Where People Make the Difference

D.P. Electric, Inc.
Written by Robert Hoshowsky

For almost twenty-five years, the skilled team at D.P. Electric, Inc. has provided professional electrical and related services to a wide range of customers across Arizona and beyond. With an extremely loyal repeat customer base, high employee retention rate, strict adherence to safety, and continual commitment to research and innovation, the company continues to be an industry leader.
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“For the most part, it’s our people who have pushed us into the growth that we’ve had,” says company President and Founder Dan Puente.

D.P. Electric, Inc. was founded in 1990 and the business has grown from a small, one-man operation working from the utility room off Puente’s garage to a highly-respected enterprise with one hundred and sixty fulltime employees – and another hundred at peak.

Taking on small jobs at the company’s inception, the business today regularly works on projects from 5,000 to more than one million square feet. The company has created and fostered numerous long-lasting relationships with many of the most notable construction companies, contractors, government agencies, corporations and suppliers across the US and internationally. High-caliber clients have included Internet domain and web hosting company GoDaddy, Belfor USA Group Inc., DPR Construction, and Ryan Companies.

Although the company has grown in size and scope over the past twenty-four years, Puente and his team of highly-trained electricians and technicians have not wavered from the core ideals and business practices set forth all those years ago when he was a young man with a vision. Actions, says Puente, define a person, and it is these actions – including respect for themselves and others, conducting oneself with integrity and accountability – that “must be in the forefront of everything we do.”

D.P. Electric is committed to providing clients with superior service and products and believes in working closely with customers. Often, when a commercial project is still in the planning stages, it provides valuable advice, information about the latest technologies and in-depth industry knowledge. It is these skills, done while maintaining personal and professional business excellence, integrity and respect for the profession and client needs, which set the company apart from the competition. The approach has earned the company a loyal clientele; in excess of eighty percent of the company’s business comes from repeat customers.

This sense of loyalty extends to the company itself, where they foster a culture of treating their employees well and rewarding them for their work. “I’m a big believer in promoting from within,” says Puente. Others at the company, such as his vice president and the company’s purchasing manager, began working with him years ago in the field and are now in the office. “A lot of my top tier field and office managers started with me as Apprentices in the field, moving up through the ranks and becoming part of the leadership at DPE.”

Qualified Staff, Solid Performance
To meet the needs of its commercial clients both large and small, D.P. Electric believes in not only hiring employees with the right training, but the proper customer-centric focus. Puente and his team look at character, work ethic and people skills.

“Technical skills are important but, to me, those things can be learned,” says Puente. “Typically, what I look for: someone who fits in with the culture and someone who is go-getter – who doesn’t just go through the motions. We are looking for people who want to learn, to grow and to excel, and D.P. Electric is a vehicle to help people enrich their lives through challenges and fostering growth.”

D.P. Electric believes in ongoing training and development along with an unparalleled focus on safety. Every electrician hired is educated for wiring and safety per the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the National Electrical Code Standards. This ensures that clients are not only getting the best-trained electricians on the job, but also staff members who are thoroughly knowledgeable about safety procedures and protocols on work sites.

Safety is a deeply ingrained part of the overall culture at D.P. Electric, which has a zero tolerance policy against unsafe work practices. The company also has strict policies regarding employees working on energized circuits; if this is necessary, a highly detailed Method of Procedure (MOP) is created and reviewed to ensure all work is performed to the highest safety standards. All proper safety equipment – from insulated gloves to 40 cal hot suits and an onsite Safety Director – must be present. Only when approval of the work plan is received will work on energized circuits begin.

The company’s full-time safety director oversees all training and risk management, and enforces policies in order to maintain a safe work environment. For D.P. Electric’s many clients and staff, fostering a culture of safety has countless benefits. This past February, the company achieved a tremendous safety milestone when it accrued over 850,000 consecutive work hours without incurring a reportable injury. The event marked the second consecutive injury-free year for the company.

