National company acquires Desert View Electric
by Alan M. Petrillo
This article first appeared in the October, 2008 issue of Electric Times, and is reprinted by permission. Tap Here to Visit the Electric Times Website.
A nationally-recognized electrical contractor has expanded its construction services into the Arizona market.
Interstates Construction Services of Sioux Center, Iowa has acquired Desert View Electric in Casa Grande and established a combined and expanded staff there in a Southwest regional office.
Marvin Barr, senior project manager who will manage the new office, said “Joining with Desert View will allow Interstates to begin working in this market with an
established industrial customer base from the start.”
Barr pointed out the Casa Grande ofice will be staffed by Desert View’s former employees, including former owner Mike Scott, as well as Interstates’ present crew of craft and management personnel in the area. Desert View’s former co-owner, Debbie Scott, will be phasing out of the business.
Dave Crumrine, Interstates Construction president, noted that Casa Grande has been consistently cited in recent years as one of the fastest growing regions of the country.
“The area is growing demographically and seems to be under-served industrially,” Crumrine said. “The Daisy Brand Food job has provided a great start for us, allowing us to get in the area and learn about it.”
Interstates handled a project for Daisy Brand Foods in Casa Grande about a year ago.
As for staffing and seeking new business, Interstates isn’t sitting on its hands.
“We look forward to moving ahead as a larger team and intend on expanding our service to Desert View’s clients while taking advantage of other capital project opportunities coming to the area,” Crumrine said. “We are excited about the future as we combine our expertise and serve our clients in more places.”
Barr noted that the shared commitment to understanding a client’s needs and delivering exceptional project results were common elements behind uniting the cultures of the two groups.
“We had dealings with Desert View in the past on a common customer and after that job Mike [Scott] and I talked about how we might work together on a more collaborative partnership,” Barr said. “Over the months we shared help back and forth and eventually came a desire to make them a more solid partner.”
He pointed out several reasons for bringing the two companies together, including a reputation on the part of each company for serving clients well, a strong and satisfied client base, an experienced team of craftsmen and field leaders in the area and a similar philosophy for doing business that has worked for both Interstates and Desert View.
“It’s a perfect match culturally,” Barr said. “We come from humble beginnings on both sides, and share strong reputations for serving clients, having experienced people and similar business philosophies.”
Desert View Electric was founded in 1996 and specializes in commercial, industrial and agricultural electrical construction in the southwest Arizona area.
Scott said he and his wife reviewed the Interstates philosophy toward business and found that it closely mirrored that of Desert View Electric.
“As we got to know them better, we found out it was a perfect marriage,” he said. “I didn’t think that was possible, but even though they’re a large company, they still ensure that the customers, clients and employees are all cared for properly.”
Scott cited his brother-in-law, Mike Pool, with playing a big part in the success of Desert View Electric, which allowed the meeting of minds with Interstates.
“One of our concerns was making sure. that those who helped build Desert View Electric, our employees and clients, were considered in the merger,” Scott noted. “We believe both our clients and employees are better off with the new company.”
Scott will move into a position as director of client development, “making sure of relationships with existing clients and pursuing new customers,” he said. “We had to tum down a lot of work in the past few years because we didn’t have things in place to handle them, but now we’ll be going after them again.”
Interstates Construction Services began on the font porch of John A. Franken’s home in the early 1950s as a television sales business: He soon added additional services, such as installation of antennas and power receptacles. Before long, the electrical business occupied more of his time and eventually led to commercial projects and industrial work by. the early 1960s. From there, Interstates built its reputation by being one of the largest traveling industrial electric contractors in the United States.
Interstates Construction Services specializes in high voltage and low voltage power distribution, control wiring and lighting for industrial and hazardous facilities in industries such as food, beverage and value-added architecture.
In addition, the firm also has sister companies—Interstates Engineering, Interstates Instrumentation and Interstates Control Systems—that offer full service design-build electrical contracting, engineering, instrumentation and control systems on a worldwide basis.
Besides the corporate offices in Sioux Center, Interstates has regional offices in Omaha, Neb.; Nashville, Tenn.; Fort Collins, Colo.; and Sioux Falls, S.D.
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