BD
Benjamin Dillard
Owner & principal engineer
Runs the business, quotes the project work, still takes board-level repairs nobody else wants. CompTIA A+ and Network+, Microsoft 365 certified.
Home/About
About
A repair bench that grew into an IT company
Sablefir Systems was registered in Oregon in 2016 by Benjamin Dillard, after eleven years fixing machines for other people's shops. The name comes from the black fir stands out past the Coast Range — slow-growing, unglamorous, still standing after the storm.
The short version
Ten years, one address, no franchise behind us
The business started as one bench in a shared studio, taking overflow work from two Portland retailers. By 2018 the overflow had become the main job and we took the lease on Heron Way. Today nine people work here: five bench technicians, two field engineers, one person who does nothing but backups and documentation, and Ben, who still books himself onto call-outs because he says an owner who never meets clients stops understanding them.
We have never been part of a franchise, we don't sell antivirus subscriptions on commission, and we have turned down two acquisition offers because the terms would have meant a scripted call centre answering the phone instead of a technician.
0Founded in Portland
0People on payroll
0Devices through the bench
0Subcontracted help desks
The people
Who you'll actually deal with
Small enough that you learn names, large enough that nobody's holiday takes the service down.
MR
Marisol Reyes
Service manager
Owns the ticket queue and the promises we make about dates. If your job slips, she is the person who calls you before you call us.
TK
Toby Kaur
Lead bench technician
Eight years of micro-soldering. Handles liquid damage, charge circuits and the machines other shops declined.
JW
Jonah Whitfield
Field & network engineer
Cabling, firewalls, wireless surveys and the office moves that happen over a weekend.
Plus four bench and support staff, all directly employed, all background-checked and bound by our written confidentiality policy.
Ground rules
Five commitments we've never changed
Quote first, always
Nobody at Sablefir opens a case, orders a part or starts a rebuild before you have seen a number and said yes.
Tell people not to spend
Where the honest advice is "keep using it" or "replace it, don't repair it", that's the advice you get — even on a busy week.
Document everything
Every job leaves a written record with the customer, not locked in our system. It belongs to you.
No commissions
Technicians are salaried. There is no bonus for selling you a bigger drive than you need.
Own the mistake
If we break it, we replace it. If we're late, we say so early and adjust the bill where it's fair.
Recycle responsibly
Retired equipment goes to an Oregon E-Cycles collector, drives shredded, certificate on request. No landfill, no export.
Community
Portland work, Portland money
We buy parts from two distributors inside the metro area wherever pricing allows, bank locally, and run a free clinic on the first Saturday of each month for anyone who wants their machine looked at without an invoice. It started as a way to fill quiet mornings; it now books out a week in advance.
Since 2019 we've also refurbished retired business laptops and handed them to two north Portland community programmes — 141 machines so far, wiped to NIST standards and licensed properly.
- Free first-Saturday clinic, 10:00–13:00, no appointment needed
- Refurbished machine donations to local programmes
- Oregon E-Cycles registered recycling route
- Apprentice bench place offered every year
Business details
The formal bits, in one place
| Trading name | Sablefir Systems |
|---|---|
| Legal entity | Sablefir Systems LLC, registered in the State of Oregon |
| Owner | Benjamin Dillard |
| Registered & trading address | 3361 Heron Way, Portland, OR 97209, United States |
| Telephone | 503-782-7740 |
| customers@community.pakcomputersolution.com | |
| Website | http://community.pakcomputersolution.com/ |
| Hours | Monday–Friday 08:00–18:00, Saturday 10:00–16:00, Sunday closed (Pacific Time) |
| Service area | Portland metro, Beaverton, Hillsboro, Tigard, Lake Oswego, Gresham, Milwaukie, Vancouver WA |
| Insurance | General liability and professional indemnity cover in force; certificate available on request |
Come and see the bench before you trust us with anything
Visitors are welcome during shop hours. Ask to see where machines are stored overnight — we're happy to show you.