Sierra Nevada Radon founder Brian Powell is the son of a custom timber frame home builder, and worked alongside his father building custom homes in the mountains of southwest Colorado from a young age. He later built and ran his own food service business across the western states, including a food truck in Seattle.

In 2013, only months after marrying his wife Cassie, Brian was diagnosed with stage 3C+ melanoma in the lymph nodes of his neck. He underwent a radical neck dissection surgery in Seattle, followed by high-dose radiation treatments.

The recovery made it impossible to keep running his food service business, so he sold it and went back to school for construction management at Eastern Washington University. After graduating with a B.S. in Construction Technology, Brian and Cassie moved back to Northern California, where he's worked as a Preconstruction Manager, Estimator, and Project Manager for commercial general contractors for over a decade. Thankfully, he has remained cancer-free since his 2013 surgery.

In early 2026, a childhood friend — a non-smoker and otherwise healthy young mother — was diagnosed with a large, inoperable lung tumor, likely caused by long-term exposure to radon gas in her home. Given his own history with cancer, Brian decided to test his own Grass Valley home. The result came back at 10 pCi/L, 2.5 times the EPA action level.

He quickly learned there is a huge awareness gap about radon risk in Northern California homes, and very limited resources for testing or mitigation — so Brian started Sierra Nevada Radon, based in Grass Valley. Our mission is to spread awareness about radon gas, provide accurate testing, and professional mitigation to remove hazardous radon gas from homes throughout Northern California.

We put an emphasis on educating our customers and providing a high level of customer service. We take your radon concerns seriously and work hard to earn your trust.

We want to help families avoid having to go through a cancer experience. Radon gas exposure is a completely avoidable health risk. We're certified by the National Radon Proficiency Program (NRPP), hold a California General Contractor's License, and are fully insured and bonded.