When Magic Valley Electric (MVE) decided to build their first office in Eastern Idaho, they wanted something special. It had to be a place that reflected their values and was also an exciting place to work. Owner and President Billy Salts started the company in 2013 because he wanted to create something different in the trade. The company has two wings. Magic Valley Electric offers electrical for new construction, including agriculture, industrial, commercial, express, automation, and solar, while Magic Services (established in 2019) provides electrical, plumbing, and HVAC for the residential market. The expansive offering is not the only thing that sets the company apart. According to Salts, “We have an amazing team, and that comes from our core values. We hire and fire off our core values: attitude, character, integrity, vision, and determination. They are our true north.”
Magic Valley Owner & President
“We have an amazing team, and that comes from our core values. We hire and fire off our core values: attitude, character, integrity, vision, and determination. They are our true north.”
Billy Salts
Building Something Different
Salts started in the trade after graduating from high school with no intention of starting a business later. However, after loving the work and moving up in some great companies, he wanted to create something special in the trade. “None of us knew what culture was back then, and the construction industry has always been a little behind the times regarding treating and valuing people. I wanted to be transparent with my team and empower them to be leaders in the company. I wanted to see people succeed and one day take my position. My vision was to build something different; something focused on our team.”
Bright Colors & Open Sightlines
Thanks to their values and excellent team, Magic has just moved into its new location in Boise. When you walk into the building, it looks very different than other electrical contractors. With bright colors, clean furnishings, and open sightlines, it creates an energetic atmosphere that makes it an amazing place to work. It is the same way for all the offices. With such a unique space, no one would know how close Magic came to looking like everyone else.
Environment Affects Culture
In 2018, just before finalizing design plans for Magic Services’ building in Jerome, Salts visited DMA, a lighting vendor in Boise. He had an office design that he didn’t love but was ready to move forward with when a chance encounter changed things. While walking through DMA, he noticed how great their desks looked. The owner quickly shared that the Steelcase desks had come from OEC down the road. Salts stopped by the OEC showroom to investigate and was blown away. “I remember taking a ton of pictures. We were about to move forward with an expensive build that, while special to us, wasn’t going to be different. After leaving OEC, we stopped everything and redesigned our entire office. Our culture is so important, and our environment makes it so much better.”
Culture In Action at Magic Valley Electric
The strong culture at Magic and MVE has enabled them to accomplish a massive project recently when they landed a solar project for Circle D Farms. By pulling together their whole team, 215 solar trackers were installed on 43 different sites in the Minidoka and Murtaugh counties. The entire project was done in-house, including six miles of trenching, thirteen-hundred yards of concrete, and a very tight deadline. “It took every one of us from our admin team to everybody in the field to make it happen, and we finished within two days of the deadline. It challenged us to dig deep, and that is when our culture really showed up. Our people were smiling and running and gunning and when we finished, it was a celebration. So many of us grew from it, and now we know we can take on even more.”
With teamwork as the focus and a great new office to support its new Boise team, the Team at Magic and MVE is excited to see what the future has in store.
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