Economic stimulus helps Mountlake Terrace company shine

Few companies can boast of a 70 percent jump in sales in recent years.

Mountlake Terrace's Light Doctor is one of them.

Light Doctor essentially consists of four lighting businesses -- recycling, retail, maintenance and retrofitting -- rolled into one, said owner Don Nielsen. He renamed the company a year after he bought it in 2004. The old name, Pacific Coast Industrial Lighting, was a mouthful. Besides, Nielsen and many of the customers called the company's service technicians light doctors.

"Light Doctor -- it fits. It's easy to remember," he said.

Recycling light bulbs and materials is one of the more minor segments of Light Doctor's business, but Nielsen believes it's important. As is the lighting distribution portion.

Maintenance is the area where Nielsen most hopes to grow Light Doctor. Banks and shopping centers, for instance, have regular contracts with Light Doctor to keep their lighting running -- swapping out bulbs or looking into problems.

Retrofitting is the larger share of Light Doctor's work. The company replaces outdated lighting systems with newer, more energy efficient ones. Customers can see the difference in light quality after a retrofit. And they'll notice a difference in their electric bill, too.

In some cases, "we're cutting power consumption in half and improving the lighting," he said.

The largest project that Light Doctor has completed -- retrofitting the lighting inside Grand Coulee Dam -- was a $1.2 million dollar contract. The result won the Bonneville Power Administration and the Bureau of Reclamation, which operate the dam, national environmental recognition.

The lighting company had been around 24 years and had 13 or 14 employees when Nielsen bought it seven years ago. Today, Light Doctor employs 58 people and will add a few more employees this year. Nielsen brought to the lighting company a business knowledge gained from years of running a biomedical company with 2,500 employees. Buying Light Doctor was just something to keep him busy.

At 73, Nielsen has no plans to retire. He dreams of building up Light Doctor, perhaps expanding operations down the coast into Oregon and northern California.

Eventually, Nielsen will have his hands less in the day-to-day operations of Light Doctor. He'll have the time to finish a book that he's writing on public education, a topic that enthralls him. He is a former president of the Seattle School Board. In the meantime, he's building up his management team at Light Doctor.

Nielsen acknowledges the retrofitting side of the business has benefitted from the federal government's stimulus plan. With low power rates in Washington, it would be more difficult to convince businesses to swap out older lighting for more efficient solutions if companies are paying for the bulk of the work with their own money. However, with incentives that are funneled through the utility companies, local businesses see a fairly quick return on their investment and can afford to go ahead with retrofits.

As a result, Light Doctor saw its revenues shoot up 70 percent in 2010 compared to the previous year. Nielsen expects 30 percent to 40 percent growth in 2011.

"There are very few things a business can do to get such a return on their money," he said. "We're selling savings."

Light Doctor

•Founded in 1980 as Pacific Coast Industrial Lighting.

Bought in 2004 by Don Nielsen.

Employees: 58

Location: Mountlake Terrace

Web site: www. LightDoctor.com