Design Day Mechanicals, Inc.
Doug and James started Design Day Mechanicals, Inc. on Saint Patrick’s Day 1988, providing HVAC and Plumbing Engineering services. At that time Doug’s father, Larry, was part of the team. Larry had started drafting with Doug in 1984 having retired from a long career as an officer in the USAF. Doug retired at the end of 2024. Kitty kept (not cooked) the books from 1988 to 2025, when she retired and passed the torch to Monique Magnuson. Rick and Julie came on board in 1991 giving us much need plumbing engineering fire power. James decided to start his own firm in Portsmouth in 1992 while Doug continued leading the DDMi team.
Dave Goddard worked with us after James left until retiring in 2013. Joe Trainor traded his carpenter’s apron for AutoCad in 1998. John Waitt joined in 2001 after being trained by Larry. John retired in 2021. Dave M. started working with us in 2008, Monique M in 2010, Andy A in 2013, and Iris W in 2015. Mark R arrived in 2016, Tyler W and Travis S in 2018, Mathilde K and Simone F in 2020, Matt M and Shaun F in 2021, and Herman P in 2024. Kevin L, Dillon S and Victoria P all came on in 2025. Just so you don’t have to add and subtract, there are now seventeen of us. How the heck did that happen?
Though the corporate headquarters have moved from Doug and Kitty’s house since their retirement, there are now 14 home offices with three couples sharing three of them. This cuts down on the commutes and keeps our overhead low. Technology can be good!
You will note a separate section in this web site where short biographies are listed for each of us still actively working as DDMi team members. While preparing this History and Philosophy section, Doug spoke with one of our members about developing his bio. He said he was hesitant, as he felt his formal education was not impressive enough. Doug reminded him that our team member’s educational background is not particularly important to us as HVAC and Plumbing design skills can be learned on the job. What is more important is having a responsible work ethic, a willingness to continue learning and a drive to produce a fine engineering product that we can be proud of.
One of the operative words in that first paragraph is “with”. From the beginning it was Doug’s desire to have everyone understand that they work for themselves and that they work “with” each other. Doug called it synergy, the whole being stronger than the sum of the parts. It has served us and our clients well.
Through the years, with all the ups and downs of the economy, our workload has increased or stayed steady. Our client base of architects, general contractors, mechanical contractors, and owners continues to grow and magically always seems to match our current team size. Evidently our clients like our style.