Electrical distributors who have seen their industry turned upside-down by consolidation will notice some familiar trends in the electrical contracting side of the business.
In its recently published second annual “Top 50” listing of the largest electrical contractors in the United States, CEE News magazine, a sister publication of Electrical Wholesaling magazine in the Intertec Electrical Group, found that the biggest companies are getting much bigger. Much like in the electrical wholesaling industry, several national players are buying smaller family-owned firms to expand into new markets.
At least five companies from last year's listing in CEE News were acquired, including Capital Electric Construction Co., Leavenworth, Kan.; Continental Electrical Construction Co., Skokie, Ill.; Fisk Electric, Houston; and Inglett & Stubbs Inc., Mableton, Ga. Two other contractors on last year's listing merged into one. Building One Services Corp., Dulles, Va., and Group Maintenance America Corp. (GroupMAC), Houston, became Encompass Services Corp., Houston, which is now the largest electrical contractor in the United States, with $1.8 billion in electrical sales.
It wasn't only consolidators like Encompass; Integrated Electrical Services Inc., Houston; Quanta, Houston; or Bracknell Corp., Minneapolis; that acquired companies in 2000. Capital Electric was acquired by MDU Resources Inc., a utility based in Bismark, N.D., and Tyco International, Hamilton, Bermuda, purchased Houston's Fisk Electric.
It was actually a comparatively quiet year on the acquisition front for the consolidators, who on the whole spent much of the past year integrating the dozens of electrical contractors that they had acquired over the past few years into their operations. An interesting side note is that with the exception of Integrated Electrical Services, which is 100 percent electrical, for other consolidators such as Quanta and Bracknell, electrical services is just one market segment.
Hot markets and a robust economy characterized 2000 for these consolidators, as well as many of the nation's largest electrical contractors. But the economic picture is not quite as bright this year — a labor shortage and the down economy are a major concern for many electrical contractors, too.
1Bracknell Corp. acquired Inglett and Stubbs.
2e = estimate. Quanta focuses on large-scale installations of high-voltage power lines, fiber-optic networks and cable television installations. About 29 percent of its $1.7 billion in total annual sales is in electric utility work, and an additional 43 percent is in telecom construction projects.
3Fisk Electric was acquired by Tyco International in 2000.
4Exelon Infrastructure Services, Morton, Pa., is the parent company of M.J. Electric Inc., as well as other electrical contractors, such as Fischbach & Moore Electric Inc., New Providence, N.J.
5MDU Resources Inc., Bismarck, N.D., acquired Capital Electric Construction Co. Inc., Leavenworth, Kan.
THE TOP 50 ELECTRICAL CONTRACTORS| Rank | Company | Headquarters | 2000 sales | Increase or decrease | Principal Executive |
|---|
| 1 | Encompass | Houston | 1,856,000,000 | 61% | Joseph Ivey |
| 2 | Integrated Electrical Services Inc. | Houston | 1,672,000,000 | 70% | Jim P. Wise |
| 3 | EMCOR Group | Norwalk, Conn. | 1,374,000,000 | 20% | Sarah Barnes |
| 4 | Cupertino Electric Inc. | Sunnyvale, Calif. | 746,000,000 | 128% | James Ryley |
| 5 | Bracknell Corp.1 | Minneapolis | 632,775,000 | 21% | Paul Melnuk |
| 6 | MYR Group Inc. | Rolling Meadows, Ill. | 600,000,000 | 27% | Charles M. Brennan III |
| 7 | Quanta Services Inc.2 | Houston | $500,000,000-$600,000,000e* | NA | John Colson |
