days to keep their manpower up to speed with the available amount of
work. For that reason, most firms on Arkansas Business' lists of
largest subcontractors http://www.homeadvisor.com/cost/electrical/ saw small increases in revenue, though the
increases weren't nearly as drastic as what might have been if
manpower weren't an issue.
But it's not just the abundance of work straining the
industry--it's the growing number of contracting firms fighting for
qualified employees.
"There are simply more electrical contractors than there are
electricians to do the work," said Bob Killion, executive vice
president of Marrs Electric Inc. in Springdale. "The training is
there. The thing is, in this market, the work has come about so quickly
that it's been difficult to get all of the training requirements
met in a timely enough fashion to put them to work."
According to Killion, electricians end up spending between 600 and
700 hours in the classroom over four years, and they need 8,000 hours on
the job to qualify to take a journeyman's test.
"When all that work starts coming in and your quantity of work
is greater than your quality of people to do it, then all of a sudden
you're lagging behind," Killion said. "I mean everybody
statewide is seeing the same thing right now."
But too much work is better than limited work, as Killion said the
business goes in trends and might be on the other end of the spectrum in
as little as a decade. < br>
The hurricane destruction along the Gulf Coast also lured a limited
number of qualified electricians away, but not nearly as many as some
feared.
"There are electricians who are always on the move to where
the money is," Killion said. "Fortunately, I don't think
Arkansas had to deal too much with that--maybe further south, but not
much from what I've been hearing."
Mechanical Match
Multi-Craft Contractors Inc. of Springdale stayed at the top of the
mechanical subcontractors list and moved up two spots to the top of the
electrical subcontractors list by increasing total revenue by nearly $13
million. No doubt the increase was partly due to the company landing
remodeling contracts with Tyson Foods Inc. of Springdale and the Clorox Co. in Searcy, along with Multi-Craft not losing any of its list-leading
350 total employees.
Not only did Multi-Craft stay atop the mechanical subcontractors
list, but the company also saw the largest increase in revenue by nearly
$10 million.
The rest of the companies on the mechanical subcontractors list
stayed the same in the rankings, though Comfort Systems USA Inc. of
Fayetteville saw the second-largest revenue increase at nearly $7.5
million.
Both Middleton Heating & Air Electrician Service College Station of Bryant and Mountain Mechanical
Contractors Inc. of Fayetteville saw a work force increase of about 20
but no significant change in revenue.
It's Electric
The list of mechanical subcontractors may be unchanged, but the
electrical subcontractors were on the move.
I-K Electric of Little Rock can be blamed for shaking up the list
the most, mainly because last year's No. 1 opted not to report its
revenue this year, automatically moving it from first to worst.
The company did report it had lost about 55 employees since its
reported $18 million revenue in 2004.
Multi-Craft topped the electrical list with a nearly $3 million
revenue increase, while Central Industrial Electrical Co. of North
Little Rock remained virtually unchanged at No. 2. CIECO reported an
increase of $300,000 in revenue from $14 million to $14.3 million after
picking up big cont racts with Pulaski Technical College of North Little
Rock and Heifer International of Little Rock.
Marrs Electric Inc. jumped from No. 7 to No. 4 and increased its
revenue from $5.6 million in 2004 to $7.1 million in 2005.
"Some years you're able to land the bigger contracts and
some years you're not," Killion said. "2005 was a good
year for some big projects for us."
https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Electriciansinshortsupplyasconstructionbooms.-a0143828637
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