Interstate Mechanical Services Inc.

Since 1997, it’s been full steam ahead for New Jersey-based Interstate Mechanical Services Inc. (IMS). For years, the contractor has delivered a full spectrum of mechanical services. However, more recently, IMS has found footing in a new niche in the steam and chill water metering sector, improving client’s energy bottom line across the board.

“We’re working closely with a company called Util-Adviser and putting together a metering system to save on electricity and steam and chilled water,” reveals Richard Tully Jr., president and founder of IMS. “This is going to be a big thing moving forward and we’re leading the way.”

Reaching for innovation has been Tully’s motto since he established IMS in 1997. His father was a steamfitter, which inspired Tully to get into the construction industry as a fourth-generation steamfitter with Local 638. “There were a lot of existing customers that my father had worked with and it just made sense to me to continue these relationships and accrue new customers,” he says. “Based on the quality of work we have opened the doors to many new customers and clients.”

Today, headquartered in Closter, N. J., IMS has one location in New Jersey and one in New York. “We had an office in Los Angeles, but found it was too much to focus on something on the West Coast,” notes Tully. “We’re well-known here and we’re back to just concentrating on the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area and there’s plenty of work here for the next 10 years.”

IMS has grown to serve a broad range of clients in the university and higher education sector, as well as hospitals, health care facilities and big-name hospitality customers. The mechanical contractor delivers a full scope of HVAC, but also installs heat exchangers, chiller plants, cooling towers, air handling systems, steam stations and hydraulic elevators. Aside from new construction, IMS offers alternations and options for existing systems, from custom tank upgrades and replacements, to coil replacements, boiler upgrades, cooling tower modifications and fan and steam turbine upgrades.

Performing under pressure

According to Tully, IMS is something of a specialty company when it comes to high-pressure systems. The company recently completed construction work on New York University (NYU), including underground piping of 400-degree water at more than 350 pounds per square inch (psi). IMS is also working on a large chilled water underground distribution project connecting various buildings from the Main Chiller Plant.

Tully says IMS has executed similar jobs in the New York metropolitan area, which includes a large portion of hospital and university construction and development. IMS finished work on Columbia University’s rooftop chiller plant at the Hammer, as well as the recent Chilled Water distribution project connecting various buildings.

“We’re taking a lead role in hospital, health care and hospitality energy utility savings,” says Tully. “In certain cases, we’re cutting utility bills in half and that’s a lot of savings when you look at the size of these operations.”

IMS is working in downtown N.Y.C. at the New York Presbyterian campus as well as Memorial Sloan Kettering, one of the world’s oldest and largest private cancer treatment centers. The company has also made a mark at Maimonides Medical Center and Mount Sinai Medical Center. “There is a wealth of work in the health care sector as most facilities are in need of infrastructure upgrades,” assures Tully.

Seeing the savings

While the health care sector is certainly keeping IMS busy, the company has also landed large clients in the hospitality world. “We’re working at the Hilton Hotel and Broadway Millennium,” shares Tully. “We’re also in the process of a major project at the Double Tree Hotel. We’re taking what would be wasted head from the building’s consumption and recycling it to generate hot or chilled water. We anticipate this project to run until December 2014. A typical cogeneration project takes between four and six months, depending on how many engines there are.”

While the return investment on steam and chill water metering is huge, Tully says it’s been a challenge in a down economy to get clients to take the first steps in changing operations. “The New York Power Authority and other organizations are moving things forward in schools and public institutions,” says Tully. “The future is here with more efficient equipment and payback for the long haul.”

Despite a slow economic recovery, Tully says IMS is going strong. “Business is booming now, this is the busiest we have been in a while and I see more of the same in this niche over the next 10 years,” he adds.

A cleaner, brighter future is in order as Interstate Mechanical Services Inc. continues to slash energy bills through innovative steam and chill water metering solutions.