By Amy Fischbach and Michael J. Harrington, Contributing Editors and Jim Lucy, Editor
Jul 1, 2001 12:00 PM
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.
