the construction costs.

     We intend to continue our design service and will provide selected licensed engineers our structural analysis for their review.  Although our fee for this service will continue to be minimal, the engineer's fee will have to be born by the client.

Contact Information

Telephone:  530-926-5863

Fax:  530-926-5863

Postal Address:  727 Alpine Road  Mount Shasta, CA  96067

Electronic Mail:  mountaintech@snowcrest.net