KELOWNA – Mazzei Electric is plugged in throughout British Columbia, and owner Ben Mazzei wouldn’t have it any other way.
While headquarters remain in Nanaimo, Mazzei Electric has offices in Victoria, Fort St. John and its newest location, Kelowna.
Now in its 25th year, the electrical contracting company provides certified electricians for a wide variety of industrial, commercial and residential services.
All of their electricians are certified journeymen or registered electrical apprentices, and have a fleet of stocked vans providing installation, upgrades, repairs and renovations to customers in the markets they serve.
It’s been eight years since Ben took the torch from his father, Frank, who founded the company in 1994, and continued to build on his relationship-first philosophy with clients. There are now 200 employees throughout the four branches.
Ben Mazzei is the owner of Mazzei Electric, with offices in Nanaimo, Victoria, Kelowna and Fort St. John
“As a teenager I thought I’d never want to be an electrician, and definitely never wanted to own a business,” Ben laughs. “But now we’re 10 times the size we were when we took it over, and we’ve managed growth of between 20-50 per cent every year.” Ben adds, “we’ve worked really hard to build a foundation in the company to manage the growth and to keep things rolling.”
In 2017 CPA Roger Perry joined the company as CFO, followed soon thereafter by Manager of Pre-Construction, Doug Panton. That year, Mazzei grew by 40 per cent and quickly added Estimators, Purchasers, a Corporate Safety Advisor and a Corporate Controller. The company has invested heavily in business technology with new accounting and payroll software, project estimating and management systems and has been successful in automating and integrating many of the processes which help to manage the business.
CFO Roger Perry says, “Ben’s ahead of the curve for sure. He has the vision to want to invest in technology and people. We have great resolution on our business and it is driving improvements across our whole process right now. It’s really exciting to be here at this time.”
Faced with a growing footprint and volume of projects, Stuart Cuthbert joined the company as Director of Operations in mid-2019.
Ben notes, “We are getting interest in the company from some very talented people and it is adding to our momentum.”
The latest addition is Roch Beadoin. He brings decades of experience in electrical project management and is the manager in Kelowna where Mazzei Electric opened their branch this month.
Others have noticed, too, as Mazzei Electric was named 2019 Business of the Year at the Vancouver Island Business Excellence Awards, following 2018, when it was named Trades Company of the Year at the same event.
In Kelowna the company is working on the 193-unit Elliot Road Apartments complex, and Mazzei says they already have a year and a half worth of work booked in the area.
In Fort St John, Mazzei is wrapping up projects at Northern Lights College and the massive Brandt Tractor dealership and is working on the new North East Elementary school.
They company is engaged in literally dozens of projects from Tahsis to Victoria and runs dedicated service departments in both Victoria and Nanaimo.
Mazzei says, “Most of our project managers are under 40 years of age: We’re young, progressive and aggressive. We are continuing on from my Dad, as we put our customers first, and we build long-standing relationships with our clients. And when we go into new markets, we look for local management, site supervision and the labour force. We’re looking to get established quickly and have a strong, local presence. Some people are skeptical about electrical contractors that come in to a town and do one job and move on, but that’s not us.”
The company is positioned for more growth due to its strong executive team, and Mazzei notes the firm has received WorkSafe BC’s Core Certification, its highest level of certification.
“We’re continuing to look into new markets and opportunities,” Mazzei says. “We’ve already got enough work secured that we’re going to see 25 per cent growth again next year. We are always looking for top performers to join our team.”
They are members of the Electrical Contractors Association of BC, the Canadian Home Builders Association and Vancouver Island Construction Association.
