MAGNUM STEEL BUILDINGS

Flying 2,000 feet above the Moriarty area with impossibly clear skies, I can pick out multiple mountain ranges, farmland, smatterings of cattle wand horses, and, occasionally, an interesting metal building. I’m in a 1958 Cessna 182 with Magnum Steel Buildings’ owner and pilot, David Tixier, who’s making my day with an air tour and pointing out his company’s handiwork. If you’re a pilot and steel building erector, why not build things you can see from the sky?

Magnum, founded in 1983 and based in Moriarty off Highway 333, specializes in the construction of stables, aviation hangars, commercial, residential, and storage facilities, and metal roofing. They’ve even designed and built metal homes. We fly over a quaint house built for an artist who wanted something unique, and Tixier tells me of a husband and wife who wanted a steel house after losing their previous home in a fire.

Tixier flies as often as he can—typically once a week. “If I’ve had a bad day, it’s a good thing,” he says. “It forces me to focus on what I’m doing, to stay in the now.” Living with his wife on their farm in McIntosh in the early 1980s, Tixier first owned an ultra light plane. He converted a hay barn into a hanger and created a landing strip.

Several years later, he and his wife sold the farm and moved to Moriarty. Tixier purchased a lot and built a hanger at Moriarty Airport for his plane. He also ran his business from the hangar. To date, Tixier’s company has built 75 percent of the hangars at Moriarty Airport, as well as airport hangers throughout New Mexico. Tixier says, “I got to know some of the pilots and decided I wanted to get my pilot’s license. When I did work at different airports, I would take lessons.” He received his license in 1998.

Tixier says the idea for Magnum Steel Buildings struck him during his commute from McIntosh to Albuquerque, where he worked as an orthopedic technician and his wife worked as a nurse. “My wife and I had decided, ‘Let’s just build a steel building and live in that until we have enough money to build our house,’” says Tixier. “Driving home one day, I thought, ‘I put one steel building up—maybe I can make that my career.’ I painted a sign and came up with the name Magnum Steel Buildings.”

Not immune to the recession, in late 2009, Magnum weathered the first slowing of business in its history. To compensate, it diversified. Says Tixier, “We did everything we could think of to stay busy: sheetrock, painting, dirt work, and concrete—anything a construction company might be able to do.” Reducing their hours rather than letting employees go, Tixier held onto his faith in the economy’s ability to rebound.

Business is picking up again, and Tixier has hired three more people for a total of 11 employees. He intends to keep the company at its current size. To encourage customers who might still feel the pinch of the recession, Magnum distributes a newsletter with energy tax credit information and other building news.

All Magnum employees are from the East Mountain area. Tixier also takes pride in his company’s efforts to improve the community through economic development. And the business does its part for the environment. Magnum recycles steel and other materials used for jobs, and it purchases recyclable insulation from a company in Albuquerque.

If you’re dreaming of a certain steel building, talk to Tixier. Maybe he’ll even include yours in future sky tours.