Company History

1979

In 1979, after almost 25 years in the Sheet Metal Industry, Jerry Hermanson decided to step out on his own and founded Hermanson Corporation.

Jerry’s journey began as a Sheet Metal apprentice in Bremerton. He worked his way through the trade to Project Management, eventually leading the establishment of large sheet metal shops and managing the construction of heating systems along the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. As a result, Hermanson Corporation started with a pre-built reputation based on deep relationships, excellent customer service, and high-quality installations. We were immediately embraced as a leader in HVAC construction. Jerry’s contribution to the Puget Sound region’s construction industry was recognized through his 2012 induction into the University of Washington’s Construction Industry Hall of Fame.

1980s

Joined by his son, Rick, Jerry jumped into the Seattle construction fray with a series of landmark projects.

In 1982, Hermanson took on a whopper with HVAC construction for the 76-story Columbia Center (1982), followed quickly by:

Watermark Apartment Tower (1983)
Washington State Convention Center (1985)
Seattle Seahawk’s first training center in Kirkland (1986)
AT&T Gateway Tower - currently the City of Seattle Municipal Building (1987)
Museum of Flight (1987)

At the end of this decade, Hermanson began its foray into Hospital construction with a series of remodels at Seattle Children’s Hospital – a relationship that lasted many years and encompassed hundreds of projects, small and large.

1990s

The ‘90s were the decade of industry and innovation!

Hermanson worked for Boeing from the beginning, and in 1992 took on a huge challenge with Everett’s 40-37 Wing-Seal-Paint Hangar ($13M of Sheet Metal in 10 months). This was quickly followed by several very fast-tracked Boeing projects featuring an early introduction of Hermanson to the concepts of Design-Assist and Integrated Project Delivery (IPD). During this same time, we also began our work on Microsoft’s Redmond campus with a series of fast-tracked remodels in occupied office buildings. Construction of MASCA – a microchip manufacturing plant – solidified our team’s expertise in MEP trade coordination and the integration of CADD modeling into our processes. Finally, the ‘90s were capped by the completion of Hermanson’s first large in-house Design-Build project – the retrofit and expansion of the 1931 Seattle City Light building for Expeditor’s International.

2000s

The turn of the millennium ushered in a transition for Hermanson as Jerry decided it was time to spend more time fishing and stepped into the role of advisor to a group of partners led by President Rick Hermanson.

The name changed from Hermanson Corporation to Hermanson Company, and the business itself changed as for the first-time, union plumbers and fitters were brought into the company. Following company tradition, our first fully self-performed mechanical project was a doozy – the complete renovation of the fully-occupied King County Courthouse (2001). Hermanson also provided mechanical construction for:

University of Washington William H. Gates School of Law (2001)
4th & Madison (2002) (City of Seattle’s first new high-rise office building in over a decade)
Hospital expansions for Sacred Heart in Spokane (2003), Tacoma General Hospital (2004 – L-Wing and 2008 – Emergency Department) and the Evergreen Hospital’s Silver Tower (2006)

Our technical expertise was on display in the HVAC construction of Amgen’s huge bio-pharmaceutical research laboratories at the Helix Campus in Seattle (2005) and the NOAA’s Ted Stevens Marine Research Institute in Juneau, Alaska (2007). It was an exciting time!

2010s

Early in the decade, Hermanson successfully completed our largest project to date – the Providence Everett Medical Center Cymbaluk Tower, a 715,000 sf acute care hospital & trauma center (2011).

We continued to focus on the unique needs of our healthcare clients:

MultiCare Covington Emergency Department (2012)
Snoqualmie Valley Hospital (2015)
Tacoma General Rainier & Milgard Towers (2015)
And ongoing hospital work around the region.

As tech companies demand more and better office space, Hermanson has worked to fill the bill with over 5,000,000 sf of new office construction for tenants like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft. High-rise apartment towers like AMLI-ARC, Helios & 425 Fairview offer exciting urban living environments. We have provided Integrated Project Delivery – both Design-Build and Design-Assist – for public works projects like the SeaTac International Airport North Expansion and the UW Population Health Building. And our Special Projects teams – whether they build retail, campus, or central business district offices – are supporting literally thousands of tenants.

Celebrating 40 Years!

It’s been an incredible ride!

As we celebrate our first 40 years in business, we look forward to the next 40 with our great clients and employees. Cheers, all!