Transformers and generators are dense, top-heavy, and set to tight pad layouts. Across the Portland metro we jack them off the trailer, skid or crane them onto the pad, and set them on the anchors — so the electrical contractor gets the unit where the drawings put it.
Quick answer: Badass Logistics provides transformer & generator rigging in Portland, OR and the surrounding metro. We rig, jack, skid, and set transformers, generator sets, and switchgear onto pads, into vaults, and into electrical rooms — with impact recording where the manufacturer requires it. Our crews work across Portland and nearby Oregon metros, and moves between facilities run as project freight under the same plan — usually quoted the same day. Call (307) 284-1332.
A large power transformer can weigh more than everything else on the site combined, and it is built to sit still. Tilting it past its limit, dropping it on a corner, or skidding it across a pad that wasn't level can damage the core and windings in ways that only show up at energization. Around Portland, that is why the rigging is planned around the manufacturer's lift points, tilt limits, and impact requirements before it is planned around the crane.
Badass Logistics sets pad-mount and substation transformers, standby and prime generator sets, and switchgear lineups. Many of these jobs don't use a crane at all: the unit is jacked off the trailer onto cribbing and skidded onto the pad. Electrical disconnection, oil handling, and testing stay with your electrical contractor and the manufacturer. How to move a transformer into a building →
Transformer and generator work in Portland follows the grid: Portland General Electric, Pacific Power, and Bonneville Power Administration. Demand has grown with the metro's data center build-out — Hillsboro data center submarket and QTS Hillsboro campus — where every hall arrives with its own transformers, gensets, and switchgear. Plants in the metro's semiconductor and electronics manufacturing, athletic footwear and apparel distribution, metal fabrication and machine shops, food and beverage processing, and timber and wood products manufacturing add standby power and unit substations on their own schedule.
Portland, OR runs on semiconductor & port manufacturing, and almost none of it stays put. Same crews and the same transformer and generator rigging standards across the region:
Utilities, plants, campuses, and data centers across Portland all run on equipment that has to land exactly where the drawings put it. The units we rig include:
Pad work here lands in the Rivergate Industrial District at the confluence of the Columbia and Willamette Rivers, the Swan Island Industrial Park close to downtown, the Columbia Corridor running 18 miles along the Columbia River to the Troutdale Industrial District, and the Silicon Forest technology corridor around Hillsboro, where trailer access to the pad decides whether the unit is craned or jacked and skidded. Indoor sets are harder: Portland's buildings are older brick rail-served factory buildings in the Northwest Industrial District along the Willamette alongside newer distribution and manufacturing buildings on Swan Island, a former WWII shipyard now run by the Port of Portland, and a unit headed for an electrical room is planned around every door on the way.
Pad-mount and substation transformers jacked, skidded, or craned onto pads across the Portland metro.
Standby and prime gensets set in yards, enclosures, and on roofs across the Portland metro.
Switchgear lineups and motor control centers moved into electrical rooms across the Portland metro.
Units rigged into basement vaults and indoor substations across the Portland metro.
Plenty of Portland jobs start and finish on one floor. The rest have to travel — to a new building across the metro, a sister plant down I-5 and I-84, or a facility in another state. We don't hand that part off. It runs as project freight inside the same plan: machines crated or prepped on site, loads sequenced to the rig-out, transport through our licensed broker and carrier partners with dedicated capacity for bigger moves, and our crew waiting at the destination to set it.
Large units for Portland often arrive by more than one mode. Served by BNSF and Union Pacific, both of which cross the Rivergate Industrial District and connect to the Port of Portland's marine terminals. The Port of Portland operates marine terminals on the Willamette and Columbia Rivers, including the Terminal 6 container facility and the Terminal 5 bulk terminal in the Rivergate district. Wherever the unit comes off, the rigging from that point to the pad is one plan.
Every transformer & generator rigging job in Portland, OR is quoted from the actual work, not a rate sheet. These are the things that move the number — send them with your request and you'll get a real quote back fast:
Photos of the equipment, its nameplate, and the path out of the building save a site visit on smaller Portland jobs. For bigger moves we walk both sites before we price anything.
The same Portland crews handle every kind of industrial rigging. If your job looks more like one of these, start here:
Running a trucking fleet out of Portland? See truck dispatch for fleets of 4+ trucks.
Working throughout Portland, OR and the surrounding metro — backed by a nationwide network of 88 locations when a move crosses state lines.
Transformer & Generator Rigging throughout Portland and the industrial suburbs around it — the towns below are where the plants, shops and distribution parks actually sit:
| Town | County | From downtown |
|---|---|---|
| Gresham | Multnomah County | 12 mi |
| Hillsboro | Washington County | 15 mi |
| Beaverton | Washington County | 7 mi |
| Tigard | Washington County | 8 mi |
| Vancouver, WA | Clark County | 8 mi |
| Clackamas | Clackamas County | 10 mi |
| Wilsonville | Clackamas County | 16 mi |
| Tualatin | Washington County | 11 mi |
| Troutdale | Multnomah County | 14 mi |
| Salem | Marion County | 44 mi |
| Aloha | Washington County | 10 mi |
| Lake Oswego | Clackamas County | 7 mi |
| Keizer | Marion County | 41 mi |
| Longview, WA | Cowlitz County | 44 mi |
| Oregon City | Clackamas County | 12 mi |
| McMinnville | Yamhill County | 33 mi |
| West Linn | Clackamas County | 11 mi |
| Woodburn | Marion County | 28 mi |
| Forest Grove | Washington County | 21 mi |
| Newberg | Yamhill County | 21 mi |
| Camas, WA | Clark County | 14 mi |
| Milwaukie | Clackamas County | 6 mi |
| Bethany | Washington County | 10 mi |
| Hayesville | Marion County | 40 mi |
Moving across the metro or out of state? See all our Portland services or get a quote.
Most Portland jobs don't stop at one service. The crew that rigs a machine out is the crew that manages the move and sets it back down — so you're dealing with one company from the disconnect to the re-level, not three subcontractors pointing at each other.
Machine has to come off the floor, through the door, or onto a pad before it travels? That's the rigging side of the same Portland crew.
Portland industrial rigging →Presses, compressors, generators, full production lines — disconnected, rigged, hauled, and re-leveled across Portland as one accountable job.
Portland machinery movers →Machine tools are instruments, not freight. VMCs, lathes, and grinders moved on air-ride and squared back to the builder's spec in Portland.
Portland CNC machine moving →Moving the whole floor instead of one machine? Phased teardown, sequenced loads, and reinstallation planning for Portland plants.
factory relocation in Portland →In Portland we also run riggers, machinery movers, CNC movers, and plant relocation, plus project freight for the jobs we rig — or see every service we offer in Portland.
The same Portland crew also handles millwright services, machinery removal, crane and rigging services, and machinery loading and unloading.
Specialty rigging in Portland: heavy lift rigging, chiller and HVAC rigging, MRI and medical equipment rigging, lab equipment moving, and data center rigging.
Tell us what's moving and where. We'll route the nearest crew and quote it fast.
Get a Portland Transformer Quote