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News
Dickey Electric Powers the Valley for 49 Years
Using infrared technology, company can detect, correct costly electrical malfunctions.
Faulty electrical systems are robbers – they cost
U.S. companies billions of dollars a year in lost
time and revenues. That’s why “Joe” Dickey
Electric is getting into the detective business.
Still based in mostly rural North Lima where it
was founded 49 years ago, the family-owned company
has harnessed some big-city technology to
detect and correct power problems early, before they
cause fire, injury, loss of time or property.
“It’s not unusual for a business customer to have
$1 million in electrical assets, but they don’t think
of the value,” says Dave Dickey, president and chief
executive. “We can predict when they’re going to
have a power failure, and we can keep it from happening.
We can save a customer many thousands
of dollars.”
As an exclusive electrical contractor for TEGG
Electrical Services, Dickey Electric offers preventive
maintenance and testing. TEGG, based in Pittsburgh,
specializes in the service and protection ofelectrical systems.
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IN STEP — Three generations are helping Dickey Electric to thrive and grow as a family business. From left, at the company’s North Lima headquarters, are Joe Dickey IV; his father, Joe Dickey III,
vice president for operations/residential; company founder Joe Dickey Jr.; and Dave Dickey, president and chief executive officer.
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Using infrared thermographic imaging, ultrasonic
detection and other techniques, Dickey electricians
can spot weak links, heat anomalies and other potentially
dangerous and costly problems.
There are plenty of data to support the need for
electrical system testing, Dickey says, including a
study by Facility Manager’s Alert, a trade publication
that found a business is more likely to be destroyed
by fire because of an electrical hazard than any other
reason. Electric Power Research Institute, a trade
group, calculated that power-related problems cost
U.S. companies $30 billion a year on average.
Preventive maintenance and diagnostic services
have proved to be a natural complement to Dickey
Electric’s menu of services for residential, commercial,
institutional and industrial customers, the
owners say.
“Our sales have been increasing since Day 1,
3% to 5% a year,” says Joe Dickey Jr., who founded
the company in 1957. “We had some slow years in
industrial, but when the industrial dipped it seemed
like one or two of the others would pick up a little
bit,” he recalls.
Dickey Jr. still reports to work every day and
serves as chairman of the board, but he’s proud and
pleased that three of his seven children and several of
his 24 grandchildren are working in the business.
Besides Dave, the president and CEO, the founder’s
eldest son, Joe III, is vice president for operations/
residential, and his daughter, Patty Dickey, is
safety director.
Another son, Kevin, worked in the business several
years but has since started his own residential
infrared electrical inspection business. A grandson,
Joe Dickey IV, is a journeyman electrician and wireman
in the residential division, and other grandchildren
work for the company part-time.
Dickey Jr. says he’s wanted to retire for years but
his sons won’t hear of it. “We keep him in the office
so we can blame everything on him,” Dave Dickey
teases, grinning at his father. Then, turning serious,
“He’s not just our dad; he’s our best friend.”
Dickey Jr., who served in the Marine Corps
during World War II, was in his early 20s when
he signed on with the electrician apprenticeship
program offered by Local 64 of the International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
He had just completed the training program and
was working as a journeyman when a local banker
lent him $6,000 to buy the former M.D. Bush Electric
Co. The owner handpicked the young Dickey, by
then a young husband with three small children, and
insisted on selling him the business, even though he
had four sons of his own.
“Back then, $6,000 seemed like all the money in
the world,” Dickey Jr. says. “The banker arranged
the whole thing and settled it with a handshake and
notes. Nothing more.”
The business Dickey Jr. started as a young journeyman
electrician with a single truck has
grown to encompass 110 electricians and
a fleet of 48 trucks. While most of Dickey
Electric’s customers are in northeast Ohio
and northwest Pennsylvania, the company
has worked in every state except Alaska
and Hawaii.
“We don’t seek business in other
states,” Dave Dickey explains, “but when
our customers grow into other states, we
go with them.” Dickey Electric also travels
with international customers who use
its electricians to install extrusion presses
and other manufacturing equipment.
Dickey Electric worked for MCI,
for example, when the telecommunications giant
installed a forest of telephone poles from Ohio to
Massachusetts. Its customers include many of the
Valley’s largest manufacturers as well as schools,
churches, government entities and hospitals.
One of its largest projects in recent years is the
$20.5 million power plant that Dickey is constructing
for Salem Community Hospital.
Set for completion this summer, the 76,000-
square-foot facility will power the entire hospital
and includes two stand-by diesel generators that
can generate enough power to continue, without
interruption, all hospital functions should a power
outage occur. Dickey electricians working on the
project installed 18.22 miles of conduit and 86.55
miles of wire.
The Dickey family won national recognition
for the company’s work at the National
Electrical Contractors Association spring
meeting.
Joe Jr. was awarded the group’s top
honor for northeast Ohio, what his sons
kiddingly call “the Grand Poobah award”;
Joe III and Dave were both named to
the association’s Academy of Electrical
Contractors. All three were recognized
for their career achievements and community
service.
Dave and Joe III credit their father
with helping to initiate, in cooperation
with Local 64, a residential apprenticeship
program that offers lower rates than
commercial customers pay.
Since then, they say, residential training programs
have become commonplace for electrician unions
across the country.
“Dad always told us to think ahead of the curve,
to be innovative,” says Dave Dickey “He’s always
given us enough room to make mistakes and try
new things.”
Following in their father’s footsteps, Dave, Joe III
and Kevin all went through the union apprenticeship
program and are journeymen electricians. In addition,
Dave earned an associate degree in electrical
engineering from Youngstown State University.
Safety has always been important at Dickey
Electric, but Dave says the company expanded its
training regimen after he was involved in a serious
accident in 1983. He was severely burned as he was
working on a 138,000-volt power station.
Now the company spends $100,000 a year on
employee training. “We’re very customer-oriented,
and we’re very employee-oriented. We don’t want
our people hurt,” the CEO says. “We get a lot of
credit for having good people.”
Growing up, the Dickey brothers took 24-hour
on-call service for granted. Inevitably, Christmas
dinner, Thanksgiving dinner or both were interrupted
by a phone call from a customer and Dickey
Jr. would head out the door with one or two of his
children tagging along for the ride.
Sometimes the caller was a homeowner who lost
power because of a fire or traffic accident; other
times it was a newspaper, a steel mill or a manufacturing
plant that needed help with a crucial operation.
Dickey Electric still offers 24-hour emergency
service for residential, commercial and industrial
customers.
“That’s how we grew up, with a service mentality,”
Dickey III recalls as he smiles. “Even now, when
the business phone rings after hours, it rings in my
house and Dave’s house. Twenty-four hours a day,
when you call, you get a Dickey.”
Article written by Cynthia Vinarsky.
Published in The Business Journal
MidMay 2006
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"Joe" Dickey Electric, Inc.
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180 W. South Range Rd. PO Box 158
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North Lima,OH 44452
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Telephone (330) 549-3976
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Fax (330) 549-0324
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Copyright ©2002-2005 "Joe" Dickey Electric, Inc.
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