Pahrump Valley Glass expands business to automotive realm

Pahrump Valley Glass has been in business since August of 2011, and during that time expanded from being a home-based business to operating out of a showroom.

The showroom, located at 310 Oxbow Ave., Suite 10, opened in September and marked the first expansion over the last year for the business.

The company started with just dealing with architectural solutions, including residential and business glass-related repairs.

After receiving multiple inquiries about auto glass repair, Steven Neal, owner of Pahrump Valley Glass, thought adding the service was the next logical expansion for the business.

“We now have an auto glass technician full-time,” Neal said. “When you get so many phone calls looking for somebody that actually does auto glass, you get tired of it and you just go, ‘let’s get a guy in here and take care of it.’”

Jumping into the auto glass sector just last month, Neal said that the word is slowly getting out about their new service.

“It’s really starting to pick up,” he said. People are starting to realize that we’re here and that we do windshield repair replacements.”

The man in charge of the new venture is Koji Gailey, who has seven years of experience in the auto glass repair field, made his way to town from Anchorage, Alaska in an unconventional fashion.

“I answered a newspaper article… and there was a retired couple looking for a Winnebago driver,” Gailey said. “They were bound for Fresno and I signed on to drive their coach.”

Driving that couple led him to town, being it is a popular destination for RV travelers, and he stuck around after the couple moved back.

Gailey said a traditional auto glass repair for a cracked window takes anywhere from 10 minutes to 45 minutes, depending on the length of the crack with a full windshield replacement taking about four hours.

Being that Pahrump sees extreme heat during the summer months, Gailey urges those with glass damage on their vehicles to take care of the problem before it gets worse for safety reasons.

“The heat can do terrible things to glass if the damage is not addressed,” Gailey said. “Not only will it save them money (to take care of a crack before it expands), but it will increase the safety factor. At night from on-coming headlight glare, and during the day, from the sun, that bright light can cause visual distraction.”

Right now all the auto work has to be done on-site at their showroom, but if business demands it future expansion could take place.

“In the future yes (we would be open to mobile auto glass repair,) but right now we’re just not set up for it,” Neal said. “As soon as I can warrant going out into the field and doing installs, then we’ll start doing it.”

If your home or automobile is in need of glass repair you can contact Pahrump Valley Glass at 775-751-0909.