IBEW Local 71 (Southern Ohio) Contractor Flourishes from Small Beginnings

Back to: http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041129/BUSINESS03/411290329 Article published November 29, 2004

Utility contractor sees high-voltage results
Perrysburg-based firm is 3rd largest in region

Photo
Stanley and Kathryn Chlebowski are co-owners of U.S. Utility Contractor Co. and Reliance Rental & Leasing Co., both of which are headquartered in Perrysburg.
( THE BLADE/JEREMY WADSWORTH )


By JON CHAVEZ
BLADE BUSINESS WRITER

When he was a teenager, Stan Chlebowski was sure of two things: he wanted a secure job one day and working at a factory job was boring.

So, he opted for a job with more sizzle. He became a "high voltage" man, building power lines for a national electrical contractor, Myr Group Inc. of Chicago.

The move suited him well because two decades later Mr. Chlebowski and his wife, Kathryn, are co-owners of U.S. Utility Contractor Co. The Perrysburg-based electrical and telecommunications contractor has six offices in four states, 345 employees, and $30 million in sales in 2004, he said.

Along with a second firm, Reliance Rental & Leasing Co., which owns a fleet of more than 300 cranes, aerial bucket trucks, and other heavy equipment, the couple has succeeded way beyond even their own expectations.

Added Mr. Chlebowski: "I'm still just having fun."

"We said when we hit $3 million in sales we were going to take it to easy," he said. "But then sales hit $5 million, and the next thing we knew we were at $8 million. We said, 'Let's see if we can reach $10 million,' but then we were heading towards $20 million."

U.S. Utility, which began in 1989, does a lot right now. One of the three largest electrical contractors in the region, the company's bread and butter is installing and hooking up electrical poles, having wired or connected thousands of miles of voltage lines for utilities from Ohio to the East Coast and to the southeast United States.

Over a third of its workers have been in Florida for three months, helping to repair hurricane damage there.

Locally, the firm is the largest local electrical contractor working on the Maumee River Crossing project, charged with installing 18 miles of plastic pipes, 130 miles of wiring, and 900 permanent lights.

But the company also handles fiber optic and regular phone line installation and has worked for 10 major telecom firms.

This month, SBC Communications Inc. hired it to remove 1.3 million feet of unused lines in Ohio over a six-week period. The job will be finished early, Mr. Chlebowski said.

"Low price really kinds of drives our market, but [U.S. Utility] is also very capable," said Vince Strazzo, vice president of operations at Cleveland-based Great Lakes Construction Co., a general contractor. It has hired the Perrysburg firm to install heavy-electrical rail-transit lines and towers in Cleveland and to relocate electric cables on a bridge there.

"We've had a long relationship with them. They're a good firm," Mr. Strazzo said.

Mr. Chlebowski said timing and opportunity are how his company grew so large. But the couple never would have begun a business if both had not been savvy about electrical contracting.

In the 1980s, they worked for an area contractor that since has gone out of business. Mr. Chlebowski was a supervisor; Mrs. Chlebowski unofficially was an office problem solver whom supervisors sought for advice.

After he finished a job in Maryland in 1989, officials at Baltimore Gas & Electric suggested that Mr. Chlebowski start his own firm. He said he'd think it over. He did, and they gave him a contract.

The couple started Reliance Rental in 1984 and owned a small crane and two other pieces of equipment. They sold all three for $35,000, using the cash to start U.S. Utility and working out of their basement.

The thought of bankruptcy scared them, they said, but Doris Richards, a bookkeeper at the previous firm, had taught them fiscal prudence.

And from his days as a supervisor, Mr. Chlebowski said he knew to stress safety and quality work.

"There are times we refuse a job if we know we can't handle it," he said.

Mrs. Chlebowski, who is a licensed electrical contractor, is president of the company. She got to know the business by following her husband to job sites for 11 years.

As co-owners the two make decisions equally.

Small Business Profile is a weekly feature on local companies. To be considered, send information about your company to Small Business Profiles, Business News, The Blade, P.O. Box 921, Toledo, Ohio 43697-0921.

Contact Jon Chavez at: jchavez@theblade.com or 419-724-6128.