“The safety and well-being of our employees is our number one priority in the field,” said Ernie Bonham, the company’s safety director. “This is truly a team effort by everyone who works for D.P. Electric to achieve a milestone such as this.”

The company has recently worked on a number of high-profile landmark projects across Arizona including: the CyrusOne Building 4, the GoDaddy Global Technology Center, Liberty Center, Aetna Cotton Center Building, Phoenix College Nursing Renovation, United Health Services Quail Run and Palo Verde locations, Maricopa City Hall, ASU Skysong Phase 3 and the Nationstar Data Center.

Go Daddy Corporate Center
The team at the company found the new corporate Center for Go Daddy at 2150 E. Warner Road in Tempe to be an enjoyable challenge. The project involved specialty lighting packages and open spaces within an architecturally dynamic structure.

D.P. Electric held a BBQ at the new GoDaddy facility to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of the company’s fieldworkers who worked alongside staff from Ryan Construction – general contractor on the project. Starting in July 2013, D.P. Electric staff dedicated themselves night and day to the project, often working overtime and weekends to complete the expansive new corporate office space on time and on budget. Taking just over a year to complete, D.P. Electric was responsible for the project’s design/assist in addition to installation of electrical distribution, the telecommunications conduit system and fire alarm system. The project was a success in all aspects.

Just this past October, the company completed the second CyrusOne Data Center in Phoenix. Working with the construction team on the massive, 120,000 square foot facility, the project was even made more impressive by being completed in just 107 days. The Phoenix II facility has helped to redefine, “the delivery cycle for construction of enterprise-class data centers on this project, with what is believed to be the fastest data center construction from the ground up in the United States,” according to the company.

There are plans for the facility to be expanded to 240,000 square feet with a power increase from 4.5 megawatts to 24 megawatts of power. Eventually there will be seven facilities with up to 1,000,000 square feet of data center space and over 100 megawatts of power, effectively making the center not only one of the largest of its kind in the United States, but also one of the most energy-efficient.

“The current demand for data center space in the Phoenix market is booming, and CyrusOne is ahead of the curve in designing and engineering facilities to meet this need,” said Puente at the time. “To pull this off, CyrusOne needed a team that matched their dedication to delivering this fast-track project for their clients, and I’m proud to say our team was a part of this success.”

The large-scale project would normally have taken up to three years in total with land purchasing and design. Puente is quick to credit his staff for the success of the job. Employees were coordinated to work different shifts of no more than ten to twelve consecutive days without time off. As construction was undertaken during warm weather, safety coordinators walked around the sites with electrolyte water, checking on all staff to ensure they were hydrated and safe. As a result, the job had no safety incidents.

As one of Arizona’s premier electrical subcontractors, D.P. Electric prides itself on actively thinking ahead on projects, proposing different options to ensure a smooth project outcome. During the construction of Building 4 for CyrusOne, the Mission Critical team utilized their experience and expertise to move the large equipment inside the building before the roof was put on, thus avoiding having to maneuver through tight doorways and hallways. “It’s all about visualizing the project from beginning to end to make not only our jobs, but our clients’ jobs easier,” says Puente.

The company often takes on thirty to fifty design/build and design assist work projects at any one time. D.P. Electric works with architects, engineers and others through the design process, often being involved many months before the project actually starts. In addition to electrical work, the company specializes in Mission Critical projects, Medium Voltage, fast-track work, renewables (such as solar), special systems, fire alarms, public address systems, cabling, structured cabling, emergency management systems and more.

Striving to always be aware of the latest innovations in the industry, the company prides itself on working with clients to educate them about the quality of products and those which give the best value.

“It’s a very competitive market out there, so anything we can do to set ourselves apart helps us stand out,” states Puente. “For our clients, providing added value services gives them a sense of comfort. That’s what we strive very hard to do, and we believe we accomplish that every day.”

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