| 8 | SASCO Group | Cerritos, Calif. | 450,000,000 | NA | Tom Johnston |
| 9 | Rosendin Electric Inc. | San Jose, Calif. | 302,000,000 | 29% | Raymond J. Rosendin |
| 10 | Mass. Electric Construction Co. | Boston | 300,936,078 | -4% | Francis G. Angino |
| 11 | Motor City Electric Co. | Detroit | 251,216,000 | 35% | Dale M. Wieczorek |
| 12 | Fisk Electric Co.3 | Houston | NA | NA | Larry C. Brookshire |
| 13 | M.J. Electric Inc.4 | Iron Mountain, Mich. | 220,500,000 | 41% | David J. Brule |
| 14 | Sachs Electric Co. | St. Louis | 220,000,000 | 56% | Clayton M. Scharff |
| 15 | Bergelectric Corp. | Los Angeles | 180,018,000 | 20% | Robert W. Drinkward |
| 16 | Red Simpson Inc. | Alexandria, La. | NA | NA | John C. Simpson |
| 17 | RailWorks Corp. | Baltimore | 169,607,000 | 21% | Michael R. Azarela |
| 18 | Morrow-Meadows Corp. | Walnut, Calif. | 159,000,000 | 16% | Karen V. Price |
| 19 | Amelco Corp. | Gardenia, Calif. | 147,000,000 | 20% | Samuel M. Angelich |
| 20 | Helix Electric Inc. | San Diego | 140,000,000 | -17% | Gary Shekhter |
| 21 | The Newtron Group Inc. | Baton Rouge, La. | NA | NA | Newton B. Thomas |
| 22 | Oregon Electric Group | Portland, Ore. | 127,017,000 | 101% | Glenn W. Patterson |
| 23 | Constar International Inc. | Norwood, Mass | NA | NA | Eli Florence |
| 24 | Sargent Electric Co. | Pittsburgh | 123,000,000 | 27% | John D. Sargent |
| 25 | Henkels & McCoy Inc. | Blue Bell, Pa. | NA | NA | Kenneth Rose |
| 26 | Aldridge Electric Inc. | Libertyville, Ill. | 119,000,000 | 13% | Kenneth W. Aldridge |
| 27 | Guarantee Electrical Co. | St Louis | NA | NA | Richard L. Ledbetter |
| 28 | Inglett & Stubbs Inc. | Mableton, Ga. | 113,000,000 | -22% | Jeff Giglio |
| 29 | MMR Group Inc. | Baton Rouge, La. | 110,000,000 | 5% | James R. Rutland |
| 30 | Petrocelli Electric Co. Inc. | Long Island City, N.Y. | NA | NA | Santo Petrocelli Jr. |
| 31 | Ludvik Electric Co. | Englewood, Colo. | 104,000,000 | 65% | James Ludvik |
| 32 | E-J Electric Installation Co. | Long Island City, N.Y. | 103,000,000 | 37% | Anthony Mann |
| 33 | Wayne J. Griffin Electric Inc. | Holliston, Mass. | 100,774,654 | 37% | Wayne J. Griffin |
| 34 | EEI Holding Corp. | Springfield, Mo. | 98,403,000 | 38% | Robert Egizii |
| 35 | Miller Electric Co. | Jacksonville, Fla. | 96,036,000 | 15% | Henry E. Autrey |
| 36 | Comfort Systems USA Inc. | Houston | NA | NA | Gary Hess |
| 37 | Kelso-Burnett Co. | Rolling Meadows, Ill. | 85,000,000 | 9% | James R. Kostek |
| 38 | Cache Valley Electric Co. | Logan, Utah | 82,150,419 | 18% | Boyd A. Lewis |
| 39 | Rex Moore Electrical Contractors and Eng. | West Sacramento, Calif. | 82,000,000 | 15% | Steven R. Moore |
| 40 | Lake Erie Electrical Constructors | Cleveland | 76,940,000 | 17% | Peter Corogin |
| 41 | Truland Systems Corp. | Arlington, Va. | 76,775,000 | 34% | Robert Truland |
| 42 | Setzer Corp. | Dayton, Ohio | NA | NA | Fred C. Setzer Jr. |
| 43 | Industrial Specialty Contractors Inc. | Baton Rouge, La. | 74,200,000 | 26% | Jerry Rispone |
| 44 | Commonwealth Electric Co. | Lincoln, Neb. | NA | NA | Thomas M. Price |
| 45 | Cleveland Electric Co. | Atlanta | 72,000,000 | 6% | James R. Cleveland Jr. |
| 46 | Patrick Power Corp. | Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. | 72,000,000 | Even | Jim Driscoll |
| 47 | ERMCO Inc. | Indianapolis, Ind. | 71,000,000 | 18% | Darrell Gossett |
| 48 | Capital Electric Construction Co. Inc.5 | Leavenworth, Kan. | 66,000,000 | 12% | Robert E. Doran III |
| 49 | O'Connell Electric Co. | Victor, N.Y. | 65,975,507 | 21% | Walter T. Parkes |
| 50 | MONA Energy and Technology | Clinton, Md. . | 61,600,000 | 16% | Mark A. Mona |
