About Mountain Service Company: History and Projects

Our story begins in 1979 when one young man equipped with mechanical knowledge, his tools, and his van started making HVAC service calls to homes and businesses. Richard began his business from truly humble beginnings. starting his first HVAC service calls in the van he also lived out of for a month in order to save up money to rent a place.

His motivation, honesty, and acumen quickly allowed him to gain the trust of his clients and grow his business. He first established his trade in a small shop that he rented on the outskirts of Felton, California. 20 years later on the first day of the new millenia he acquired a larger facility and moved Mountain Service Company to its current location on Highway 9 in North Felton.

Not long after the founding of Mountain Service Company our community suffered a major flood disaster in 1982 and again in 1983. Mountain Service Company Mobilized to help put lives back on track responding to many flood victims and doing whatever it took to get people back into their homes and businesses. Disaster struck again in 1989, our community being at the core of the Loma Prieta earthquake zone endured structure and equipment damage destroying homes and businesses. Richard Kojak the Founder of Mountain Service Company worked day and night risking unstable roads and hazardous situations to get our community's basic needs restored. Laboring continuous 12+ hour days reinstalling countless water heaters and furnaces, Richard and his employees restored gas, electricity, and refrigeration to many local homes and businesses. Richard reflects on the time saying "anybody that called we went, from the next to the next and next as fast as we could. It was our time to step up and we did." Their efforts did not go unnoticed as they were highlighted in a Indoor Comfort News article about the significance of how HVAC companies helped during the earthquake. You can read part of this article below.

Since then Mountain Service Company has continued to appreciate the friendships they created in a time of need and many years of loyal patronage and happy clients spreading the word about repeated true and honest service. The community has allowed Mountain Service Company to prosper and continue in its efforts to provide high quality reliable efficient systems that make safety and comfort affordable.

MSC Today

We continue to serve our community today with the same integrity and devotion as we did then, now with more experience and knowledge to get you the best service in the county. What we do is keep the refrigeration running at your local grocery store, keep the heating and cooling operating at your home and office, and keep the indoor air you breathe safe and clean by filtering out bacteria, viruses, dust, allergens, and more. If you are interested in being more prepared for possible future disasters we can help by installing highly reliable propane fired stand by generator systems to keep you up and running during power outages. what ever the situation Mountain Service Company stands ready to provide the community with essential services on an as needed basis.

Noteworthy projects over 40 years!

• Converted the very first refrigeration system in Santa Cruz county to run on a non-ozone depleting refrigerant!

• Designed and installed a custom wine cellar refrigeration system for Joe Montana at his Atherton residence.

• Designed and installed a custom air conditioning system for the vault housing the worlds largest flake style gold nugget from the Jackson mine in CA. because of the security requirements the custom design had to be approved by Lloyd’s of London who provide insurance for the nugget.

• Fabricated and installed a Type II exhaust hood at Monterey Bay Aquarium which had to meet 50 year durability standards

• Designed custom chillers for eye glass polish solution that remain in service today at a local eye glass manufacturer.

• Designed and built a major remodel of a manufacturing facility that specializes in vitamins and supplements. This facility required individual rooms for each type of process with extreme control of particulate matter and an intricate balance of air pressures between the various rooms and the exterior to prevent cross contamination. Mountain Service company handled all aspects of the project from design to installation including rooms custom doors, electrical systems, deionized water distribution stainless steel piping, lighting, dust collection and indoor air quality.

• Mountain Service Company installed automated electrical sub-metering systems in high rise apartment buildings in San Francisco.

• Heating and air conditioning for the mountain top offices of Fisher investments.

• Mountain Service was asked to solve a noise abatement issue for a local gummy vitamin manufacturer. We installed an industrial sized duct muffler system on the offending system and afterwards the client received calls from their neighbors thanking them for eliminating the offending sound. Since then Mountain Service Company has installed industrial air moving equipment that moves thousands of CFM of air for half the horse power of traditional systems and created an incredibly efficient air moving system that also does not make excessive noise.

• Mountain Service Company installed the heating, cooling, and dehumidification system for the historical museum at Big Basin State park which is California’s first and oldest state park.

  Mountain Service Company designed a state of the art pumping system to provide domestic and fire protection water to the UCSC facilities located at Big Creek Preserve in Big Sur California. This pumping system was designed to provide highly reliable service and to conserve power because the entire facility is off grid and powered by solar.

• Mountain Service Company designed and installed high efficiency custom refrigeration systems that qualified for PG&E energy saving rebates for local grocery stores and liquor stores such as Johnnie’s Super and Verutti’s Liquors.

• Mountain Service Company fabricated the stainless steel kitchen hood for Rappa’s restaurant located at fisherman’s Wharf in Monterey Ca.

• Mountain Service Company helped El Salchichero, a local artisan butcher shop, get established by designing and installing the kitchen hood, plumbing, electrical, and refrigeration systems, working closely with the founder and owner to control costs while achieving a highly desirable result.

Mountain Service Company often participates in local community based parades, donates to local non-profits and has sponsored non-profit events.