While almost all electrical contractors that do low-voltage work focus their efforts on large commercial, industrial, healthcare and government projects, Berwick Electric Co. in Colorado Springs, Colo., also likes to focus on smaller commercial, government and school projects, largely because bidding for these smaller-scale projects tends to be less competitive.

“We try not to compete in the ‘heavy bid’ markets where everyone is quoting,” said Shane Gebbink, data communications manager for the company.

The company also has entered a virtually untapped low-voltage market that has almost no competition: residential low-voltage work.

Berwick Electric, founded in 1921, provides electrical services for new construction and renovation, industrial and residential, along with offering reliable 24/7 service calls for all customers. It launched its data communications division a little over 15 years ago.

The company got involved in communications work when it realized it was an emerging market, Gebbink said. 

“At the time, they were subbing this work out and decided this wasn’t the way they wanted to go,” he said.

Today, about 10 percent of the company’s total work is low-voltage, with specializations in structured cabling, fire alarm systems and access control.

“We not only provide reference sheets, but we emphasize the fact that, in almost all cases, the customer will have a single point of contact for the whole project—electrical and low-voltage,” Gebbink said. “[This] is one of the reasons they keep coming back to us.”

About three years ago, the division did a remodel for a local religious ministries organization.

“We did three floors of structured cabling, with fiber backbone, and did it all in one month with zero downtime during the day,” Gebbink said. “We also did some access control.”

The customer wanted the work to be done during business hours but also wanted to ensure everyone in the organization would be able to maintain connectivity throughout the project.

“It required a lot of coordination and day-to-day customer interaction,” he said. “They ended up being so satisfied with us that, since then, we have been doing a lot of business with them.”

Because the department specializes in a limited range of low-voltage work, it has become an expert in these areas, and it stays abreast of the latest technology advancements.

“One thing I love about this work is that things change so often and so quickly,” Gebbink said. “We have access to new technology all of the time.”

Low-voltage technicians receive in-house, manufacturer/vendor and BICSI training. All of the company’s low-voltage technicians are certified by BICSI, which publishes standards, guidelines and reference manuals for use in the design, installation and integration of information technology systems.

The company also is very strong in service work on both the residential and commercial sides, which Gebbink said most competitors don’t provide.

The company’s residential low-voltage work includes demarc work (demarcation points, where networks owned by a public entity, such as a phone company or internet provider, interface with the customers’ private networks—usually where the cable physically enters a building), routers, ethernet and coaxial for TV and camera cabling. 

“We have been doing residential work on the electrical side forever,” Gebbink said. “These days, we have very close working relationships with the local internet and phone providers, and they provide referrals to residential customers who want to set these services up, because the providers do not do user hookups. They bring to service to the house. Then, if anything is needed beyond that, such as cabling, they refer the homeowners to us.”

The residential work tends to be noncompetitive. However, demand for these residential services is increasing, as more homeowners are interested in low-voltage technology in their homes.

“More and more these days, things are going low-voltage and wireless inside the home,” he said. “There is also a lot more Bluetooth.”

The datacom division has plans to expand in the future but wants to do so slowly.

“For example, we have recently expanded into access control, and we are growing that slowly, so we can do it correctly,” he said. “We see this as being the next big push for our customers, as they become more interested in physical security and cybersecurity.”

The company does not do burglar alarms currently, but it does install camera systems.