_______________________________________________________________________________________________ Sargent
Electric
We’ ve got four more similar projects on the books that we’ re going to be working on this year and next. It’ s a great renewable energy platform for us to be involved in,” Russ explains.“ We’ re also currently doing a lot of business with what we call‘ containerized electrical buildings’. We supply the manpower needed to help wire those up in their factories; because all these data centers require a lot of that equipment and cannot find enough skilled electricians to do the work, so they hire us to supplement their workforce.”
One aspect of the business that Russ holds especially dear, however, is its working relationships. Whether it’ s with Sargent’ s customers, vendors or own people, he’ s passionate to foster a positive and collaborative culture where every person, inhouse or otherwise, knows how much they are valued and respected. The current climate poses several economic challenges, which have had a direct impact on the availability of both materials and qualified labor, but Russ is keen to go above and beyond to ensure that Sargent is able to overcome these obstacles and thrive.
“ The craft labor required to build the jobs we do is a bit of a troublesome spot for us because there is so much construction activity in the country right now that skilled labor is very hard to come by. In a lot of cases, we must pay them more than normal or give them some kind of incentive. It’ s a struggle, but we’ ve managed it so far. Solar, however, is a great market to be in in the current employment climate because there’ s a lot of repetitive, non-technical work that can be done with entry-level people,” Russ explains.
He continues:“ As for our suppliers and vendors, we aim to treat them as partners. We’ ve known these folks for quite some time; most are long-term relationships. We
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