walk in, turn on the lights, and wow. Electrical work is something I always wanted to do, and I kick myself in the hind end that I didn’t do it back when I got out of high school. I walk out smiling when something’s down and I get everything running. I like going to my jobs a couple years down the road, and see the lights are still working, that everything’s fine here.

I’ve also been at jobs a couple of years later and looked at stuff, noticed that outlet over there is much higher than the other one. I’m one of these guys who will go into a Home Depot or Menards where the ceiling’s open, and walk around checking it out. A couple of times I’ve darn near walked into poles and walked into people, critiquing everybody’s work.

I’ve had guys run conduit for me and I make them tear it back out because it does not look good. Granted, we’re gonna lose time, but I’d rather lose that hour than have the customer looking at this thing and wondering what you guys doing out there. If it ain’t straight it ain’t right.

I set goals for myself that I try to achieve by the end of the day. I’ll lay in bed in the morning and think, okay, I gotta get him to do this and him to do that. A good day for me is when everything goes according to plan, nobody gets hurt, and we all leave there safely.

I wanna be good. It’s just a goal I set for myself a long time ago, to be good at what I do. Every day I try to improve and be better at something. I’m constantly reading to stay ahead because I don’t want to be walked over by the people behind me. I’d rather have people calling me than me calling people asking them how to do stuff. I like to have people look up to me and say, “Hey, that Jeff knows his craft.”

Stories from the Field