To be used as the Essay of Nomination for Floyd Pike
206 Inductee Finalist into the International Lineman's Hall of Fame
From the updated version of David E. Brown's
North Carolina: New Directions for an Old Land updated
by Dr. Shepherd W. McKinley
Pike Electric, Inc.
With more than 7,000 employees and a customer base that extends into 19 states, Pike Electric, Inc. is one of the largest power line contractors in the nation. The 60-year-old company owes much of its success to the gritty determination of three generations of one Mount Airy family - and to a water logged truck that helped the dream become a reality.
After years of working as a lineman, Floyd Pike was eager to start his own power line construction business. He knew he had the skills and experience to get established. What he lacked was equipment. It was 1945, and World War II had recently ended. The production of light and heavy duty vehicles had been dedicated to the war effort. Trucks were almost impossible to obtain.
Floyd thought he had exhausted all possibilities - until he heard a story that grabbed his attention. A line truck had failed from a barge into the Intracostal Waterway near the town of Beaufort, North Carolina. The truck had been submerged for several months. Floyd checked into the options and cost of salvaging the abandoned vehicle. In a matter of days, he and a friend were on their way to the coast. Together, they raised the truck from the bottom of the waterway, somehow managed to get it running, and drive it across the state to Mount Airy in freezing November temperatures - without a windshield.
That 1939 Ford became the first truck used by the business. For years after it was retired from service, the vehicle was covered with a tarp and stored in a corner of the company garage. It was painstakingly restored in 1995 in time for Pike Electric's 50th anniversary. Today the bright yellow truck is prominently displayed in the lobby of corporate headquarters - a testament to the drive and unique vision of the company's founder.
The original business was named "Floyd S. Pike, Electrical Contractor," and an office was set up in the Pike family kitchen. Now that Floyd had a truck and a workspace, all he needed was a customer. He contacted Mr. H. E. Carter of Duke Power Company. Carter was familiar with Floyd's work ethic during his years of service with Duke Power. A contract was soon awarded to Floyd.
Experienced lineman were paid $1.25 an hour, a handsome wage in 1945. Floyd hired associated he had worked with during his career at Duke Power and with other contractors at Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station near Camp Lejeune. His initial crew stayed busy as service contractors multiplied. Power companies had postponed maintenance and expansion during the war, so there was a pent-up demand for contractor assistance to rebuild and extend power grids.
But it was Floyd's solid reputation as a hard worker and a man of integrity that helped catapult the company over its initial financial hurdles. Individuals who believed in Floyd and his entrepreneurial vision underwrote some of the star-up costs. Eventually more conventional financing was secured. Crews were added to the Duke Power system, then to Carolina Power and Light (now Progress Energy). The company expanded into Virginia and West Virginia and on the American Electric Power system and later into Georgia.
The makeshift office in the kitchen of the Pike home was no longer adequate for the burgeoning company. The time had come to move into a separate facility. Over the years the building was repeatedly expanded, and a garage was added so equipment could be maintained and repaired. In less than a decade, Pike Electric had grown into several hundred employees. The young company was reaping the benefits of an excellent reputation both for its outstanding personnel and its quality equipment and services.
The company evolved with the industry as technology ushered in safer and more productive types of equipment. In the aery years, power lined were built by manual labor. Holes were dug by hand, and poled were set by groups of men using hand-held sticks with spikes on one end to grab the wooden pole. It was strenuous work. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, major technological advances in equipment revolutionized the industry. Manufacturers and suppliers developed hydraulic-powered line trucks with augers and booms to both dig and set the poles. Shortly after the introduction of hydraulic line trucks, insulated bucket trucks were designed to allow safer access to energized power lines that were undergoing a transformation to higher and higher operating voltages. Pike Electric was among the first contractors to accept the new technology.
The company continued to expand in the 1960s as its service territory widened to encompass more southeastern states. In addition, Pike Electric developed several initiatives during this decade that were unique to the industry. Crews and equipment were spread offer a large geographical area, and return the equipment to Mount Airy for maintenance or repair became impractical. The solution was to establish satellite garages with a staff of field mechanics thought the company's service area. This approach to fleet maintenance remains today and has set Pike Electric apart from its competitors. Floyd also oversaw the creation of a Safety Department and strict adherence to safety procedures to ensure a healthy work environment for his employees - a full decade before OSHA came into being.
The unexpected death of Floyd Pike fin 1975 was an emotional blow to the company. Floyd's son, Joe, had grown up with the company and was throughly familiar with its day-to-day operation. Unfortunately, the timing could not have been worse for him to assume leadership of his fathers business. The nation was in the midst of one of its worst recessions since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Several utilities were on the verge of bankruptcy. Work had slowed to a trickle. Some utilities released all of their contract companies in a desperate cost-saving measure.
Pike Electric managed to weather its most difficult season with the same resolve that its founder possessed when he started the company. Personnel were laid of and management accepted pay cuts to survive the down period. As bleak as the situation appeared, Joe Pike believed the industry would rebound. Sure enough, the demand returned in the late 1970s and the company responded with a renewed desire to grow.
The work Pike Electric performs has a tendency to go unnoticed by the typical consumer. Its base of utility, cooperative, and municipal clients often have more visibility with their customers than does a contractor working on their system. In the event of a major disaster such as a hurricane or ice storm, however, Pike Electric becomes highly recognizable.
The company has responded to such events with personnel and equipment since the early 1950s. But there massive response to the hurricane-devastated areas of the Gulf Coast in 2005 has brought unprecedented exposure to the company. Some 3,000 employees and over 2,000 pieces of equipment were mobilized to these ravaged areas to restore power. Crews typically worked 16 hour a day, 7 days a week, until power was restored. The distinctive yellow service trucks were seen through the affected areas. Pike Electric has revived hundreds of thank you letters, cards, and emails from utility customers expressing their appreciation for the dedication of these hardworking men and worsen.
"Our response to disasters has been our biggest sales tool," said Barny Ratliff, the chief administrative officer for Pike Electric. "We send out line personnel, supervisors, safety representatives, and our fleet staff. That really makes an impression on customers, and has done more to expand out business over the past two decades than anything else."
In 1998, J. Eric Pike assumed the presidency of the company and became the third generation leader of Pike Electric. Like his father, Eric grew up with the company, and he began his career at 16 working in the commercial department during summer vacation. He later gained practical experience working on line crews out in the field and earned the top classification for lineman.
Pike Electric continues to be a leader in the utility industry, and has expanded its service region to include western states such as Texas and Oklahoma. The company has over 10,500 pieces of equipment, and with its six garages strategically placed in North Carolina, Georgia, Texas, Pike Electric is able to ensure low downtime no matter how remote the location.
Some of the company's competitors have attempted to diversify by expanding into the cable television and telephone industries. Pike Electric, on the other hand, has stayed true to the original mission of the company - electrical distribution and transmission work.
"We have stayed focused on that market and we have become very good at what we do," said Ratliff. "We want to be the best contractor that a company can choose. We may not necessarily be the one who offers the lowest price, but you won't vend anyone who will bring better value to the table."
"Our mantra is to continue to grow and expand, but not beyond the capability of maintaining our reputation for quality," Ratliff added.
A milestone was celebrated on July 2005 when the company that had been privately run for 59 years became listed on the New York Stock Exchange. J. Pike, alone with family members and a delegation of company management, visited the New York Stock Exchange and were honored to ring the opening bell.