In 1979 Ron Montbleau moved to San Diego, California and opened Blue Mountain Woodworks.
His first woodshop was the top floor of a warehouse, one of the first live/work lofts in downtown San Diego now designated as a historic building. Ron found his first clients by walking the docks on the San Diego bay and offering fine woodworking on custom yachts, developing relationships with the owners, and later working in their homes and offices.
In 1980, after hiring his first employees, Ron changed the name of the company to Montbleau and Associates.
Having a strong interest and affinity for design, the company was marketed mainly through building relationships with the architectural and design community. This led to the company becoming known for fine quality craftsmanship mainly building furniture, casework and architectural woodwork for law firms, corporate headquarters and retail boutiques.
The company grew an average 20% per year, weathering several recessions and moving to our present location in 1997. Continued growth brought the company to new markets in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, and Las Vegas, Nevada. With the skill sets that Ron developed in fast tract office interiors, there was a natural progression into larger projects like hotels, casinos, and hospitals. This allowed the company to build a backlog and mature into a corporation with stable cash flow and good bonding and banking relationships. Notable was the company’s major work with MGM Grand on the $9 billion City Center project in Las Vegas.
The company took a lead role assisting in developing the specifications within our industry for sustainable woodworking and manufacturing through FSC and LEED. Coming out of the deep recession of 2010 to 2013, the company greatly expanded its production capability through opening a custom manufacturing plant in Mexico. Montbleau & Associates currently has 135,000 SF of manufacturing and storage space plus 18,000 SF of office.
Montbleau and Associates, headquartered in San Diego, currently employs 180 people with offices in Los Angeles, San Jose, Las Vegas, and Mexico.
Ron Montbleau’s plans are to continue growing the company and to build a culture and team to thrive and last long beyond his tenure.